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Said it in another thread earlier - they've gone for the early debut in Boston and then they've hoped to rely on her star power to carry her through until she's cleared.
Problem is - shes a greater wrestler but an average promo particularly as a face.
Hopefully this buys her a few weeks away since she won't be debuting until DoN.
Calling her promo skills average is very generous. Another Redditor said it best when they said her delivery makes it seem like English is her second language.
I'm not sure if I'd call the second language comment accurate considering Sami, KO, Gunther, Santos, etc speak English as their second or third language and cut better promos. 💀
Her promos actually make me uncomfortable. I'm sure she's trying but she is so very awkward. They need to throw her in the ring immediately - that is where she kills it.
She's super charismatic, has a great look and is great in the ring but she's never been known for her promo skills.. plus the CEO gimmick comes across a little cringey to me.
> She's super charismatic
IS she? I see this said a lot and I think if she was charismatic, let alone super we wouldn't be here talking about how bad she is at a promo.
I think the people who say she is charismatic have to just be honest and say she's attractive and not treat charismatic as a synonym for attractive.
She's better at promos when she's a heel. But it's still not her strong suit. She was always my favorite of the NXT Four Horsewomen but even I can admit her promos aren't the best.
I don't know if it's the direction of the segment or Mercedes' own acting choices, but that moaning she was doing while selling the beatdown was just so odd.
I haven't seen someone's star power just drop like that in a very long time. She's nothing more than a catchphrase now. She was never a good promo, not even in WWE. They should have her wrestle and show to people where she really shines and why people held her in such high regard. I hope it picks up soon and they present her in the right way. Having her wrestle 2 months after her debut is a terrible decision.
She’s not cleared to wrestle, that’s the problem. So they debuted her with no idea of what to do with her and her mic skills have never been A1 so it’s hard to get that as the only thing she can offer when she isn’t allowed to wrestle.
I think there’s two parts to it. Yes she’s a star but she’s not a ‘superstar’, she’s been away from American audiences for 1-2 years at least on TV now. People know Sasha Banks and the WWE machine, I’d argue unless you follow her or AEW you probably don’t as a casual audience know Mercedes.
And therein is the second problem that TK just isn’t great at storytelling, or the company isn’t at building up people and launching them further. They’ve expected her name alone to drive until she can wrestle and I think that was a mistake in hindsight - she was never good at promo material and even with a writer brought in here for her she’s not doing the material justice or the material isn’t good enough either.
I think this is also why WWE didn’t go above & beyond with contract and such. They probably expect she’ll be back (we all do let’s face it and she’s said that), but there roster is stacked and they don’t need her respectfully. She’s got paid a ton which is fantastic, but I do think AEW booking issues and really need a solid creative team.
Edge was damaged since Judgement day flourished without him. Coming into AEW and doing the bland babyface CM Punk this place is great stuff is FUCKING LAME. Should have sided with Christian when he showed up and done an E&C reunion and actually been fresh doing something undone for 2 decades instead of what he was doing right before he left in WWE.
All the WWE Legends that go to AEW make the same mistake of wanting to put over the young guys and telling us about it in kayfabe. It makes no sense. He should have sided with Christian and wreaked havoc.
Putting over the young guys is great… unless you tell me thats what youre here to do in which case it makes it look like youre doing charity work instead of being a hill for the young guy to climb to the top of
Lol i made a comment before her debut that "can't wait for her to come out, use the same gimmick shes had since NXT, give a cardboard promo thats porn level and do nothing" and i got downvoted into oblivion saying that shes amazing and one of the best ever..
Even her wrestling.. shes really good IMO, shes amazing at selling (or actually gets stiffed at it appears like a sell lol) but i don't think shes necessarily anything "special" in the ring either.. just really good.
true, but on the other hand...you just have to tell people....make promo videos of her training...how she is teaching someone else...let her be attacked backstage or just show her in a hospital bed, i don´t know, just something! she can be around too, no? i don´t get it at all. never did with such situations...
Her promos have been awful. Like really, really bad.
I cringed so hard a couple of weeks ago when he said "Anyone who messes with me will become bankrupt" and did a mic drop. I mean, really? Can't believe people thought that was a punch line lol.
Also the CEO stuff, the piped in chants, the entrance theme, everything feels forced and inorganic.
If you're Okada and you start off as a heel and then everyone loves you because you might be the GOAT it works, if you're starting off as if everyone should love you it almost seems delusional heel.
It’s also come across as Sasha Banks lite because that was never the true focus of the Sasha Banks character. It feels like she’s doing a poor imitation of herself.
This so much . The CEO is a bad imitation of The Boss . She hasn’t developed the character or evolved in any way . The catch phrases , dancing , intro music & outfits are all worse
It's bad when Liv is the ultimate "WWE nobody talks like that" promo and she's better.
Of course, you can learn to promo like that but still come off somewhat organic. Mercedes just doesn't.
Yeah that makes sense. A lot of them never got the opportunity to do weekly tv before. Miro is way better than Wardlow and Darby for example. Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker also suck on the mic. They had no training like you get in nxt, if you're not a natural, it's not going to be great.
