Mercedes Martinez has recalled receiving an apology from WWE EVP Triple H upon signing with the company after years on the independent scene.
Martinez signed a full-time deal with WWE in 2020 after a wrestling career that began twenty years previous in 2000. Competing all over the world during those two decades Martinez did have a brush with WWE in 2017 and 2018, competing in the first two Mae Young Classic tournaments. Shayna Baszler defeated Mercedes Martinez in the 2017 competition with current NXT UK Women’s Champion Meiko Satomura eliminating her from the 2018 tournament.
Speaking to DNC Digital Mercedes Martinez recalled her conversation with Triple H after finally making it to WWE:
“When I got hired and I finally got to sit down and talk to him [Triple H] or stand up, I guess, because we were standing up while we were talking. It was more like him saying, ‘Sorry it took us so long to get you here. It was just never the right timing to bring Mercedes in. We always wanted you but there was just never the right time. We didn’t know what to do with you’ and I was like, ‘No,’ I was like, ‘I’m just glad to be here now. What is my role now to be here?’”
Martinez was part of the NXT brand for most of her WWE run, briefly appearing on RAW as part of the short-lived RETRIBUTION group. Mercedes Martinez competed in her last match for the company in June 2021 where she teamed with Jake Atlas in a losing effort against Boa and Xia Li of Tian Sha. She was then released from her WWE contract on August 6th.