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In case you missed it, Tony Khan all but confirmed Mercedes Mone is headed to AEW. On Wednesday, he announced that the March 13 Dynamite will be the AEW Big Business show, which will emanate from the TD Garden in Boston.
To add to it, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful (via Fightful Select) and Mat Men Radio’s Andrew Zarian have learned that the former Sasha Banks has been on AEW’s payroll since “at least” early January. It was reiterated that Mone’s talks with WWE fell through by the end of December. At that time, the two sides couldn’t come to terms.
When that happened, Mone and AEW renewed their talks that had previously fallen through. This development led to an agreement coming to fruition. AEW had considered announcing Mone’s debut but opted for the TD Garden return route.
It was also noted that Mone was not ready for an in-ring return when there was previous buzz over her possibly debuting at AEW Grand Slam in September. This was also backed up by New Japan Pro-Wrestling, who wanted to book Mone vs. Giulia at one point. Plus, it was relayed to Fightful that NJPW has discussed and expects to have the ability to continue working with the former champion.
Mone has been out of action since May 21. She suffered an ankle injury while battling Willow Nightingale for the inaugural NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship at NJPW Resurgence. An audible was ultimately called for Nightingale to go over.
Since leaving WWE in May 2022, Mone has only worked a handful of matches for NJPW and STARDOM.
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