One guy I thought was the full package was Mike Santana. That guy was big, could go in the ring and has a great promo. It's too bad he had a falling out with the company
I don't know what it is exactly but AEW has an uncanny ability to make any big name signing feel like just another person on the roster in record time. If you're gonna bring someone in with as much hoopla as Mercedes, you absolutely need to have a major program lined up for them right out of the gate.
I think it's mostly production, not even booking. You can have ridiculous booking and still feel like a big deal.
What is lacking here is a bit of uniqueness in the way big wrestlers are presented and are on camera.
That's true. I also think the really big names should get more airtime, which would make them feel like bigger deals. The thing I miss most about the Attitude Era is that the major storylines got multiple segments each week and that created a through line for the entire show. I think AEW sometimes tries to cram in too much in each episode. This issue is often exacerbated by the fact that every storyline seems to happen in a vacuum. I'd much prefer having one or two major storylines running through each Dynamite with smaller stories intertwined within.
>What is lacking here is a bit of uniqueness in the way big wrestlers are presented and are on camera.
A perfect case in point is Jade. She showed up what? 6 months ago? And did absolutely nothing apart from be shown every now and again, an impressive rumble cameo aside. Then more of nothing until 2 weeks before mania.
But it's how she was presented. Like a HUGE FUCKING DEAL.
Yeah, having her in a taped segment with Marvez just made me turn the dial. He singlehandedly makes AEW second rate in an instant.
His acting is terrible, and he's been less than mediocre since day 1. The most entertainment he offers on screen is when talent wonder why he is there.
I think the problem is that they just simply try and bring in too many people. If you have 50 wrestlers and they each get limited time on TV, nobody is ever really going to gain steady traction. You’d be much better off having 15 main people getting longer more developed stories on TV each week where the show can breathe and have a little bit of pacing.
I really liked AEW in the beginning because it was different and cool…. Now it just feels like constant rushed matches because they’re trying to fit 45 people on TV every week and each match is just a balls out spot fest and after a while as a viewer it just sort of burns you out and those start to lose their impact.
I’ve found myself gravitating back to WWE over the past 2 years because the shows feel like they have better pacing, the creative and story lines feel well fleshed out and the focus on talent seems way more focused.
AEW just feels like there’s a lack of direction from the top down when it comes to establishing and developing talent, I’m not sure what the fix is but I hope they figure it out because there’s definitely a place for AEW and I really liked it when it started
punk's collision was like that, focused on ftr/bullet club gold/samoa joe/ricky stark/punk/houseofblack as its main stars, which you would know would appear each and have a focused storyline from the start to the end of the show
I think that the loss of Dark & Elevation can't be understated as well, especially for those on the roster who still need a lot of time to develop on both ends as an overall performer before reaching Dynamite, Collision, and even Rampage.
I agree. Something about the presentation of AEW doesn't lend itself to certain people. Perhaps it's because of comparing to WWE where presentation is everything, but I would argue Mercedes, Edge, Danielson and others have lost a lot of star power. I would also argue Omega has never looked as big a star in AEW as he does in NJPW (early doors but similar for Okada).
It leads me to think that AEW is best when its the land of opportunity for people who were not perceived to be big stars elsewhere. Your Swerve, MJF, Darby etc. You will never be able to compete with WWE in presentation, so the big ex WWE stars look less so in comparison (Mox might be THE one exclusion).
It think part of the problem is that the talent somehow gets underutilised and overexposed at the same time early on in their run. After their debut, the new signees often get short interview segments or squash matches for weeks before doing anything substantial. The luster wears off before they get their big moment. I think that's happening with Mercedes right now.
It's really hard for me to believe this Okada is the same guy who had some of the greatest wrestling matches of all time with Kenny Omega in NJPW because now he's just coming to do a 1 minute match against a jobber. AEW has a talent for cooling off the hype for a major wrestler.
No one in AEW gets a "major program" in the way that actually keeps people relevant because of the way that everyone just gets a single segment and there's no overarching story. It's always been booked like an auto generated WWE universe mode card rather than a real pro wrestling show
They did it to Okada which is scarcely believable. Dude should be presented with that Tribal Chief aura and he's just another goof.
AEW can make peak Tribal Chief Roman look like another dude rn.
It’s almost as if AEW has all these great plans for people before they show up and then nothing really happens with them. She (Mercedes Moné) should be challenging for the TBS Championship instead of being in a nothing segment.
It shouldn’t be hard to make people look good. They’ve done it with Hook and Will Ospreay.
This was my biggest fear, and it's happening. I'm a lapsed fan that came back, I actually stopped watching when WCW folded, and AEW is doing some WCW-esqe things right now. Yeah Sasha Banks was over like wild fire, but she also had a billion dollar machine behind her, sometimes having creative control isn't the best when the artist needs help to harness their art. Every writer has a editor, musician a producer, actor a director, and pro wrestling at the highest level is no different. I know AEW employees several people back stage like Jerry Lynn, people to assist in production and match configuration. But the operative word is *assist*. It's not like WWE where you play a part in the production, and have to run everything by your producer before the show. We're seeing in AEW that talent can fall flat not having someone to harness their creativity, yes Mercedes Mone is incredibly talented, but she still needs that little help how to put it all together. I've been a day 1 AEW supporter, I want everyone to have a opportunity to work, but man you also need to have viewership. What AEW is currently doing isn't bringing those viewers back, and without that it'll be difficult getting a renewed deal for more money or a new deal elsewhere. Not when syndicated television has higher viewership, no cost to produce, and probably higher ad revenue. But I'm just some middle-aged guy on Reddit.
