AEW Star Mercedes Mone Recalls 'Shock' Of Sustaining Ankle Injury In 2023
Mercedes Mone made her grand debut in All Elite Wrestling on the "Big Business" edition of AEW "Dynamite," and she's vowed to change the face of women's wrestling for the better. However, it's been a long road for the former WWE star, as she spent just under 10 months on the injured list with a broken ankle following a match in NJPW with Willow Nightingale.
Mone recently sat down with Renee Paquette for an edition of "AEW Close Up," where she went into detail about how much the injury affected her.
"It was such a shocking and a shock feeling when that happened," Mone said. "I was so on a mission already, when that happened I was so confused. I was like, 'Why?' Like 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." Mone explained that when you spend 10 years in a place like WWE, sometimes it can take 10 years to fully heal from nagging injuries and wounds, something that she initially wasn't ready to hear.
Mone finished the match with Nightingale, but when she attempted her finishing move, she knew that her ankle was broken, despite hoping that it was just sprained or rolled. After spending six hours in the hospital, the doctors discharged her with the impression that her ankle would be okay since it was so swollen. However, after being unable to walk properly, even being wheeled into her hotel by her friends so she could go to the bathroom, Mone knew something wasn't right.
'I really thought this was over'
Mone bought her own crutches to get to the airport so she could travel around for other opinions, which inevitably led to one surgeon telling her she needed surgery, news that crushed Mone upon hearing it.
"I really thought this was over," Mone said. "It sucked because I didn't know how long I was going to be out and how long I was going to be gone from something that has been my whole life. I don't know anything but wrestling, because it's been my whole life that I've given everything for."
Upon having the surgery, Mone was told even more bad news. "The surgeon was like 'I just have to tell you, and I hate to say this, but this is career-ending.' Instantly I was like, 'No it's not, it's not going to be, it's not.' I was ready to recover the second I got hurt, my mind was already in a place of healing that I knew that nothing can stop me from coming back to wrestling."
Mone admitted that she didn't know when, or even where she would return to, especially given the reports that she was in talks to make a return to WWE at the end of 2023, but she knew that she would be back.
Fast forward to March 2024, and Mone is not only fully fit to wrestle, but she has already set her sights on a number of women in AEW, including Nightingale, TBS Champion Julia Hart, and Hart's ally Skye Blue. Mone has also expressed interest in facing people like Saraya, Riho, and current AEW Women's World Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm.
Please credit "AEW Close Up" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.