AEW TBS Champ Mercedes Mone To Defend Against Harley Cameron At Grand Slam Australia
Thus far, every one of the matches signed for AEW Grand Slam: Australia has involved a talent from Australia or New Zealand, and the latest one, confirmed on Saturday's "AEW Collision," is no exception. After dodging her for weeks, AEW TBS Champion Mercedes Mone finally accepted the challenge from Australia native Harley Cameron, who will get the first AEW title shot of her career in her home country. Mone vs. Cameron is the fifth match announced for Grand Slam and the third with a championship on the line.
As is often the case with Cameron, it was a winding road to her finally getting a match with Mone, and it began with "Harley Halftime in Houston," a segment that saw Cameron regale the Houston crowd with her song "Mone Train" while wearing her Mone puppet on her back. This brought out Mone herself, who was almost immediately subjected to another song — this one essentially another challenge in song form. While the crowd chanted "Feel the Wrath" along with Cameron, Mone appeared for a moment to be won over — only to stop Cameron's playing and once again deny the challenge, saying "You are not on my level, loser." Cameron, however, made one final appeal, capping off a heartwarming speech about how she's not giving up with a somewhat more hostile line about how "the most entertaining that you've ever been is when I had my hand up your puppet ass!"
Naturally, this led to a slap from Mone, but Cameron shrieked "Feel the wrath!" and smashed Mone in the face with the microphone. As she recovered on the outside, an enraged Mone finally agreed to wrestle Cameron in Brisbane, putting the TBS Championship on the line at Grand Slam.
While some might be surprised to see Cameron get a title shot considering she just recently notched her first AEW win, this push was fairly easy to see coming. Mone has been raving about Cameron in her Mone Mag digital newsletter since they trained together back in November, and Cameron has been turning all sorts of eyes lately due to her acclaimed comedic performances and musical ability.