"I am incredibly proud of myself," says 6-time WWE Women's Champion
Women's wrestling has come a long way over the past decade. We've seen them main-event major shows including WrestleMania, and things are only getting better now.
Mercedes Mone is one of the most popular female stars in the pro wrestling industry. She initially established herself in WWE, where she is a five-time WWE RAW and one-time WWE SmackDown Women's Champion. She has had an incredible journey from the US to Japan and back to the US again.
She was a recent guest on TBS' AEW Meal and a Match, where Renee Paquette asked her what she's most proud of. Here's what she said in response:
"I am so and just incredibly proud of myself. Seeing where I was as a little girl and being so shy, so nervous, so scared to even just live and wrestling changed my life and it gave me so many dreams to be larger than life. And to see where women's wrestling is today is just the proudest moment of my whole life. Because I grew up watching when I was 10 being like, 'I don't even know if I can do this in the future because they don't respect women's wrestling, they don't value women's wrestling like they value the men.'"
She added she had the courage and determination to make her dreams a reality.
"You can dream it at night. You can have dreams and believe them. But to actually go out there and chase it, to fight for it, to get doors thrown in your face and get the answer no so many times. But you keep on getting back up." [From 12:00 to 12:51]
Former WWE star Mercedes Mone comments on her experience in Japan
During the show, Renne Paquette also asked Mercedes Mone to comment on the time she spent in Japan. The AEW wrestler got a little emotional while replying to the question. She stated that going to Japan was a dream come true for her.
"I mean, everything. It's it was legit a dream of mine to be in Japan since I was 13. So to go over there just to adapt more of the style and to learn and to really understand the respect about wrestling. They have such respect like nobody else in this business. They train multiple times a day. I left Japan just wanting to be the better wrestler than I went into it." [4:44 - 5:09]
The CEO joined NJPW in 2023 after leaving WWE in 2022. She wrestled in the Japanese promotion for a few months but later sustained an injury at NJPW Resurgence 2023, which put her on the shelf for a year.
While using any quotes from this article, please credit the AEW Meal and a Match podcast and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for transcription.