We’ve heard a lot of different folks from both sides of our current wrestling “war” offer their perspective on competition between AEW and WWE. Ahead of her first match for the former two years after walking away from the latter, Mercedes Moné (real name Mercedes Varnado, formerly known as Sasha Banks) has offered her thoughts.
Like a lot of wrestlers, Moné told Us Weekly she doesn’t see herself as competing with WWE”s roster. Unlike the explanation why that others have offered however, The C.E.O. says its because she’s competing with her co-workers:
“I feel like there should be no competition when it’s between companies. It just needs to be competition between the wrestlers, seeing who wants to be the main event of the show, to make the most money. I’m competing with everybody here in AEW to let them know I’m the face of the company. I’m not competing with any other company.”
That doesn’t mean she’s looking to play politics though. At least it certainly doesn’t seem like it as Mercedes continues to talk about her plans for “a women’s global evolution” to uplift the AEW women’s roster — along with women’s wrestling in general:
“I’m excited to wrestle and just show how much this match [at Double or Nothing this Sunday against TBS champion Willow Nightingale] means to me. The women in AEW have such a huge platform and we’re ready to make a statement that women’s wrestling is the best here.”
So where does the tribalism most wrestling fans (at least the ones who like to discuss AEW and/or WWE online) have experienced or witnessed come from then?
“A lot of things just trail from the Internet. People are just so in their phones. Going on the Internet and bragging and complaining and they’re not actually living in the real world. When they come out into the real world and they actually go to wrestling shows and enjoy things with wrestling fans, they know that this is all just so much fun.
“People just like to drag things and be mean on the Internet just to be mean on the Internet. When they come to these shows, it’s a whole different feeling.”
And there’s a lot of truth to that. If fans refused to engage in the back and forth, or just ignore it when they see it happened, it would become less of an issue.
Mercedes might want to talk to the actual C.E.O. of AEW though, who’s always been very invested in the idea of a wrestling “war” — and just this week said he’s a fan of social media debates about the business. But even if she changed Tony Khan’s mind, shots would still be fired from all sides.
But perhaps that’s too cyncial? Let us know what you think about Moné’s take or wrestling tribalism in general, Cagesiders.
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