John Cena Sr. recalls encouraging Mercedes Mone on indies
Before she made it to national television, John Cena Sr. saw big potential in Mercedes Mone.
The father of John Cena appeared on the Best For Business podcast and discussed his own experiences as a manager, authority figure, and promoter on the New England indies. Cena Sr. named Kofi Kingston, Ivar of the War Raiders, Tommaso Ciampa, and Fred Rosser as some of the people he worked with who were destined to succeed. Mone — then known as Mercedes KV — was also someone that he believed in. He recalled encouraging Mone not to give up on wrestling.
“I’ll give you another one that was one that I picked: Sasha Banks,” Cena Sr. said. “Where she is now? We can have a different story about that. Where she is now and where she was — I remember doing a show with her for Chris Setaro and Powerhouse Wrestling. And her mom was there and she said, ‘You know, I don’t know, maybe, I don’t know, I think I might give it up.’
“I said, ‘No! Don’t. You don’t realize what you have.’ She had so much ability, but, you know, it’s awful hard on the indies. It’s not an easy fight out there. And it’s very easy to get depressed. It’s very easy to be defeated. I used to tell everybody, and I still do, ‘Don’t do that. Only one person’s going to defeat you in this business — it’s you. Stay with it. You know what? You may never ever make the WWF or WWE or AEW or TNA, but you’re part of a profession on the other side that’s just as good and just as great.’ And that’s what they need to hear.”
Only a few years into her career, Mone was signed to NXT. She became a star in WWE as Sasha Banks and is now a champion for AEW.
Cena Sr. has been making some media appearances recently ahead of his son’s final match. John Cena will wrestle for the final time this weekend when he battles Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.