Mercedes Mone Makes Shocking Revelation About Her WWE Departure

AEW TBS Champion Mercedes Mone revealed that she seriously considered retiring from professional wrestling following her departure from WWE in May 2022. The former Sasha Banks opened up about this difficult period during a recent appearance on The Sackhoff Show.

Mone, who signed with AEW in February 2024, explained that the emotional aftermath of leaving WWE nearly drove her to abandon her wrestling career entirely. Her exit from WWE occurred alongside Naomi, with Mone recently sharing that she didn’t appreciate how Vince McMahon “talked down to” her.

During the interview, Mone spoke candidly about the profound emotional impact her WWE departure had on her mental health and passion for wrestling.

I did. I did because of how hurt I was by it and how much it drove me into a place of darkness. I couldn’t believe something that brought me so much light in my life, that saved me so many times when I was a kid, brought me so much darkness.

The emotional toll became overwhelming, as Mone described how the situation affected her wellbeing and created significant stress in her life.

I was just like, I don’t want to feel like this, I don’t want to have so much stress where I’m legit killing myself because all of the stress that I’m creating or the sadness that I’m bringing to myself because of this bad mental talk my head.

Despite these struggles, Mone ultimately decided that her passion for wrestling and commitment to her childhood dreams were too important to abandon. She explained how she worked through this challenging period.

So, just a lot of healing, just a lot of healing and I told myself no, this is still what I freaking love, I love wrestling and I still have the same goal of when I was 10 years old and no one’s going to take that away.

The champion also addressed how she refused to let outside pressures dictate her career path, choosing instead to follow her passion and reclaim her joy in wrestling.

I felt like at this time, maybe they want to see me gone forever, maybe people want to see me disappear. I’m like, I can’t give that to people, I can’t give up on myself and I can’t give up on my dream. I still have so much light and passion for this and such a chase and a drive. My light and my god told me, you’ve got to keep on going.

This period of reflection led to new opportunities, first with New Japan Pro Wrestling and ultimately with AEW. Mone described how these new chapters helped renew her passion for the business.

So here’s New Japan, take your bags, go to Japan and go make one of your dreams happen. That happened and then just more dreams kept on coming and coming and then more talks with AEW happened and then the connection just kind of realigned and it was finally perfect until I signed a contract with AEW and it felt so right because I knew I could create so much more new dreams and memories for women’s wrestling.

Looking toward the future, Mone shared that she has ambitions beyond in-ring competition, including becoming a shareholder in a wrestling company. She also expressed interest in eventually taking on backstage roles, potentially as a producer or coach.

Since joining AEW, Mone has quickly established herself as a cornerstone of the women’s division, capturing the TBS Championship and becoming one of the promotion’s most prominent stars. Meanwhile, her former tag team partner Naomi has returned to WWE.