Wrestling champ Mercedes Moné is ready for her Boston homecoming

Boston Globe

16-04-2025

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Moné, who previously went by the ring name Sasha Banks during her decade-long stint in the WWE,
promotion's TBS champion, with hopes of taking
the Women's World Championship title. Outside of the ring, she's also a budding actress, having made her acting debut in 2020 in the Star Wars show
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As AEW comes back to Boston, Moné opens up about
her career, mean tweets, and how being a female wrestler can be
wicked
hard.
AEW champion wrestler Mercedes Moné at View Boston, atop the Prudential Center, on Tuesday.
John Vitti
Q.
When did you come to Boston and where did you live?
A.
I moved here when I was 16 years old. I came from Minnesota, before that, and before that was I was in Oregon, Iowa, and California. I started online school when I was 13 years old. I have a brother with disabilities, so I left school so I could be at home to help take care of him. I was here for four years before I signed with the WWE when I was 20 years old.
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Q.
With the two shows at MGM Music Hall, what will this week be like?
A.
I'll be wrestling at 'AEW Dynamite,' which is on Wednesday. I will be wrestling Athena, who is the longest-reigning Ring of Honor champion, in the semifinals of the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. She's done things that I've never seen women's wrestlers do in the United States, and she's been doing it for 20 years — and she's just still getting her name out there. I'm super excited. This is like a dream match for me.
Thursday, I have no idea if I'm going to be wrestling. It all depends on the outcome of Wednesday, but it's going to be a special two-day event of AEW here in Boston.
Q.
What was last year like when you made your AEW debut at TD Garden?
A.
The Garden was so significant to me, because I always drove around it. I used to work at the Royal Sonesta [in Cambridge], and I could see across the street every single day, and I always envisioned myself, 'I'm going to be wrestling there one day.'
Q.
It seems that being a female in the wrestling business has layers of challenges.
A.
[Yes,] it's very difficult. I started out at the New England Pro Wrestling Academy in North Andover right when I turned 18 years old (because I could sign that paper by myself), and I was the only woman in that school for a whole year
.
And because I was so passionate and so dedicated to what I wanted,
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Mercedes Moné (top) gets the better of Robyn Renegade during a March 29 match in Milwaukee.
Ricky Havlik/AEW
Q.
For female wrestlers, is it fair to say that people at home don't understand the scrutiny they endure over every aspect of their looks?
A.
No, they don't. And it takes a lot. It's the costumes, the hair, the nails, the makeup, going to the gym, making sure you're still fit, finding the right outfits. I love to be glitz and glams and looking five stars wherever I go. I want to feel royal wherever I go. It takes an extra two hours for a woman just to get ready. The guys can just wake up, spritz their hair with some water and go out on the streets and call it a day.
It is so hard to be a woman wrestler. But it's a beautiful feeling to know that I can do all this stuff and do it better than the guys, and they're looking at me like, 'Oh, is she gonna main event tonight because this and that?' And, like, no, it's because I'm that good, and I do it better than you guys, and I wake up extra early to try to look better than you guys. So it all goes hand in hand.
Q.
When you started, social media wasn't what it is today, where you have
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A.
I remember when I first got on social media, and I was so scared to post ... and now you have to as your job, you need social media to reach a different audience. It's global. It's worldwide. You have to connect. But when I first got hired to NXT and I was reading all these tweets that fans were tweeting at me, I would break down from this stuff, because you're thinking these real-life people are criticizing you, they're judging you, they're saying mean things about you.
But on the other hand, you have people who are praising you and saying good things about you. So you can't look at it one way or another, because you have to know inside of your heart the work you put in, what you've done for this outcome. And for me, thankfully, I've grown to learn that social media is just a steppingstone. It helps me connect to my fans, but I don't need to read their comments to feel a certain way, because I know how I want to feel every single day when I wake up.
Mercedes Moné arrives for a match during a March 19 match in Omaha, Neb., that was broadcast on "AEW Dynamite."
Ricky Havlik/AEW
Q.
Now that you've been doing this for a while, is it easier?
A.
No, every time before I go [in the ring], I'm still freaking out. I won't say it's the same feeling when I first started. I remember I would cry before every match and come back and cry after. Now I take it in and go, 'Mercedes, what did you learn from that?' So you can learn even more and go to the next step and not cry about it. But I still get the butterflies, I still get the nerves. I still feel like I'm about to throw up before I go out there, because it's live.
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We have no idea what's going to happen. We have expectations. But performing live in front of the audience that can go any direction, that can chant any way, that can move mountains, that they can change the directions of the match depending how loud they want to be. I can slip, I can fall, I can break something. You never know what's going to happen in that squared circle. So it just gives you this, this adrenaline of like, 'OK, God, just protect me and let me do what I love, and don't let me cry when I come back.' That's it.
Interview was edited and condensed.
John Vitti can be reached at