AEW: Mercedes Mone on Her CEO Nickname & Fans Not Making Her Feel Like She was Gone from Wrestling, Bryan Keith on His AEW Signing, More News

Mercedes Mone Comments on Her Transition from “Boss” to “CEO” & Her Fans Not Making Her Feel Like She was Gone from Wrestling

In a recent AEW digital exclusive backstage interview, Mercedes Mone gave her thoughts about her decision to leave WWE and the reason for her transition from being the “Boss” to now being the “CEO” for her career.

“I mean, first is just finding a team. Finding people that I can go to for help because I felt so lost, so broken, so hurt and so confused. [She didn’t know] where I fit in this world and especially in the world of wrestling that gave me so much hope, gave me so [many] dreams, gave me so much opportunity. I felt very lost and confused and unsure, and it hurt me because of how much work I put into being in wrestling and all my dreams into it just felt like it got taken away from me and just kinda came crumbling down. So it took a little bit of healing, a lot of healing, but a team to really help build me back up and to have my back. To let me know, I am more than a boss, I am a CEO because I took control of my own life. I walked out with my head held up high, and I found so many new passions that I never got to discover before. Wrestling has always been my one and only and my everything. To be a 30-year-old back then, now I’m 32, to grow and understand that there’s so much more than this.

Wrestling is so much more. It’s so beautiful. It’s more than just in the ring. To be able to discover a new love, new foundation, just new everything. It just felt so freeing to grow.”

In a separate interview with NBC10 Boston’s Kwani Has Questions, Mone also gave her thoughts about her recent debut in AEW and return to wrestling television.

“I’m still on such a high. I still have goosebumps. It’s been almost two years since I’ve been on American television. Honestly, my fans didn’t make me feel like I was gone. I was trending every single day, they never let my name die. It was so beautiful. The ‘CEO’ chants, my name dropped, I walked through those tunnels. The eruption was the biggest eruption I’ve ever felt and I’ve been in professional wrestling for 14 years. I had the biggest goosebumps, the biggest smile. I felt so complete. I really found my home in AEW.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2

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Bryan Keith Comments on His Recent Signing with AEW

A recent episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast featured “The Bounty Hunter” Bryan Keith as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Keith’s thoughts about the journey in his career that led to his official signing with AEW and being given the “All Elite” graphic treatment.

“It was a dream come true. I’d been wanting to wrestle Eddie Kingston for forever. I was supposed to wrestle him like three other times, three other matches that got canceled or just didn’t happen or something like that so the anticipation for me wrestling him was super high. Then like you said, I’m coming off the tour going to DDT in Japan, another place that I’ve dreamed of going for my whole life. I knew it was gonna be a great time in Japan but it exceeded every expectation. I experienced everything. Even experienced an earthquake for the first time. That was wild. Very crazy time (he laughed)… And then just leading up to me having a match with Hangman (Adam Page), having a match with Orange Cassidy and all the other opportunities I had with ROH and AEW and those were just opportunities that fell into my lap because my friend here, Will Washington, was keeping me in close knit, letting me know when opportunities would come around. I was just blessed that I was able to go and capitalize on every opportunity that was given to me every chance that I got and it all led up to this one moment wrestling Eddie Kingston in of all places, Texas territory and the fans were hot, they were wanting it and you know how we do it in Texas, fans like the wrestling super hard-hitting, in your face, very electric, very exciting and I believe that that’s what me and Eddie Kingston delivered that night. A Texas barnburner, a classic match.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

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AEW News & Notes

The Rolling Loud music festival recently announced that Swerve Strickland will be one of the musical performers at their Rolling Loud California music concert on March 14-17 in Inglewood, California.

Thursday NBA game between the Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics featured Mercedes Mone among those in attendance. Mone and AEW were also given a shout out during TNT’s broadcast of the game.

As noted before, this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite Big Business show drew 801,000 viewers and a 0.27 key demographic rating. Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston reported that AEW’s ratings did not include the numbers from their overrun due to an error by Nielsen that ended up omitting the overrun.

WWE talents Naomi, Bayley, and Tamina were in attendance at this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite Big Business show in support of Mercedes Mone’s official debut appearance in the company. Mone recently reflected on Twitter about Naomi, Bayley, and Tamina’s support of her at this past Wednesday’s show. Mone stated “I love you guys.“

AEW recently released a new episode of their Johnny Loves Taya romcom series featuring Johnny TV and Taya Valkyrie on their official YouTube channel.

