Mercedes Monet never 100% thought she’d get to this moment after she slipped on the top rope and fell to the floor during her match against Willow Nightingale in the inaugural New Japan Pro-Wrestling Strong Women’s Championship last May, suffering a serious ankle injury.
Monet, 32, formerly of WWE’s Sasha Banks, said doctors told her the injury was potentially career-ending but that she was “ready to recover from the moment I got hurt.”
Now, a little more than a year later, Monét will return to the ring for the first time in her AEW debut on Sunday (8 p.m., Bleacher Report, Triller) when she faces Nightingale for the Double-or-Nothing TBS Championship at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
“Everything has pretty much been taken away from me. I don’t know what I’d be doing without wrestling. I’d be really lost,” Monet said. “So for me, wrestling is about giving it all again, mind, soul and body, and not being afraid of getting hurt. The biggest thing about being injured is being able to do the moves I used to do and not be afraid. You don’t want to get hurt again. I’m ready to put my body on the line. I’m ready to put my heart out there.”
It wasn’t easy for Monet to get to that point, and she says she worked with the best doctors and physiotherapists to make sure she made it back.
She said the first week after the surgery was “the most painful I’ve ever felt in my life.”
Monet was unable to walk for months with her injured leg and said, “It was very difficult learning how to do things while limping and without a lot of help.”
It taught her a lot about perseverance and the strength of the human body, something she’ll need when she returns to the ring.
It took a while for the fear of getting hurt to fade, but she thanked former WWE star and training buddy Tyler Breeze for helping her get there.
“When I first started training, even running the ropes was painful and scary,” Monet said. “I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m going to go down a path where I’m going to be in pain like this for the rest of my life.’ I finally got better, the little pains went away, and Breeze finally pushed me to do the moves I was trying to do, like double knees and jumps off the top rope, and I nailed them and the fear went away. I feel like everything’s back to normal and I’m ready to go.”
Monet said he has been training at every wrestling school in the Orlando area for the past year.
This included training with former WWE wrestler Screeps, Lince Dorado and former Ring of Honor Women’s Champion Sumie Sakai, giving her exposure to as many styles and teachings as possible.
She was cleared by her doctor to wrestle in December and believes she is in the best shape of her life heading into her AEW debut.
Monet said AEW president Tony Khan delayed the signing of one of this year’s three big free-agent signings, along with Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada, to “make sure everything was in perfect order.”
She made her debut for the company on March 13th at TD Garden in her hometown of Boston, and will now finally have her first match at AEW’s fifth anniversary show.
Her return bout against the 30-year-old Nightingale will see her come full circle.
Monet, now known as “CEO”, praised her opponent for her progress and success as a performer since their first bout. Nightingale has been on a roll, winning the Women’s Owen Hart Cup tournament in addition to holding New Japan Pro-Wrestling and AEW belts.
“Her growth has been amazing to watch,” Monet said. “When she beat me it was like a star rose. Her eyes lit up. Since then, her career has skyrocketed… It’s been amazing to watch and I can’t wait to take it all off her on Sunday.”
Monet doesn’t see winning the TBS Championship as a runner-up to the AEW Women’s World Championship held by “Timeless” Toni Storm. Winning the TBS Championship is just the first step in what Monet hopes will be a collection of belts.
“Runner-up? The face of TBS,” she said. “If I win, it’ll be the No. 1 championship. Don’t worry. I’m not just going to win it, I’m going to get another one. I’m going to get every championship. There’s no No. 1, No. 2, No. 3. It’s just the title. It’s all in my collection.”
She doesn’t expect this bout to be a defining one for her AEW career, as fans are already well aware of her history of success in the ring and she has called herself “the greatest female wrestler of all time.”
“For me, it’s just about knowing. It’s not about proving, it’s about knowing I’m the best,” she said. “It’s about knowing I’m the best. It’s about knowing how much work I’ve put in to get here. It’s about showing it all to the fans this Sunday.”
Outside of the ring, joining AEW has allowed Monét to work in a different creative environment than WWE, giving her a higher level of input.
She said she enjoys having a “great partnership” with Khan, communicating directly with him to hammer out ideas. Monét was also instrumental in bringing on Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Jennifer Pepperman, with whom she worked closely at WWE, as AEW’s new vice president of content development.
“No offense to WWE, but it was really tough for me over the years to have writers who just wouldn’t listen to my voice and couldn’t write for my voice. I barely got to do any promos before Jennifer came to WWE,” the multi-time Women’s World Champion said of her bond with Pepperman.
“I remember she handed me the promo and I nearly cried because I finally found a writer who could hear my voice and give me the perfect words for my character. From then on, me and her were like peanut butter and jelly.”
She also praised Pepperman for her efforts in fighting for women and taking action behind the scenes in WWE, saying that’s why she wanted Pepperman as part of her AEW team and that “change has happened since she’s been here.”
With Pepperman in the mix, Monét didn’t sound like she’s considering changing her character or her approach to promotions now that she’s in AEW, where writers generally aren’t relied on as much as WWE and performers have to incorporate more of their real-life selves into their presentation.
“I don’t think that’s really wrestling, you know? Wrestling is larger than life,” she said. “It’s all about characters and excitement and telling a story. I think people need help telling a story. If you’re going to tell a story, what could be better than getting a writer to help you write that story?”
“I work pretty closely with Jennifer, so we have a lot of back and forth about what to say. It’s not like I’m given a script and told, ‘Hey, say it like this,’ it really comes from the heart. She’s really helped me find my voice, and I think that’s what makes AEW so great – a wrestler can go to a writer here and speak from the heart and work with him and come up with what they want to say with their character.”
Monet has already seen the positive impact that working with Pepperman has had on Nightingale.
“Her talking to Willow and getting her excited and telling her she’s a champion and that she should have confidence and belief in herself and you saw how that structure and Willow’s energy shifted,” Monet said.
Another familiar face in AEW is Saraya, formerly Paige in WWE. Wrestling fans have been intrigued by the matches and storylines since Saraya’s return in September 2022 following what was then considered a career-ending neck injury sustained from a simple kick delivered by Monet during a WWE live event in 2017.
Upon returning home, Saraya told The Washington Post that she was willing to do whatever it took to make Monet “comfortable.”
Monét is open to the two facing off one day, but the storyline would need to be “something bigger” than just picking up on events in WWE that AEW fans may not be aware of.
“I’m here to face everyone“To all the women here,” Monet said, “so if she [Saraya] If you want to be on the list, you’re welcome to fight me. She’s not going to get to hold any of my titles, that’s for sure.”
Monet is currently focused on completing the story with Nightingale in Double or Nothing.
When asked about her friend Bayley winning the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 40, she joked that she needs to win now on Sunday “so we can get a champion photo together.”
That would allow Monet to make a full recovery from a potentially career-ending injury and get back to where he belongs.
“Being the face of AEW and TBS and being able to put myself back in the spotlight that I so richly deserve and give back to the wrestling world means more to me than anything,” Monet said. “I want to wrestle. I’m really excited for this next chapter because it’s different. It’s something new and different and something that I can really control.”
