3 months ago
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Fresh off her surprise debut for NJPW at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in 2023, the wrestling world began speculating where Mercedes Mone's future would be located. Multiple rumors of her returning to WWE after Vince McMahon was out of the company circulated, and because this happens with everyone who leaves WWE, she was linked with a move to AEW, especially given the company's working relationship with NJPW. In the end, Mone chose AEW, but it seems like her mind might have been made up long before she arrived at Big Business earlier this year.
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Taking to her newsletter, "Mone Mag," the current AEW TBS and NJPW STRONG Women's Champion revealed that she had originally intended on being at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles, but an invitation to the first AEW All In event that same year changed her plans. "I had planned on returning to WWE for WrestleMania in LA. That was, of course, before Tony invited us to see the show. Mind you, there were no discussions of signing with AEW. Zero. Tony, Kev. and I had texted as friends, but it was just a casual invite. I wanted to go not out of curiosity, or to kick the tires, but honestly because I love wrestling. To this day, when I have the time, I still watch the Indy shows. I really continue to have that much passion for it."
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Mone explained that seeing over 80,000 people going crazy for a wrestling show that wasn't WWE or WrestleMania, combined with the realization that a second promotion could do such a thing, made up her mind on where she needed to be, AEW.
Please credit "Mone Mag" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

