Mercedes Martinez Speaks On Going Back To NXT Instead Of Staying With Retribution

NXT Superstar Mercedes Martinez recently spoke with PWInsider and indicated that she left the RETRIBUTION group over creative differences. Martinez debuted in RETRIBUTION as Retaliation last summer, but she left the group in the fall after it was reported that she asked to be sent back to NXT. Martinez revealed that the opportunity just wasn’t for her.

“I was given an opportunity, and I took the opportunity not knowing what the outcome would be,” she said. “You got to make the best with anything you can, but I think when that opportunity came, it just wasn’t for me. When you hit the pinnacle of your career, as I did, hitting 20 years, you want to make the most of your career, and make it part of a legacy. I just think being part of that group, it’s not hidden fact that it was me, I don’t hide the fact, I don’t mention it, only because it was just a small part of what the bigger picture is.”

Martinez added that there are no hard feelings and she wishes the best to the other members of RETRIBUTION.

“It’s kind of one of those things where it’s, ‘This is where Mercedes is, but maybe it doesn’t fit the mold, doesn’t fit her career.’ It was no hard feelings,” she said. “I just think we both had two different plans, I wanted one thing to go one way, and they had a different outlook. I wish them success, to all those part of the group, and I wish them the best.”

Martinez recently returned to NXT and began a feud with NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai. It’s believed that Martinez vs. Shirai will take place soon for the title, possibly at the Takeover event on Valentine’s Day. Martinez will kick off the first round of the first-ever NXT Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic on Wednesday’s show as she and Toni Storm face Team Ninja (Kacy Catanzaro, Kayden Carter).