Imagine traveling outside of this timeline and into an alternate one. You search for familiarity and stumble across an outlet mall with stores that you recognize. As you make your way to a shoe store, you are welcomed by a friendly face who welcomes you and offers to show you around. As you both get to know each other, you cannot help but feel like you know the associate. Her mannerisms and voice give an air of confidence, and her style (even in uniform) has a personal flare to it. Then it finally clicks: in this new reality, the sales associate's name is Mercedes V., but in your timeline, you know her as wrestling champion Mercedes Moné.
As you sit with the fact that you just met Mercedes in a different occupation, it also begins to hit you that with Moné being here, she is not in a wrestling ring holding four championship titles. She has not main-evented multiple premium live events and pay-per-views and has not made her childhood dream come true. Can you imagine what women's wrestling would look like if Mercedes Moné had not bet on herself and dared to believe she could change the game?
Her presence may be polarizing in the fandom, but two things that cannot be denied is her passion for women's wrestling and her desire to not only be the best at it but elevate others coming after her. This, and many other reasons, are why Mercedes Moné is the GOAT of Women's Wrestling.
Mercedes Mone refuses to be underestimated
Though Mercedes Moné has accomplished so much, it has not come easy. In her interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin on The Broken Skull Sessions in 2021, Moné mentioned that in her independent wrestling journey, she worked hard for opportunities, even being rejected as an extra for WWE.
Even once she was signed to WWE under the NXT brand, her "Legit Boss" character was misunderstood, and the fans would dismiss it with micro aggressive chants such as "Sasha's Ratchet." Throughout this time, Moné would succeed by becoming the NXT Women's Champion and creating classic matches with her fellow Horsewomen Becky Lynch and Bayley.
Another example of her being underestimated by the wrestling fandom was during her high profile exit from WWE with Naomi. Many fans and pundits felt that she would not carry the same star power if she wrestled for any other promotion or adapt to the strong style. She would go on to not only break the internet with her New Japan debut but also defeat Kairi Sane for the IWGP Women's Championship at a sold-out Battle in the Valley.
Moné may be the subject of critique in the wrestling community, but it is likely that she uses that as motivation to succeed past expectations. Mercedes once had a quote in her social media description that stated, "Be so good that they can't deny you." Her ability to push past doubters in and out of the industry solidifies her greatness.
Mercedes Mone is dedicated to the craft of professional wrestling
Another reason why Moné is the greatest is due to the evolution of her craft. For different reasons, athletes reach a point in their career where they feel they can coast on their past successes. Not the CEO. One only has to look to her training during her mental health break from WWE in 2019. She not only took the time to reconnect with her persona outside of wrestling, but she traveled to Japan to gain knowledge from legends like Meiko Satomura, Chihiro Hashimoto and Dash Chisako at the Sendai Girls's dojo.
Mercedes would return a stronger competitor who renewed a rivalry with Becky Lynch, win tag team gold with Bayley and go toe to toe with Asuka in television classics. Then after her walk-out, Moné would immerse herself in Joshi wrestling and Mexican lucha libre to sharpen her arsenal and prepare for the wrestling landscape of her dreams. Though many predicted that she would be out of her depth in New Japan Pro Wrestling and STARDOM, the multi-time champion would perform beyond expectations to become the first and only women's wrestler to win gold across three major promotions.
It would be easy to believe that a Wrestlemania main eventer would stroll into any arena and not change a thing. But Mercedes actively pursues excellence by remaining in love with the art of the sport and continuing to create innovative ways to adapt to each opponent. That is serious GOAT behavior.
Inspiring Generations of Women to Reach for Greatness
Remember that alternate universe where Mercedes is not the icon we know and love? In that timeline, the women that we enjoy in our colorful fandom are not living their wildest dreams due to Moné's absence. Young stars such as Women's Intercontinental champion Lyra Valkyria, Maya World and Indi Hartwell have cited Mercedes as an inspiration for their pursuit of a wrestling career. Without the courage of Moné and Bayley at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, wrestling does not see multiple main events featuring top female talent such as Stephanie Vaquer, Rhea Ripley, Willow Nightingale, Roxanne Perez and numerous others.
Mercedes has also expressed a deep interest in the future of the business by elevating newer talent by bringing visibility to them. A recent example is her match with Harley Cameron for the AEW TBS Championship at Grand Slam Australia. Cameron got to show how she has grown in-ring by stepping up to the challenge of facing the CEO and now the fanbase will keep their eyes on her in a more substantial way. Moné has also mentioned in her newsletter that she keeps her finger on the pulse of women's sports as a whole and wants to see them get equal star treatment.
To be the greatest of all time, there is a level of self-focus that one must have, but Mercedes uses her influence to lift other women up in an industry that can be competitive. She operates as if she knows that her calling is bigger than herself. A GOAT can go down in history in their field as someone who put up a lot of impressive statistics or ran a decent number of yards in a game. But the greatest way that a person can be remembered is how they inspired others to see truth and purpose in themselves. Mercedes Moné will not only be remembered for her prolific matches, but for how she blazed a trail for women in wrestling to be themselves authentically and know their worth, even when others may not. We not only say hello to our C-E-O, but thank you to our G-O-A-T.