Mercedes Mone says differences between WWE & AEW are ‘night and day’
Mercedes Mone spoke about the differences between WWE and AEW during a recent interview.
The TBS Champion was a guest on MVP’s Marking Out podcast and was asked about the locker room culture in both companies.
“For me, it’s night and day,” Mone said. “Well, first of all, I have my own locker room. So, that helps me a lot. I’m not in it, but I like being away from it. I don’t want to be part of drama or anything, but when I am around the girls, it just feels like such a community of wanting to make this place grow.”
“All these women have so much drive and passion and I can feel it. They fire me up. I want to be the best because they want to be the best. And same with the guys too, just the energy with the guys feels so different. And I don’t want to say like, ‘Oh, WWE is bad or…’, but it just feels like we’re all trying to fight for something. We’re trying to fight to make this the best. And I love people who have passion and hunger. So, that’s how I feel.”
Earlier in the conversation, Mone also discussed the differences between performing for WWE and NJPW, noting that wrestling for WWE in Japan is a much different experience than wrestling for NJPW in Japan.
She described her debut for NJPW at Wrestle Kingdom 17:
“I felt like I was going to throw up. I achieved this goal and I was like next year I want to wrestle in the Tokyo Dome and the next year I wrestled in the Tokyo Dome. But I got to wrestle for Stardom and New Japan in Japan for about two months and I stayed out there for a month. I got an apartment, tried my best to be part of the culture and everything, but it was just so different. It is so different from American wrestling.”
“But even just having the match, you don’t get the same reaction as American fans do. It’s more they’re just watching. They’re appreciating every single move. It’s not really storyline driven.”
Mone says she first connected with NJPW after attending Mojo Rawley’s wedding in October 2022, where she ran into Tonga Loa, who she knew as Kamacho from his first run in WWE.
“I always wanted to go to New Japan and (Tonga Loa’s) like, ‘You know what? let me connect you with Rocky (Romero).’ I messaged Rocky right away. I texted him like, ‘Hey, I’m really interested in joining New Japan.’ He’s like, ‘Well, s–t, okay, absolutely,’” Mone said. She debuted for NJPW a few months later at Wrestle Kingdom 17, confronting Kairi Sane on the show.
Mone’s full appearance on the podcast is available here:
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.