Mercedes Moné has revealed that she was still involved in discussions with WWE when she attended AEW All In at Wembley Stadium in 2023, while also recalling an unexpected idea Tony Khan had for her backstage at the historic event.
In the latest edition of her Moné Mag, the AEW star reflected on her history with Willow Nightingale and revisited her experience attending All In 2023 as a spectator.
At the time, Moné had not signed with AEW and said she was still going back and forth in talks with WWE. However, her passion for professional wrestling made the opportunity to witness AEW’s massive Wembley Stadium event something she did not want to pass up.
“Let me take you all the way back to 2023. At the time, I was still going back and forth in talks with WWE when I got an invitation to go to All In London. Now, you guys know me. I LOVE professional wrestling. So there was absolutely NO WAY I was going to miss the opportunity to witness something this big—a wrestling show of this magnitude, outside of WWE, at Wembley Stadium. I love history. I love being around history, and even more than that, I love being a part of it. The second I got to London, something just felt different. The energy was right.
Then I saw Tony backstage, and he was SO excited to have me there. So excited, in fact, that he wanted me to do a backstage segment with… WILLOW! I was like— WOWOWOWOW. WAIT! I am NOT signed. I do NOT work here. I’m just here to enjoy the show! Backstage, I got to see so many familiar faces—Amanda Huber, Renee, Rusev—and I got to meet so many new people too. Then I was escorted to my box seats, and for once… I got to be a FAN. Do you understand how rare that is for me? I never really got the opportunity to sit in the crowd and just be a fan at WrestleMania. Okay… MAYBE there was one time I went in disguise for Bayley’s match. But that’s another story. This time, I could actually sit there. No match to prepare for. No entrance to think about. No pressure. Just Moné and more than 80,000 screaming wrestling fans celebrating the thing I love most in this entire world. From the way I was treated to the moment I arrived at Wembley, I remember thinking: Wait… I Love this!”
One of the more notable details from Moné’s account was Khan’s apparent interest in having her appear in a backstage segment with Nightingale despite Moné not being under contract with AEW.
The suggestion carried additional significance because of the history between the two women. Moné suffered an ankle injury during her match against Nightingale at NJPW Resurgence in May 2023, with Nightingale ultimately winning the match and becoming the inaugural NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion.
Instead of appearing on the broadcast at All In, Moné watched from a box inside Wembley Stadium. She described the experience as a rare opportunity to enjoy a major wrestling event purely as a fan without having to worry about preparing for a match, entrance or performance.
Moné would eventually join AEW, making her official debut with the company at AEW Dynamite: Big Business in March 2024. Her rivalry with Nightingale would subsequently resume, adding another chapter to a story that had already connected the two before Moné officially became part of the AEW roster.