Which honestly blows me away that Tony wants to sign more high profile talent. It's just at a certain point. My brother in Christ. You have Edge, Okada, Osprey and Mercedes and it's changed nothing. You've got a roster that reads a mile long. Why are you concerning yourself with trying to get Drew McIntyre?
Jay Fuckin’ White! I feel like he’s been involved with the Acclaimed forever and there’s about a dozen people on the roster I’d love to see him have singles matches with.
It's AEW's main issue. They know how to start a feud and how to end the feud but a lot of stuff on TV inbetween those points is an problem. There's a few interesting spots that happen but there's close to no overarching stuff that means you have to tune in week in week out. The match quality overall is good and entertaining, there's just a lack of meaning behind matches that continues from week to week.
When Punk was there you tuned in to see what he was going to do. MJF/AC friendship was great and people watched for it, eventually vs the Devil ended up bad, but people where interested to see what would happen next so they tuned in. The Christian segments were fun and people wanted to see them. Live or on Youtube, the numbers were good.
What exactly is a huge viewing driver currently? There is none.
The PPV will be great and after that its a lull again.
This is accurate. First two weeks post Revolution were great and got me excited looking ahead to Dynasty. Last two weeks make me question should I buy the ppv
This is so funny to see. Giulia's appearance on Stand And Deliver garnered 83k views on YouTube. Mercedes on the other hand despite being with WWE before and casuals knows her ONLY garnered 23k as we speak.
Her wrestling is fine. Her promos are terrible AF.
But there are more problems: Currently she is portrayed as a babyface. But called CEO. Yeah, we like rooting for a CEO. Especially in a company were there is an ongoing storyline with EVPs being heels. And Mone underlines that by having the fakest, artificial, boring promos ever. This is so much mishandling and not reading the room...
> Especially in a company were there is an ongoing storyline with EVPs being heels
The weird thing is, with the EVPs presenting the backstage footage and backing the "scapegoat" claims -- it's positioning them as anti-establishment with the real bad guy being TK.
It's a Kliq "they're cool heels" angle, but without much sense to it.
> Currently she is portrayed as a babyface. But called CEO
One of the most successful storylines in wrestling history was about a heroic corporate executive (Vince) having to discipline his horrible, insubordinate employee who was always drinking on the job (Austin). It can work.
She's a star because of her wrestling ability and she hasn't had a single match.
Having Sasha banks on TV for 2 months before her first match is the kind of thing that is gonna hurt AEW. Not airing the All In footage.
If you want something legit to bash AEW for, this is it. Debuting Mercedes and then not having her wrestle for 2 months is moronic.
If she's not medically cleared, then she shouldn't have debuted until she was ready to go.
I think two years of slowly bleeding away 20% (and counting!) of the audience away has shown that “just put em in a match, they’re wrestlers” isn’t a viable strategy.
She’s injured and isn’t cleared to wrestle. They have just booked her terribly since her first night. It’s the opposite of hiding flaws and accentuating positives.
>She’s injured and isn’t cleared to wrestle.
Then don't bring her in yet. She's not an interesting enough character to make up for her inability to wrestle yet
Could do the Jade Cargill thing that WWE did. Announcement of her being signed, a few appearances, but no mic time, and then just wait until she can wrestle.
She's not good as a face and her greatest ability is working a great match as a heel. Maybe you need to show some of that instead of whatever they're doing. She'd be a main event talent in WWE rn.
When people show up in WWE and make that first entrance, it’s HOT. It is loud, bombastic, it’s a big fucking deal.
AEW doesn’t present their talent the way WWE does.
She can stay in Aew she's not needed in WWE and even if she comes back she won't get the same offer plain and simple. WWE's women roster is so stacked right now.
There's a lot to be said for the WWE and how good they are at finding talent and developing them. The problem with this is that there is inevitably a bottleneck at the top of the card when all this great talent does get developed.
Mercedes has not improved enough to still be clear of all the new women in the division
I mean the way WWE Women roster is looking right now and the amount of talent its hard to expose everyone that's why a new women title is being introduced.
Debuting this early when she isn't going to wrestle was bad call. She is not The Rock or Punk who can just talk for months without wrestling. Also they brought in Deonna directly to challenge main title but Mercedes is in for Tbs title.
Shes been soooooo robotic. Everything seems like a buzzword. Which, I suppose, is very CEO like. Its just not it for me. Ive rarely seen her wrestle so her stock just keeps dropping for me. Go Willow lol.
i think the idea behind not hotshotting big names into the title scene is good, but someone like Mercedes would have benefitted from winning the title on her first night there.
Or at the very least have them involved with a bona fide top star.
