Mercedes Moné has revealed that her AEW journey nearly looked very different when she attended the first All In at Wembley Stadium in 2023.
In the latest edition of her “Moné Mag newsletter,” “The CEO” looked back at her first AEW All In experience and disclosed that she was still in discussions with WWE at the time. She had not signed with All Elite Wrestling and attended the event as a fan while recovering from the ankle injury she suffered against Willow Nightingale earlier that year.
“Let me take you all the way back to 2023. At the time, I was still going back and forth in talks with WWE when I got an invitation to go to All In London. Now, you guys know me. I LOVE professional wrestling. So there was absolutely NO WAY I was going to miss the opportunity to witness something this big—a wrestling show of this magnitude, outside of WWE, at Wembley Stadium. I love history. I love being around history, and even more than that, I love being a part of it. The second I got to London, something just felt different. The energy was right.”
Moné was not simply a guest sitting in the crowd. She also spent time backstage, where AEW President Tony Khan suggested putting her in a segment with Willow Nightingale. The idea caught her off guard because she wasn’t working for AEW at that point.
“Then I saw Tony backstage, and he was SO excited to have me there. So excited, in fact, that he wanted me to do a backstage segment with… WILLOW! I was like— WOWOWOWOW. WAIT! I am NOT signed. I do NOT work here. I’m just here to enjoy the show!”
The moment was particularly notable because of Moné and Nightingale’s history. Earlier in 2023, at NJPW Resurgence, “The Babe With the Power” defeated “The CEO” in the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship tournament final, with Moné suffering an ankle injury during the bout.
Mercedes Moné eventually signed with AEW and officially became “All Elite” in March 2024, debuting at AEW Dynamite: Big Business. Her first Wembley experience, however, appears to have played an important role in changing how she viewed her next career move.
She recalled being able to sit among more than 80,000 fans without having to prepare for a match, entrance or storyline. Moné said the experience gave her an opportunity to simply enjoy professional wrestling again.
“I never really got the opportunity to sit in the crowd and just be a fan at WrestleMania. Okay… MAYBE there was one time I went in disguise for Bayley’s match. But that’s another story. This time, I could actually sit there. No match to prepare for. No entrance to think about. No pressure. Just Moné and more than 80,000 screaming wrestling fans celebrating the thing I love most in this entire world.” [H/T Fightful]
Mercedes Moné and Willow Nightingale’s Story Comes Full Circle
(Photo by Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)
Moné and Nightingale are set to meet again with the AEW Women’s World Championship on the line.
“The CEO” earned her opportunity by winning the 2026 Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament. Nightingale enters the match as the reigning women’s world champion, setting up their showdown at AEW All In: London at Wembley Stadium on August 30.
Their upcoming championship match gives their rivalry a different backdrop from their 2023 encounter. What began with Moné competing against Nightingale in Japan eventually became part of the story that surrounded Moné’s transition to AEW.
Now, with the biggest women’s championship in the company at stake, the 34-year-old star has the opportunity to finish that chapter by taking the title from Nightingale.
