The CEO: Reviewing Mercedes Moné's AEW Debut

At long last, after so much anticipation, she has arrived!

AEW's "Big Business" special episode of Dynamite kicked off with the long awaited and long overdue debut of Mercedes Moné, the former Sasha Banks. This has been teased for at least the moment after she was shown at All Out last year, but to those who have really followed and supported Mercedes, this has been teased ever since WWE's bullshit ran her out yet again.

Once Tony Khan (in his usual robotic voice) announced that the "Big Business" special would take place in Boston, we all figured that we would see Mercedes make her presence felt. Sure enough, Mercedes kicked off the big event by making her appearance, with her new theme, causing the Boston crowd to erupt. You would have thought that the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup; it was so loud and uproarious.

In a long introduction, Mercedes thanked all of her fans and supporters for being in her corner in the two years that passed, and talked about how she got into wrestling, mentioning the late, great Eddie Guerrero as her inspiration. She added that her dreams led her to lead a Women's Revolution, as well as main event a PPV in the very building she stood in. Regarding her reasons for being in AEW, Mercedes stated that she needed to be in AEW because it's the only place where the Women's Revolution can become global, and mentioned the main event for that evening between Willow Nightingale and Riho. After stating that she and Willow had unfinished business, Mercedes announced that she is All Elite, while referring to herself as the CEO.

Mercedes' night was far from done, as we saw her backstage greeting Riho (AEW's first-ever Women's World Champion) and informing her that she would be watching her match against Willow, which was every bit as amazing as advertised. The hard-fought main event bout was won by Willow, but just then, the lights went out, and when they came back on, TBS Champion Julia Hart and her partner in evil, Skye Blue, appeared and attacked Willow. However, this prompted Mercedes to make her appearance, take down both villainesses, and celebrate with the victorious Willow.

To say I'm over the moon regarding Mercedes Moné's AEW debut would be an understatement. We all know about her WWE career. Ten years in WWE, she's been Women's Champion six times (five with the Raw title and once with the SmackDown title), a former NXT Women's Champion, and she is a three time Women's Tag Team Champion. She was also the first entrant in WWE's first-ever Women's Royal Rumble in 2018, and in 2021, she and Bianca Belair made history as the first pair of Black women to main event a night of WrestleMania.

But let's face facts; we all know most of those accomplishments are slightly tainted. Her first five title runs ended within weeks, usually serving as a placeholder for Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, and Asuka. Only her sixth run had a successful title defense, and her last WrestleMania appearance two years ago was her only win at the grand stage. So yeah, WWE's respect for Mercedes was definitely nonexistant. But we, the fans, definitely give Mercedes Moné all of the respect in the world.

I sense a lot of good things from this AEW run, I really do. I can see Mercedes Moné really having some five-star matches against some very high-level talent, and AEW is definitely full of some of the best talent in women's wrestling. Imagine Mercedes in matches against Willow Nightingale, Skye Blue, Riho, Julia Hart, Jamie Hayter, Red Velvet, Thunder Rosa, and yes, Britt Baker. All of these are must-see match of the year contests.

Mercedes Moné is, without question, the biggest name to hit AEW's Women's Division. I have all of the confidence in the world that Mercedes Moné will put the "Elite" in All Elite Wrestling.