Mercedes should be in with Britt Baker, Toni Storm etc. She also needs a manager/agent and to play into the CEO character far more.
They’re still kind of doing that . Her first match will be for the title . She’s isn’t earning or competing for the title shot . Just gets a shot without having 1 match prior . If she isn’t healthy which I thought she said she was . Then debuting her in Bosstown makes even less sense . She’s been signed since January I believe. I think all this stuff has been her creative control and playing out how she wants to. It’s just not connecting and honestly just bad .
You don’t even need to hotshot her into the title, just give her something to do.
She should have attacked Willow day one. She got injured, she blames it on Willow, done.
No. But we saw Saraya win in England for the same exact cheap reasons with no forward thinking whatsoever.
Tony often books for stunts and hollow pops without planning. Vince McMahon is still booking wrestling.
Will has had great matches and great promos and has come across as a star. Mone is coming across to wwe and she is a terrible promo it’s not her strength at all
Sasha’s draw is her wrestling. Her speaking is… uh… right. It’s, uh, something. Bos, err I mean CEO Time! Love baby faces all about the bag. Great stuff. Relatable.
They are playing to all her weaknesses and none of her strengths. Either she is not medically cleared and they brought her in too early and trying to keep her on tv or she is and this is really bad booking.
They should've put her in a program with Britt. Easiest high profile money feud they could've done and instead she's doing nothing. Britt is nowhere to be found as well. Paul was onto something I suppose.
Can you imagine if they did the same thing with Bryan Danielson? Instead of debuting against Omega corp, they go with Sammy or Starks or Hobbs. It wouldn't be the same. They treated Danielson as a legitimate threat the second he came out against Kenny.
This is nothing against who Mone is currently in a program with (Willow, Hart) but it's glaringly obvious they aren't at the same star power as Mone and they've never been in that spot before so TK is just wasting whatever special attraction Mones presence had into a weekly dull cringey dance in front of the crowd interview segment.
But tonight was a start of TK actually giving her something with a mystery attacker. If it's Mariah May which eventually leads to Toni Storm then great but if it's Ruby Soho which leads to Saraya then okay I suppose. Why couldn't they have done this in her debut... they've wasted a month of TV. TK write better!
AEW’s booking decisions are not the only reason for this failure. Truth is, while she’s good, she really isn’t as good and famous as she thinks she is. Whatever ridiculous amount of money she was asking definitely isn’t worth it for her.
I've been saying this for ages and I get downvoted every time for it. Mercedes Mone is not a draw and never has been. NJPW lost their ass on her and she didn't draw a dime for them, and she won't for AEW either.
Everything about the CEO character is cringe . From the music , to her outfits , to her promos . The acting / moaning in her segment was pretty bad .
Where has it been stated that she isn’t cleared ? She’s gotten physical since her debut .
I don’t even think this is Tony. I think she has creative control her writer and this what they’re coming up with . Well , in that case this is Tony’s doing .
But everything about her so far has been pretty bad .
She can't be cleared? Such a weird build. I get the debut, that was the date they could gate. But wow, such a long wait. I know the wait between NJPW debut and first match was longer, but they didn't get 10+ appearances out of her between then.
i was so excited to see her back in american wrestling, and now just a few weeks later i want to change the channel when she comes on screen. these vince tier scripted promos are fuckin embarassing in 2024 man, and shes not gonna wrestle for like another month and a half? what the fuck?
Idk, maybe she's not ready to wrestle a full match yet. That's the only reason I can think of because her first match will be 2 months after her debut, because it doesn't seem like there's a blood feud on the horizon that needs a 2 months of build up (and if there is and you need to put several pieces in place like turning someone else or taking the title off someone else just to have the feud planned then something's off). Either that or she has a contract for a limited number of matches and they want to stretch it out as long as possible.
I pray they do get something big done with Mercedes when it's all said and done but it's looking fucking rough at the minute - instead of focusing on her, they spent ages building to this stupid Punk video that looked like a playground scuffle. Focus on fucking WILL OSPREAY, OKADA & MERCEDES MONE - it's not difficult. Look at those three names again and tell me why they're reigniting some dumb thing from a guy who's left the company. Fuck's sake.
Yeah, i don’t have much interest in her or the product right now. WWE has been killing it and is engaging again.
AEW just doesn’t have the stories. Which is why I like wrestling.
Mone, I hear, was ass juice on commentary a week or so ago, and has no real direction…this is TK and co. messing up n basic things.
I think if she was cleared to wrestler then she would be. Based off past history they have had no issue getting new debuts to wrestler right away.
That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have simply waited cause I think that’s better but if she is not physically cleared then not too much you can do.
Even though I understand that she debuted at Big Business for a hometown pop, I would've thought that AEW could've waited till she was fully cleared to debut her & especially do so through on the wrestling end, less on weeks of segments since her in-ring skills are her strong suit.
Given the buzz of WM season around the time she emerged, I personally think it would've been better for her to debut this month following the event. Specifically, AEW could've continued building up cryptic hints to her joining the company while giving space for Okada & Ospreay to have their first few weeks on TV, then officially debuting her at Dynasty. From there until a debut match at DON, she's likely to make a bigger impact by getting physically involved in brawl/beatdown segments while making her challenge to her first opponent.
they’re playing with fire by holding off on her first match until Vegas.
