Mercedes Mone has revealed her reasons for walking out of WWE and the fallout that took place in the following months.
In May 2022, Mone, who was in WWE as Sasha Banks, was reigning as Women’s Tag Team Champion alongside Naomi. Due to a creative disagreement, Banks and Naomi left their titles on the desk of then Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis and left during a live taping of Raw.
With the Superstars factored into creative plans later in the night, the show was hastily rewritten to factor in the shock departure. In a move that was heavily criticised by fans, Corey Graves labelled Sasha Banks and Naomi “unprofessional” later in the night and Michael Cole addressed the incident on the following episode of SmackDown, stating that Banks and Naomi “let us all down” and “their actions disappointed millions of fans.” The former champions would be indefinitely suspended and later released from their contracts.
Despite the incident happening almost 2 years ago, Mone has been relatively quiet regarding what happened that night, only shooting down incorrect fans who believed to have known better. During an interview with Evan T Mack on the Kick Rocks podcast, Mone was asked what happened that night and why she did not return:
“That’s a big question. That’s a big, big question. I really believe in, not only the universe, but I believe in myself and a higher power of light that comes over me. Something inside of me told me that I needed to go do this and stand up for myself. It was a very hard decision because wrestling in WWE has been my whole life. People don’t know, it’s been my whole life. It’s the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my whole life, but it’s the proudest.
It’s crazy, because I would not be sitting here, living the best version of my life and getting to be everything I’ve ever dreamt of, and more. It makes me so excited because that moment changed my whole life for the better. I’m so thankful for that moment. I’m so proud of myself. I’m so proud of Trinity, of just how strong we were. Everybody wanted to talk about it. Everybody wanted to act like they were in the room. Everybody acted like they were in the room, or worked there, or were backstage, or knew what happened, or knew what was said.
All I know is that I handled it like a CEO, like the boss that I am, with my head held high. I can’t say anything but amazing things to WWE. I’m so thankful to the career they gave me, the fans they gave me, the life they gave me. The dreams that they gave me. So many dreams. I got to chase and live them all. I get to do so much more. I have a lot of unfinished business in wrestling in a lot of places,”
Mercedes Mone Gets Ready To Deal With Big Business
Following on from the walkout, Mone and Naomi would each go their separate ways and forge their own paths outside of WWE. While Naomi appear in Impact and become the Kockout’s Champion, Mone made her own shock appearance at Wrestle Kingdom 17, confronting Kairi in the process. Mone would go on to win the IWGP Women’s Championship at Battle in the Valley 2023 and have one reign with the title before being sidelined with injury in May at the Resurgence event.
After being spotted in the crowd at AEW All In later that year, rumours began to circulate that the CEO would become All Elite in the near future. With AEW announcing the Big Business show in Boston on March 13th and multiple reports confirming Mone has signed with AEW, Mercedes Mone is officially set to become All Elite in a matter of days.
Naomi would return to WWE in January 2024, entering the Women’s Royal Rumble in the number 2 spot.
In recent news, Mercedes Mone has made her AEW debut.
H/t to Fightful.