Mercedes Mone details how she feels after returning to the ring following a year away from action due to injury.
At AEW Double or Nothing, Mercedes defeated Willow Nightingale to become the fifth woman ever to hold the AEW TBS Championship. This is a moment that she had been waiting for for a year as the last time she had wrestled was at NJPW Resurgence in 2023 when she was injured during a match against Nightingale to crown the inaugural NJPW STRONG Women's Champion.
Speaking about the experience during the post-show media scrum, Mone praised Nightingale as one of the best women she's ever been inside the squared circle with and reaffirmed how important professional wrestling is to her life.
"How did it finally feel after a year of being away from something that I’ve loved since I was a little girl? Wrestling has not only changed my life but saved my life. Coming here to AEW has saved my life. It’s given me new hopes, new dreams, new chances, new opportunities. Tonight, being here at AEW, celebrating five years of AEW, being here with Willow, who is legit one of the greatest women I’ve ever stepped in the ring with, and I’ve been doing this for 14 years," said Mone. "She is legit one of the best. Amazing. It feels so incredible. I’ve been waiting for this moment, really ever since I got signed to AEW, but really for the past two years of not knowing of where I was going to be or what was going to happen after leaving WWE.
"What was going to be next for me? A lot of times in wrestling, people think WWE is the only place," she continued. "Tonight, we showed the wrestling world that it is not the only place. AEW is where the best wrestle and we had the greatest show tonight, celebrating five years of this incredible company where we cannot be denied. We are going to show wrestling fans around the world that this is the place to celebrate wrestling because this is the best place to be."
Also during the scrum, Mercedes confirmed that she had actually signed her deal with Tony Khan at the beginning of 2024. Read her comments here.
Click here to catch up on our coverage of AEW Double or Nothing. For a full review, check out the post-show podcast on our YouTube channel.
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