Why Did AEW’s Newest Star Mercedes Moné (aka Sasha Banks) Leave WWE in 2022?

“I know I’m going to be again there at some point, Like I mentioned, I have a lot of unfinished trade in wrestling, in numerous places.”

Mar. 14 2024, Published 3:36 p.m. ET

Mercedes Moné is in the end, officially, All Elite. One of the preferred skilled wrestlers has in spite of everything debuted in All Elite Wrestling after nearly two years away from World Wrestling Entertainment. But why did Mercedes, better known as Sasha Banks, leave WWE?

After months of teases and a Dynamite taping hyped as much as CM Punk’s 2021 debut, Mercedes Moné is again on weekly episodic tv after a decade in WWE and NXT. Maybe we’ll in finding out more about why she left as her presence within the States expands.

Why did Sasha Banks leave WWE?

Professional wrestler Mercedes Moné, aka Sasha Banks in WWE, actual title Mercedes Varnado (we’ll just discuss with her as Mercedes going forward), used to be one in all WWE’s greatest stars, now not just biggest stars in the women’s division. In addition to wrestling, she's acts within the Star Wars sequence The Mandalorian and co-starred in the 2023 motion movie The Collective.

Mercedes closed Night 1 of WrestleMania 37 in 2021 in opposition to Bianca Belair, the first time two African American girls headlined a WWE Premium Live Event (previously referred to as Pay-Per-Views). At WrestleMania 38 in 2022 she received the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship along side Naomi. A few weeks later in May 2022, she and Naomi walked out of the largest wrestling promotion on the planet.

At the time of the May 16, 2022 walkout from Monday Night Raw, PWInsider reported that Naomi and Mercedes left over creative differences with Vince McMahon.

In December 2022 on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that discussion between Mercedes and the WWE broke down over wage: “They [WWE] were speaking to both of them, but that they had been chatting with her a few go back they usually were very a long way apart on cash. What she was once asking for used to be a very high quantity for a WWE lady wrestler, but in the event you have a look at the amount of money that WWE takes in, she would still be underpaid. Everyone from Roman Reigns to Brock Lesnar is underpaid.”

On March 17, 2023, Ringside News reported that Mercedes mentioned why she left at the Planet Comicon in Kansas City: “First of all, no one knows the story. You don’t know the tale, but you’re studying no matter you want to read and consider no matter you want to consider. Nobody knows the tale as a result of I haven’t stated anything else, and I’m now not going to mention anything else because that’s simply the cultured boss that I am. The CEO, but one thing, it’s as much as them.”

Whether Mercedes left WWE over reserving selections, financial repayment, the desire to wrestler for other promotions (in addition to signing with AEW she competed for New Japan Pro-Wrestling and World Wonder Ring Stardom within the first half of 2023), or for more freedom to behave on displays like The Mandalorian, we don’t know. Mercedes nonetheless isn’t announcing exactly what came about.

If WWE wants her, at some point, Mercedes will be again.

Just a couple of days before signing with WWE’s primary competitor, Mercedes gave the impression on The Kick Rocks Wrestling Podcast. While the clip is titled “Mercedes Varnado on why she left WWE,” the wrestler does now not in fact speak about why she left WWE.

She does say, “I do know I’m going to be again there [WWE] someday, OK, so it’s not over. Like I stated, I have numerous unfinished industry in wrestling, in numerous places.”

Until she’s again in the WWE, expect Mercedes at the best of the AEW card.

On her March 13, 2024 AEW debut in her place of birth of Boston, Mercedes stated, “I wish to be right here. I need to be right here. AEW is the only place that may take this revolution world.”

Mercedes and the entire AEW roster be capable to trip the globe when they return to Wembley Arena for AEW All In: London 2024 on Aug. 25, 2024. Mercedes will possibly also return to the rings of Japan; AEW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling even have a working courting.

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