Mercedes Mone On Her Road to Recovery, Working With Jennifer Pepperman In AEW

Mercedes Mone makes her in-ring return tonight on AEW Double or Nothing, and she spoke about her road to recovery and more in a new interview. Mone spoke with the New York Post ahead of her match with Willow Nightingale for the TBS Championship on tonight’s show, and you can see highlights below:

On making her return to the ring: “This was almost all taken away from me and I couldn’t imagine where I would be if I didn’t have wrestling. I would be so, so lost. So for me, it’s really putting my heart, my soul, my body all out there all over again and not being afraid of getting hurt. That’s the biggest thing about having an injury is not being afraid of hitting these moves you hit before. You don’t want to get hurt again. I’m ready to put my body on the line. I’m ready to put my heart out there.”

On preparing for her return: “When I first started to train, just running ropes hurt and that scared me. I’m like, ‘No way I’m going the path to feel this pain my whole life.’ Finally, it got better and little things stopped hurting and finally Breeze pushed me to do some of my moves that I was gonna do like double knees and going off the top rope. I hit them, so the fear was gone. Everything felt back to normal and I’m ready.”

On Nightingale: “It’s been an amazing growth to watch. The moment she beat me it was like a star risen. Her eyes lit up. Her career has taken off ever since then… It’s been amazing to see and I can’t wait to take it all away from her on Sunday.”

On fighting for the TBS Championship: “Secondary championship? It’s the face of TBS. It’s going to be the No. 1 championship once I hold it. Don’t be worried, not only am I going to get that one, I’m gonna get another one. I’m gonna get all the championships. There is no No. 1, No.2, No. 3, it’s just titles. It’s all a collection just for me.”

On her dynamic with Jennifer Pepperman: “Not to say bad things about WWE, but to have writers before who just did not hear my voice, had no idea how to write for my voice, was so hard for many many years and I never really got to have promos until Jennifer came to WWE. I remember her handing me a promo and I almost cried because I finally had a writer who heard my voice and gave me words that fit my character and ever since then me and her were just like peanut butter and jelly.”

On Pepperman working with Nightingale: “I’ve seen just how she’s talked to Willow and make her excited and tell her how she is a champion and how she should have confidence and belief in herself and to see how the structure and Willow’s energy changes.”

On a possible match with Saraya: “I’m here to face everybody, every woman here. So if she [Saraya] wants to be on the list, she’s more than welcome to wrestle me. She’s not gonna get any of my titles that’s for sure.”