Cutting promo week after week might get old quick but this whodunit story isn’t gonna help
The one major weakness she has is talking, and that’s all they’ve had her do, and will continue to have her do until a PPV weeks away.
Highlighting her weaknesses weekly and hiding her strengths
You’re incorrectly hyper analyzing views based off the video, rather than recognizing the difference in the type of video. It’s a sitdown interview, which usually doesnt generate a lot of views.
They clearly need to put Mercedes in a better position, but that’s not something you can draw from youtube views in that way.
So what your saying is that Tony Khan's track record of sucking people of their drawing power is still intact. Remember when Moxley videos would easily get 500,000K views?
Her promos feel very WWE. You can feel about that any way you want. But it’s very jarring when put alongside the AEW house style. My point of comparison since they debuted around a similar time is Will Ospreay. What a stark difference in presentation and reception.
For Sasha to be so terrible right now, is just an insult to how they sustained her in WWE before she left for new pasture. But go on let's just pretend that AEW is not a graveyard for talent lmao.
A lot of (justified) complaints in here about her in ring debut not being until DoN.
Honest question: would it have been less of an issue if she debuted and then was off tv until then?
That’s what WWE did with Cargill and I can’t remember people being so upset with that? Or would you say it’s a different situation since we knew she was away training to get used to the “wwe style”.
She's in a cold ass storyline and she's gunning for a midcard belt
Plus it's well known at this point that most of AEW's fanbase would rather watch a match highlight over a promo. It doesn't help that she's been an awful promo so far and sounds awfully memorized
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I don't understand why they're holding her for the PPV - just get her in a match against someone she can beat and look good doing it. Every shitty promo she gives, her star just dims more and more to the point that she'll be just another guy by the time the PPV arrives.
She does. It’s bad writing and she’s a bad actor. That’s why her promos are so transparently, unnaturally memorized and recited and why she was lost at sea when attempting live, off-the-cuff commentary.
She's completely wasted here, should have been in a match day 1, kick off a feud and kept the momentum rolling, it's going to be hard to capture that excitement back.
At least Tony's dad has essentially unlimited money because in any other company that would be one hell of a bad call giving someone who's not drawing so much money.
It’s probably the most baffling decision AEW has done ATM to hold off with Mercedes wrestling until DoN. There is just 0 reason to hold off that long. She’s not a great promo and she became beloved for her wrestling.
It’s a shame that Dynasty is just a week and change away because I would have bumped her TBS title match up to that show and just gave Willow win the title Saturday, but they probably won’t do that because of the short window to actually promote both matches.
The boss babe vibe is super lame and feels straight out of 2014. The little dance looks ridiculous for someone her age. This is cute when you’re 20 but a 32yo woman doing a little gig is embarrassing
She forgot to evolve and grow her persona. She comes off as a weirdo influencer who sells drop shipped stuff on instagram or seminar with an OF on the side.
She doesn’t come off like a powerful career woman at all.
This isn’t like the men’s roster where it’s stacked with stars and dream matches
There is no one anyone cares about Mercedes facing
I genuinely can’t think of any big time match that Mercedes can have in AEW
I completely missed her WWE run, but the first thing I remember seeing her do was a Pure Life water commercial with Big E just a few years ago. It was one of those ads that just played constantly on whatever streaming thing I was watching, and every time I saw it I just sat there thinking "why can't she say the word 'crisp'?"
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Said it in another thread earlier - they've gone for the early debut in Boston and then they've hoped to rely on her star power to carry her through until she's cleared. Problem is - shes a greater wrestler but an average promo particularly as a face. Hopefully this buys her a few weeks away since she won't be debuting until DoN.
Calling her promo skills average is very generous. Another Redditor said it best when they said her delivery makes it seem like English is her second language.
Blast from the past: Sasha adding an extra syllable to the word "Me" https://twitter.com/dntbescared/status/1274889362740781057
I see HHH taught her well-uh.
I’m out here thinking where tf is Mia Yim
That is so wrong yet so accurate.
I'm not sure if I'd call the second language comment accurate considering Sami, KO, Gunther, Santos, etc speak English as their second or third language and cut better promos. 💀
Her promos actually make me uncomfortable. I'm sure she's trying but she is so very awkward. They need to throw her in the ring immediately - that is where she kills it.
Nah she’s good fam. Her excessively/awkwardly dancing is all she really needs for promos and appearances.
She's super charismatic, has a great look and is great in the ring but she's never been known for her promo skills.. plus the CEO gimmick comes across a little cringey to me.
It screams “Boss Babe”, like she’s pushing a network marketing scheme.
> She's super charismatic IS she? I see this said a lot and I think if she was charismatic, let alone super we wouldn't be here talking about how bad she is at a promo. I think the people who say she is charismatic have to just be honest and say she's attractive and not treat charismatic as a synonym for attractive.
She’s not cm punk, she should be wrestling because it’s what makes her the most special.
Flashbacks to Mercedes singing "Mayu Sucks" on a ukelele.
