Moné was hoping that she only had a sprain.
All Elite Wrestling presented the ‘Big Bu$iness’ edition of Dynamite on 3/13 and starting off the show was the arrival of Mercedes Moné. Her signing was formally announced and to close the night, Moné assisted Willow Nightingale in fighting off Skye Blue and TBS Champion Julia Hart.
Mercedes had been sidelined since May of 2023. She took on Nightingale in the finals of the STRONG Women’s Championship tournament at NJPW STRONG Resurgence. During the bout, she suffered a foot/ankle injury that put on her on the shelf.
Moné sat down with Renee Paquette to record an episode of AEW Close Up. When the injury occurred, she was hoping it was a sprain but when she tried to move, she knew there was a break. Mercedes detailed the shocking feeling when she realized how hurt she was. Her ankle and foot were swollen to the point that when she had x-rays done at a hospital, damage was not detected and doctors told her she could go home.
Well, people think it’s my ankle (that was injured). Little do they know, it’s more than just an ankle guys. I can hurt a foot, I can hurt more than everything and if you listen to my new hit single ‘CEO’, I actually mention what I broke so, you can be prepared for that but, it was, honestly, such a shocking and a shock feeling when that happened. I was so on a mission already. When that happened, I was so confused. I was like, why? I don’t understand what I did, why is this happening? But I knew that I had to go through it and go straight through it and I know that I needed to slow down and heal. Because I wasn’t done healing. The universe is saying heal, heal, heal, heal, heal… It’s so hard, it’s so hard. I was talking to my friend one time and she’s like, ‘You know, you can’t heal overnight. If you were in a company for 10 years, it might take you 10 years to heal.’ I go, ‘Oh no! I can give it maybe 10 days. But I’m ready to move on.’ Little did we know, it took 10 months, thank you. But when that happened, I was in such shock. I remember falling and just being like, ‘Oof, that hurt’ and what just happened? And it didn’t look like she took something or did it look like I — I was just laying there like, huh? Well I gotta finish the match and I rolled in. Tried to stand up, was like, dang, there’s something wrong. Try to keep on finishing the match and I went up for my finisher and I was like, dang, this is broken. Damn, this sucks, and everything just changed in that instant. I was like, I hope this is just a sprained ankle. I hope this is just a rolled ankle but, I instantly knew something was majorly up and it was broken. Went straight to the hospital, stayed at the hospital for six hours. They gave me x-rays but it was so swollen that they were like, ‘Yeah, you’re fine, it’s fine. You can go home.’ Couldn’t even walk out. All of my friends were out in the parking lot waiting for me. They willed me to an Uber, my friend had to carry me from the Uber to the hotel, push me in a chair just so I could go to the bathroom. Buy my own crutches to go to the airport and get so many different opinions because I’m just like, this doesn’t feel right. I finally got the call that it was broken and that I would need surgery and I really thought that this was over, and it sucked because I didn’t know how long I was going to be out and how long I was gonna be gone from something that has been my whole life. I don’t know anything but wrestling because it’s been my whole life and I’ve given everything for it.
She shared in another media appearance that when she was told the injury could be career-ending, she immediately responded that her career will not end like that and she’ll bounce back from it.
Mercedes is scheduled to be at AEW Dynamite in Toronto, Canada on 3/20.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit AEW Close Up with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