This past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite Big Business show featured Willow Nightingale defeating Riho in the main event. Following the match, Nightingale was attacked by Skye Blue and Julia Hart and instead of Kris Statlander coming out, it was Mercedes Mone who came out to save Nightingale. In a recent AEW digital exclusive backstage interview, Stokely Hathaway claimed that the reason why Statlander did not show up was due to her being attacked by a mystery person. Statlander responded stating “I was watching your match, and those two gremlins attacked me from behind, and they made me break my promise to you, saying I would always be there for you, and I couldn’t be there tonight.” In response to Nightingale stating that she was attacked by Blue and Hart, Statlander responded stating “We’re gonna get our revenge. I’m gonna get my revenge. Julia, Skye, this is the end.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Paul Wight last wrestled for AEW at the November 15, 2023 Dynamite show. In a recent video on Instagram, Wight provided an update about the future of his in-ring career. Wight stated “Hey everybody, Paul Wight here. I know it’s been a while. I’ve been a little laxed on my social media posts. I bet you wonder what do giants do when they’re not in the ring? Well, this giant currently… is taking the trash can (out). But I will be back in the ring soon. Can’t wait to see you guys.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

In a recent interview with the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Will Ospreay gave his thoughts about how he feels that a lot of talent on AEW’s roster who are not used on a regular basis that could benefit by going to Japan and spending some time wrestling there to improve their careers. Ospreay stated “I think so many people could actually benefit from doing it though (wrestling in Japan). It would be so good if certain guys from AEW weren’t on like a week-to-week to just go over and just learn how to be part of a team, learn how to be a part of it, like, whatever the booker says goes. Just being a part of that. I loved it man. I can’t sit here and flaw it. Are there certain things that I didn’t like about it? Yeah, but like, all in all, all together, I couldn’t ask for being accepted by the fan base, being accepted by the roster. They literally took me as a young man that didn’t know anything and then developed me into a man. I have a mortgage now, I look after everybody. It’s everything I wanted and more at my time there.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

In a recent interview with TV Insider, AEW CEO Tony Khan gave his thoughts about the online criticisms over Darby Allin’s glass breaking spot during Sting’s retirement match at AEW’s Revolution 2024 event earlier this month. Khan stated “It has to be something safe. Whenever a wrestler comes in and wants to try something, especially dangerous, I just want to know that there is a safe way to do it. Darby Allin, every time, he has ever had an idea for a wild highsport or a crazy move, he has had a rationale and plan. Darby doesn’t take these things lightly. Nobody would have attempted the amount of crazy, wild, death-defying stunts Darby has done in his tenure and made it this far unless they are a methodical, organized planner. In Darby’s case, he is fanatical about finding a way to pull off the impossible and do these incredible, seemingly death-defying stunts. He always finds a safe way to pull them off. He always has a rationale for why he is able to do it. That’s what impresses me, the way Darby plans his matches and his biggest moves.“

In a recent interview with the Hitting The Turnbuckle podcast, Revolution Pro Wrestling owner Andy Quildan stated that AEW CEO Tony Khan was the one who came up with the idea for Orange Cassidy’s surprise appearance at RevPro’s High Stakes 2024 event this past February in London, England. Quildan stated “So, I got a call from Tony (Khan) on maybe the Friday night (about Orange Cassidy appearing at RevPro High Stakes). Without going into too much detail… but yeah, and things came together pretty quickly following that. But, it was Tony’s idea to have some involvement on the show and Tony’s someone I respect a lot, someone I consider a friend and someone who, prior to AEW, attended Revolution Pro Wrestling events and yeah, he’s almost like a breath of fresh air in the industry of professional wrestling. So many times you get people who want to keep everything for themselves, don’t see the benefit of the people around them growing and don’t have any interest so they will shake your hand with one hand and stab you in the back with the other… It’s been more documented without having to name names. Throughout the years, the stories of wrestling promotions working with other wrestling promotions, but it’s always when it suits one person and I’ve been a big advocate for forever and anytime people ask me the question about, ‘Will you work with so and so? Will you work with so and so?’ The answer is always the same. I will work with literally anyone when it makes good business sense but not just for myself but for both sides. It’s got to make sense for both parties and I believe very strongly that despite the fact that look, let’s make no bones about it, we’re a very small independent professional wrestling company but, we treat ourselves very seriously, we take our wrestling very seriously and we believe the quality of product that we are delivering is equal to any product in the world… What I can say about Tony Khan is Tony Khan’s a wrestling fan. It makes me laugh when people criticize him and you know, look, everyone’s got a right to an opinion and by all means, you can criticize the product but to criticize his intentions, it makes me laugh because ultimately, he’s a wrestling fan like everyone one of us and he can respect what other wrestling products do and what other wrestling products bring to the table.” (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)