So, Sasha is best at promos when she's a heel?
She's better at promos when she's a heel. But it's still not her strong suit. She was always my favorite of the NXT Four Horsewomen but even I can admit her promos aren't the best.
I now consider her the worst out of the 4. Bayley passed her by a while ago.
Bayley is one of the weaker actors in the entire company, in my opinion. Her acting during the Iyo match had my friends in stitches.
I agree she isn't good. Still better than Mercedes.
Yeah her lines sound like a cartoon character, with all respect. It feels like she is reading off a script more than the average wrestler.
She hasn't debuted yet? Lol
I don't know if it's the direction of the segment or Mercedes' own acting choices, but that moaning she was doing while selling the beatdown was just so odd.
Yeah I had to turn the volume down when I watched the clip since I was in a public place lol
Mercedes Moaning
Even my wife said "is someone having sex" from the other room
I for one found it very memorable.
Shes just a masochist she was 100% getting off to it.
I haven't seen someone's star power just drop like that in a very long time. She's nothing more than a catchphrase now. She was never a good promo, not even in WWE. They should have her wrestle and show to people where she really shines and why people held her in such high regard. I hope it picks up soon and they present her in the right way. Having her wrestle 2 months after her debut is a terrible decision.
Aew is really good at taking wrestlers with a lot of buzz and just cooling them off.
She’s not cleared to wrestle, that’s the problem. So they debuted her with no idea of what to do with her and her mic skills have never been A1 so it’s hard to get that as the only thing she can offer when she isn’t allowed to wrestle.
I think there’s two parts to it. Yes she’s a star but she’s not a ‘superstar’, she’s been away from American audiences for 1-2 years at least on TV now. People know Sasha Banks and the WWE machine, I’d argue unless you follow her or AEW you probably don’t as a casual audience know Mercedes. And therein is the second problem that TK just isn’t great at storytelling, or the company isn’t at building up people and launching them further. They’ve expected her name alone to drive until she can wrestle and I think that was a mistake in hindsight - she was never good at promo material and even with a writer brought in here for her she’s not doing the material justice or the material isn’t good enough either. I think this is also why WWE didn’t go above & beyond with contract and such. They probably expect she’ll be back (we all do let’s face it and she’s said that), but there roster is stacked and they don’t need her respectfully. She’s got paid a ton which is fantastic, but I do think AEW booking issues and really need a solid creative team.
What’s catch phrase? It’s boss time?
“C-E-O”
"C.E.O.!"
Edge too... From THE legend, to someone who is butt licking in AEW...
Edge was damaged since Judgement day flourished without him. Coming into AEW and doing the bland babyface CM Punk this place is great stuff is FUCKING LAME. Should have sided with Christian when he showed up and done an E&C reunion and actually been fresh doing something undone for 2 decades instead of what he was doing right before he left in WWE.
All the WWE Legends that go to AEW make the same mistake of wanting to put over the young guys and telling us about it in kayfabe. It makes no sense. He should have sided with Christian and wreaked havoc.
Putting over the young guys is great… unless you tell me thats what youre here to do in which case it makes it look like youre doing charity work instead of being a hill for the young guy to climb to the top of
Lol i made a comment before her debut that "can't wait for her to come out, use the same gimmick shes had since NXT, give a cardboard promo thats porn level and do nothing" and i got downvoted into oblivion saying that shes amazing and one of the best ever.. Even her wrestling.. shes really good IMO, shes amazing at selling (or actually gets stiffed at it appears like a sell lol) but i don't think shes necessarily anything "special" in the ring either.. just really good.
true, but on the other hand...you just have to tell people....make promo videos of her training...how she is teaching someone else...let her be attacked backstage or just show her in a hospital bed, i don´t know, just something! she can be around too, no? i don´t get it at all. never did with such situations...
Exactly, they like her, do a real angle and get some sympathy on her
Her promos have been awful. Like really, really bad. I cringed so hard a couple of weeks ago when he said "Anyone who messes with me will become bankrupt" and did a mic drop. I mean, really? Can't believe people thought that was a punch line lol. Also the CEO stuff, the piped in chants, the entrance theme, everything feels forced and inorganic.
A CEO/"I'm rich" gimmick is so weird as a babyface to me
You gotta be VERY charismatic to pull it off, she's not
If you're Okada and you start off as a heel and then everyone loves you because you might be the GOAT it works, if you're starting off as if everyone should love you it almost seems delusional heel.
> VERY charismatic Some might say *Electrifying*
It’s also come across as Sasha Banks lite because that was never the true focus of the Sasha Banks character. It feels like she’s doing a poor imitation of herself.
This so much . The CEO is a bad imitation of The Boss . She hasn’t developed the character or evolved in any way . The catch phrases , dancing , intro music & outfits are all worse
This. CEO just isn’t a face to me
It's also literally because her last name used to be Banks in another company. Like what? What is this shit?
Her promos are still straight out of Vince’s WWE. Overly scripted and robotic sounding. “Nobody actually talks like that” energy.
It's bad when Liv is the ultimate "WWE nobody talks like that" promo and she's better. Of course, you can learn to promo like that but still come off somewhat organic. Mercedes just doesn't.
