Mercedes Moné has confirmed a previously unknown detail about her appearance at AEW All In 2023: at the time, she was still in talks with WWE about a possible return.
In the latest edition of Moné Mag, the AEW star revealed she was invited to attend the historic event at Wembley Stadium and that Tony Khan even pitched a segment with Willow Nightingale, despite Moné not being under contract.
“Let me take you all the way back to 2023. At the time, I was still going back and forth in talks with WWE when I got an invitation to go to All In London. Now, you guys know me. I LOVE professional wrestling. So there was absolutely NO WAY I was going to miss the opportunity to witness something this big—a wrestling show of this magnitude, outside of WWE, at Wembley Stadium. I love history. I love being around history, and even more than that, I love being a part of it. The second I got to London, something just felt different. The energy was right.
Then I saw Tony backstage, and he was SO excited to have me there. So excited, in fact, that he wanted me to do a backstage segment with… WILLOW! I was like— WOWOWOWOW. WAIT! I am NOT signed. I do NOT work here. I’m just here to enjoy the show! Backstage, I got to see so many familiar faces—Amanda Huber, Renee, Rusev—and I got to meet so many new people too. Then I was escorted to my box seats, and for once… I got to be a FAN.
Do you understand how rare that is for me? I never really got the opportunity to sit in the crowd and just be a fan at WrestleMania. Okay… MAYBE there was one time I went in disguise for Bayley’s match. But that’s another story. This time, I could actually sit there. No match to prepare for. No entrance to think about. No pressure. Just Moné and more than 80,000 screaming wrestling fans celebrating the thing I love most in this entire world. From the way I was treated to the moment I arrived at Wembley, I remember thinking: Wait… I Love this!”
The appearance took place on August 27, 2023, when AEW cameras showed Moné in the crowd. At the time, she had been sidelined after suffering a serious ankle injury in a match against Nightingale at NJPW STRONG Resurgence.
Moné wouldn’t officially debut in AEW until March 13, 2024, on Dynamite: Big Business. Two months later, in her first match for the company, she defeated Nightingale to capture the TBS Championship.
Now, the story comes full circle. Moné is set to face reigning AEW Women’s World Champion Willow Nightingale at All In London on August 30, once again at Wembley Stadium.