Mercedes Mone's AEW TBS Title Challenger For Dynamite 250 Revealed On Collision

Following her confrontation with Dr. Britt Baker (DMD) on Wednesday's episode of "AEW Dynamite," Mercedes Mone issued an open challenge for the TBS Championship for next week's "Dynamite 250," offering to put the title on the line against anyone except Baker. On Saturday's "AEW Collision," Mone's challenge was answered by someone who's been with AEW since the very beginning: "The Native Beast" Nyla Rose. The broadcast later confirmed the match was on.

Rose is set to wrestle on her second "Dynamite" in a month; she lost to Kris Statlander in June 19 in a women's Owen Hart Foundation Tournament first round match. Before that, she hadn't wrestled on "Dynamite" since September 2023, and hadn't wrestled a singles match on "Dynamite" since May 2023. Rose announced she was accepting Mone's challenge shortly after defeating Ava Lawless on "Collision," mentioning in a backstage promo that she was on the very first episode of "Dynamite" back in October 2019. She was defeated that night by Riho in a match to crown the very first AEW Women's World Champion, but would eventually become the second champion, beating Riho a February 2020.

Rose has been a consistent undercard presence ever since, largely playing the monster heel. However, she recently noted that since an incident involving the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission discriminating against trans wresters, the wave of support from AEW fans has forced her to turn babyface, which fits nicely with the newly-heel Mone. Rose and Mone have never wrestled one another before.