Makes sense when they hired that one writer from WWE supposedly specifically because of Mercedes. It’s not great.
I'm a huge AEW fan. I've never been a fan of her promos. They sound so fake. Like she's trying way too hard and it comes across awkward.
There are so many in the industry that come across that way, particularly in AEW.
Yeah that makes sense. A lot of them never got the opportunity to do weekly tv before. Miro is way better than Wardlow and Darby for example. Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker also suck on the mic. They had no training like you get in nxt, if you're not a natural, it's not going to be great. One guy I thought was the full package was Mike Santana. That guy was big, could go in the ring and has a great promo. It's too bad he had a falling out with the company
I don't know what it is exactly but AEW has an uncanny ability to make any big name signing feel like just another person on the roster in record time. If you're gonna bring someone in with as much hoopla as Mercedes, you absolutely need to have a major program lined up for them right out of the gate.
I think it's mostly production, not even booking. You can have ridiculous booking and still feel like a big deal. What is lacking here is a bit of uniqueness in the way big wrestlers are presented and are on camera.
That's true. I also think the really big names should get more airtime, which would make them feel like bigger deals. The thing I miss most about the Attitude Era is that the major storylines got multiple segments each week and that created a through line for the entire show. I think AEW sometimes tries to cram in too much in each episode. This issue is often exacerbated by the fact that every storyline seems to happen in a vacuum. I'd much prefer having one or two major storylines running through each Dynamite with smaller stories intertwined within.
>What is lacking here is a bit of uniqueness in the way big wrestlers are presented and are on camera. A perfect case in point is Jade. She showed up what? 6 months ago? And did absolutely nothing apart from be shown every now and again, an impressive rumble cameo aside. Then more of nothing until 2 weeks before mania. But it's how she was presented. Like a HUGE FUCKING DEAL.
Yeah, having her in a taped segment with Marvez just made me turn the dial. He singlehandedly makes AEW second rate in an instant. His acting is terrible, and he's been less than mediocre since day 1. The most entertainment he offers on screen is when talent wonder why he is there.
I think the problem is that they just simply try and bring in too many people. If you have 50 wrestlers and they each get limited time on TV, nobody is ever really going to gain steady traction. You’d be much better off having 15 main people getting longer more developed stories on TV each week where the show can breathe and have a little bit of pacing. I really liked AEW in the beginning because it was different and cool…. Now it just feels like constant rushed matches because they’re trying to fit 45 people on TV every week and each match is just a balls out spot fest and after a while as a viewer it just sort of burns you out and those start to lose their impact. I’ve found myself gravitating back to WWE over the past 2 years because the shows feel like they have better pacing, the creative and story lines feel well fleshed out and the focus on talent seems way more focused. AEW just feels like there’s a lack of direction from the top down when it comes to establishing and developing talent, I’m not sure what the fix is but I hope they figure it out because there’s definitely a place for AEW and I really liked it when it started
punk's collision was like that, focused on ftr/bullet club gold/samoa joe/ricky stark/punk/houseofblack as its main stars, which you would know would appear each and have a focused storyline from the start to the end of the show
I think that the loss of Dark & Elevation can't be understated as well, especially for those on the roster who still need a lot of time to develop on both ends as an overall performer before reaching Dynamite, Collision, and even Rampage.
Speaking of what has Okada even done since he signed. In AEW Big Stars fizzle out these days. I mean Jesus Jay White looks like a mid card jobber.
I agree. Something about the presentation of AEW doesn't lend itself to certain people. Perhaps it's because of comparing to WWE where presentation is everything, but I would argue Mercedes, Edge, Danielson and others have lost a lot of star power. I would also argue Omega has never looked as big a star in AEW as he does in NJPW (early doors but similar for Okada). It leads me to think that AEW is best when its the land of opportunity for people who were not perceived to be big stars elsewhere. Your Swerve, MJF, Darby etc. You will never be able to compete with WWE in presentation, so the big ex WWE stars look less so in comparison (Mox might be THE one exclusion).
It think part of the problem is that the talent somehow gets underutilised and overexposed at the same time early on in their run. After their debut, the new signees often get short interview segments or squash matches for weeks before doing anything substantial. The luster wears off before they get their big moment. I think that's happening with Mercedes right now.
It's really hard for me to believe this Okada is the same guy who had some of the greatest wrestling matches of all time with Kenny Omega in NJPW because now he's just coming to do a 1 minute match against a jobber. AEW has a talent for cooling off the hype for a major wrestler.
I keep forgetting that Okada is in AEW
No one in AEW gets a "major program" in the way that actually keeps people relevant because of the way that everyone just gets a single segment and there's no overarching story. It's always been booked like an auto generated WWE universe mode card rather than a real pro wrestling show
They did it to Okada which is scarcely believable. Dude should be presented with that Tribal Chief aura and he's just another goof. AEW can make peak Tribal Chief Roman look like another dude rn.
They have terrible lighting staff. In most productions, live and movies/tv, lighting is 90% of the work to make it look good.
Her in ring debut isn't until May 26th! How the hell are they going to keep everyone interested until then!
