She’s one of the biggest stars in professional wrestling over the past 10 years, first making history as Sasha Banks in WWE and now holding the AEW TBS Championship.
This Friday night, Mercedes Moné defends her NJPW Strong Women’s Championship at the third annual Capital Collision at the Entertainment & Sports Arena, home of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics in Congress Heights, Southeast D.C.
“I am facing Momo Watanabe,” Moné told WTOP. “She is a New Japan superstar, but she stands no chance going up against the ‘C.E.O.’ of AEW and New Japan. I am really the greatest women’s wrestler of all time. I know Momo is known for her knee strikes, but I am also known for my knee strikes, so I feel like tonight is going to be a battle of the knees. I’m so excited to just knee her in the face and let the whole world know that I am the queen of Japan.”
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Born Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado in Fairfield, California in 1992, she grew up a huge wrestling fan. She’s also the first cousin of hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg, which is fitting considering she raps her own entrance theme.
“I didn’t know him until I was probably like 10 years old and my dad was like, ‘Your cousin is a really famous rapper now,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, cool,'” Moné said. “When I was 16 he took me to ‘WrestleMania 24’ and that’s when we really started to become close. Our bond is the love of wrestling, he grew up such a wrestling fan and I grew up watching wrestling, so when we went to ‘WrestleMania’ together … I told him one day I wanted to be a wrestler.”
In 2012, she signed with WWE for its developmental brand NXT, quickly winning its women’s title. Her 30-minute Iron Man match against Bayley at “NXT TakeOver: Respect” (2015) was the longest women’s match ever at the time and was “Match of the Year” by Pro Wrestling Illustrated, which also declared her “Woman of the Year.”
“We did so good that they had to give us the main event,” Moné said. “I remember that match going over 30 minutes. Any time I’m in the ring with Bayley she is one of my favorite people to perform against. There’s always magic when we’re in the ring together, so that’s definitely one of my favorite highlights of my career. At that time women were not even given 10 minutes for a match, so to be given 30 minutes was so incredibly special.”
In 2015, she was called up to the big leagues of the main WWE roster, and a year later, she became the youngest ever Raw Women’s Champion, a title she would eventually hold five times. Also in 2016, she and Charlotte Flair became the first women to headline an official WWE pay per view at “Hell in a Cell,” ultimately delivering the “Feud of the Year” by Pro Wrestling Illustrated, surpassing even John Cena vs. A.J. Styles on the men’s side.
“It meant a lot because I started out with Charlotte in 2012 and I remember being in developmental with her,” Moné said. “With that last name of Flair, I was like, ‘Just because you’re a Flair, you’re not me.’ … Having that feud with Charlotte was such an amazing experience. I really feel like it helped put women’s wrestling on the map and she pushed me to new heights that I’ve never been before in the ring, so I had an incredible feud with her.”
In 2019, she reunited with her former foe Bayley only this time teaming together to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship at “Elimination Chamber.” In 2020, she became the youngest WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion, causing her to be named Sports Illustrated’s “Wrestler of the Year,” etching her forever in the history books next to Kenny Omega, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes as the very best of their craft.
Still, her biggest achievement of all may have been at WWE “WrestleMania 37” (2021) when she and Bianca Belair became the first Black women to ever headline a “WrestleMania” main event. The two visibly fought back tears when the opening bell rang and the crowd stood on its feet for a chilling moment that actually won an ESPY.
“It was so emotional,” Moné said. “That was one of my biggest dreams since I was 10 years old, but it was so big I didn’t think it was possible, then here I was at ‘WrestleMania 37’ in the middle of the ring looking at Bianca like, ‘Wow, we are doing this, this is so much bigger than us, bigger than wrestling.’ That moment was so special. The way she looked at me, I was like, ‘Girl, you better stop before I start bawling and we slip in the ring from our tears.'”
Sadly, the name “Sasha Banks” disappeared when she infamously walked out of WWE in 2022 as she and Naomi forfeited their tag-team belts over a contract dispute. A year later, she changed her name to Mercedes Moné for NJPW/Stardom at “Wrestle Kingdom 17″ (2023) at the Tokyo Dome. She remains a NJPW titan by defeating Stephanie Vaquer at “Forbidden Door” (2024) to win the aforementioned Strong Women’s Championship.
Meanwhile in AEW, Moné memorably made a cameo in the crowd of London’s Wembley Stadium at AEW “All In” (2023), teasing her free agent status. She made her official AEW in-ring debut in Las Vegas at “Double or Nothing” (2024) to win the AEW TBS Championship by defeating Nightingale, then successfully defended that title against Dr. Britt Baker at “All In” (2024) in front of 50,000 people at Wembley Stadium this past Sunday.
“I’m still on a high from it,” Moné said. “Last year I was just a fan in attendance with a broken heel dreaming about which company I’m going to be in. Now this year performing at ‘All In’ at Wembley was such a dream come true, it was so amazing, the crowd was electric and I can’t wait to do it all again next year at ‘All In’ in Dallas, Texas. It’s been such an exciting time for professional wrestling because of AEW — and I enjoy being the face of TBS.”
Indeed, you can watch her on TBS every Wednesday on “AEW Dynamite,” not to mention as Koska Reeves in the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian” on Disney+. As fun as it is watching from your couch, there’s nothing like watching wrestling in person, like “Capital Collision” this Friday at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in D.C.
“Professional wrestling has been the best it’s ever been in the past 10 years, so I’m so happy to be part of it,” Moné said. “AEW is going global, so any woman who wants to come after my championships, I’m always ready.”
Listen to our full conversation on the podcast below:
https://open.spotify.com/show/34FqR0ooGFeyPA4ITddHe4?si=bea1efa3a8bc4ed2
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