Where Is The Money In Mercedes Mone?

When Mercedes Moné debuted in AEW, hopes were high that she would elevate a AEW women’s division that, by that point, was mostly carried by Toni Storm and her wacky silent film parody gimmick. The thought was that Moné, who had stagnated in WWE by the end of her run but retained a sizeable online following, was going to be able to present a new version of herself in a new environment and hopefully also draw her loyal fans to tune in to Dynamite every week.

A year and a half later, hope is all that’s left.

After debuting in March 2024 in her hometown of Boston, it became clear quickly that Moné wasn’t going to work in AEW as a babyface. In a company that loves to ‘speak smart’ on their television shows, Moné’s over-the-top, disingenuous acting wasn’t getting over. To AEW’s credit, they quickly recognized the issue and course-corrected, turning Mercedes heel within a few months.

By the time of her heel turn, Moné had already won the TBS championship from Willow Nightingale at Double or Nothing and the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship from Stephanie Vacquer at Forbidden Door. It was a sign of things to come.

In January 2025, she added the RevPro Women’s title, followed by the Owen Hart Tournament belt in May. In June she won the EWA women’s title, followed by the CMLL women’s title mere days later. Five more independent titles, spanning from the US to Poland, followed in the coming months. By the time she went into the match with Toni Storm at All In 2025, Moné was covered in 9 championship titles (she had lost the NJPW Strong Women’s title in the meantime).

The idea going into the match was solid: here is this clearly talented, egotistical woman who is collecting belts like they are fashion items, and she now wants to add the biggest title of the biggest company she works for as the crowning achievement, belt number ten.

There were two ways this could go: either she accomplished that feat, making her the dominant heel figure and the biggest star on the AEW women’s roster. Or she failed, becoming a bumbling heel in the process and starting a downward spiral that would see her losing the belts one by one which could potentially lead to a babyface turn down the line for the humbled Moné.

Which path did AEW take? Neither, of course.

The Mercedes Moné belt collector gimmick just moved on after her loss to Toni Storm. She even added further titles, now carrying twelve in total.

The question remains: what is the payoff to all of this? And when will it come?

Moné is clearly still chasing the AEW Women’s World title, currently held by Kris Statlander, who is – with all due respect – a weaker champion than Toni Storm was. If Moné beats Statlander and adds the AEW World Women’s title as her thirteenth title, she – surely – completes her collection and must then start to drop them one by one.

However, she will have done so by beating not the most popular wrestler in the division, but a (talented) secondary babyface who would have actually been better suited to eventually dethrone Moné and part her from the last title she hangs on to: the AEW World Women’s title.
Alas, here we are with Statlander as champion and Moné still chasing the elusive gold. There is still hope that Moné’s story will have some kind of payoff. It has already gone on for way too long, especially given that Moné’s decline will still need to come. But there is at least still some hope that we will get a payoff for suffering through all those repetitive celebration segments.