Mercedes Mone has reportedly decided not to return to WWE after talks with the company.
Mone debuted for New Japan Pro-Wrestling following the IWGP Women’s Championship bout at Wrestle Kingdom 17, where she had a reign as champion before losing the title, after leaving WWE in 2022. She was later injured during a match to determine the inaugural NJPW Strong Women’s Champion, necessitating surgery for a broken ankle several months later.
Mone’s AEW plans were said to have been scrapped, and she is no longer under contract with NJPW. She teased a WWE return on social media earlier this week.
As PWMania.com previously reported, the company was in talks with her about returning, but negotiations did not progress to the point where both parties were in agreement on a deal, and WWE sources claimed that they were the ones to walk away from the talks.
Dave Meltzer stated on Wrestling Observer Radio that the talks fell through because they were far apart on money, and that there is a lot of talk about her going to AEW.
Maltzer stated, “She was absolutely negotiating with WWE. From what I was told, they were far apart on money. There is one person in WWE who said, like, ‘Until she shows up and until you hear she signed a contract, just remember what happened with [CM] Punk,’ like that. But I don’t know if they know or they were, but I was absolutely told that this afternoon, ‘Just remember what happened with Punk.’ You know, when they say it’s done and they tell everyone it’s done. But we were told by multiple people that they were far apart on money. And that’s what, the same thing from a year ago, if you remember, when before she went to New Japan and when [there] was all the talk that she might come back when Vince [McMahon] was gone and [Paul] Levesque was there, and in the end, they did not make the deal a year ago because she had asked for again, the way it was explained was, Charlotte Flair money and, they weren’t going to go that high. And also, the other thing with her is that she has other things, whether it’s acting or other companies that she’s involved in, that could be an issue. I think that with AEW, I think she would have more freedom to act, although WWE is going to probably give you more freedom now than they would under Vince when Vince was such a controlling person, but maybe not. But the thing is, also, for Mercedes, it’s probably a really high-priced deal, but we’ll see what happens. There’s talk that Andrade goes in and gets the big pop on Monday and that Mercedes follows relatively soon. We will see. I mean, I don’t know, and we don’t know how healthy she is, but, there’s certainly a lot of talk of her in AEW. We’ll see what happens. “