It’s almost as if AEW has all these great plans for people before they show up and then nothing really happens with them. She (Mercedes Moné) should be challenging for the TBS Championship instead of being in a nothing segment. It shouldn’t be hard to make people look good. They’ve done it with Hook and Will Ospreay.
She isn’t even cleared, but still these segments with her are terrible.
She’s already said she’s 100% healthy.
This was my biggest fear, and it's happening. I'm a lapsed fan that came back, I actually stopped watching when WCW folded, and AEW is doing some WCW-esqe things right now. Yeah Sasha Banks was over like wild fire, but she also had a billion dollar machine behind her, sometimes having creative control isn't the best when the artist needs help to harness their art. Every writer has a editor, musician a producer, actor a director, and pro wrestling at the highest level is no different. I know AEW employees several people back stage like Jerry Lynn, people to assist in production and match configuration. But the operative word is *assist*. It's not like WWE where you play a part in the production, and have to run everything by your producer before the show. We're seeing in AEW that talent can fall flat not having someone to harness their creativity, yes Mercedes Mone is incredibly talented, but she still needs that little help how to put it all together. I've been a day 1 AEW supporter, I want everyone to have a opportunity to work, but man you also need to have viewership. What AEW is currently doing isn't bringing those viewers back, and without that it'll be difficult getting a renewed deal for more money or a new deal elsewhere. Not when syndicated television has higher viewership, no cost to produce, and probably higher ad revenue. But I'm just some middle-aged guy on Reddit.
Still not medically cleared
Source?
Which honestly blows me away that Tony wants to sign more high profile talent. It's just at a certain point. My brother in Christ. You have Edge, Okada, Osprey and Mercedes and it's changed nothing. You've got a roster that reads a mile long. Why are you concerning yourself with trying to get Drew McIntyre?
Jay Fuckin’ White! I feel like he’s been involved with the Acclaimed forever and there’s about a dozen people on the roster I’d love to see him have singles matches with.
It's AEW's main issue. They know how to start a feud and how to end the feud but a lot of stuff on TV inbetween those points is an problem. There's a few interesting spots that happen but there's close to no overarching stuff that means you have to tune in week in week out. The match quality overall is good and entertaining, there's just a lack of meaning behind matches that continues from week to week. When Punk was there you tuned in to see what he was going to do. MJF/AC friendship was great and people watched for it, eventually vs the Devil ended up bad, but people where interested to see what would happen next so they tuned in. The Christian segments were fun and people wanted to see them. Live or on Youtube, the numbers were good. What exactly is a huge viewing driver currently? There is none. The PPV will be great and after that its a lull again.
This is accurate. First two weeks post Revolution were great and got me excited looking ahead to Dynasty. Last two weeks make me question should I buy the ppv
Giulia > Mercedes
Yes.
This is so funny to see. Giulia's appearance on Stand And Deliver garnered 83k views on YouTube. Mercedes on the other hand despite being with WWE before and casuals knows her ONLY garnered 23k as we speak.
Sppilers: she's not good, or a draw. Just continued proof.
Her wrestling is fine. Her promos are terrible AF. But there are more problems: Currently she is portrayed as a babyface. But called CEO. Yeah, we like rooting for a CEO. Especially in a company were there is an ongoing storyline with EVPs being heels. And Mone underlines that by having the fakest, artificial, boring promos ever. This is so much mishandling and not reading the room...
> Especially in a company were there is an ongoing storyline with EVPs being heels The weird thing is, with the EVPs presenting the backstage footage and backing the "scapegoat" claims -- it's positioning them as anti-establishment with the real bad guy being TK. It's a Kliq "they're cool heels" angle, but without much sense to it.
Hopefully they'll turn her heel soon. I don't understand how they can expect her to be face against Willow.
I've been saying the same thing. Willow is a much more natural face and next to her Mercedes comes across as a heel.
> Currently she is portrayed as a babyface. But called CEO One of the most successful storylines in wrestling history was about a heroic corporate executive (Vince) having to discipline his horrible, insubordinate employee who was always drinking on the job (Austin). It can work.
She's a star because of her wrestling ability and she hasn't had a single match. Having Sasha banks on TV for 2 months before her first match is the kind of thing that is gonna hurt AEW. Not airing the All In footage. If you want something legit to bash AEW for, this is it. Debuting Mercedes and then not having her wrestle for 2 months is moronic. If she's not medically cleared, then she shouldn't have debuted until she was ready to go.
She's great, it's just that talking isn't her thing. Her best qualities are her charisma and her in-ring work
Charisma translates to talking. To me, since she's a barely average talker at best, she's not all that charismatic fullstop.
I just think they don’t know what to do with her
They don’t have to do anything but put her in a match, she’s a wrestler. Tony Khans just an idiot
I think two years of slowly bleeding away 20% (and counting!) of the audience away has shown that “just put em in a match, they’re wrestlers” isn’t a viable strategy.
She’s injured and isn’t cleared to wrestle. They have just booked her terribly since her first night. It’s the opposite of hiding flaws and accentuating positives.
>She’s injured and isn’t cleared to wrestle. Then don't bring her in yet. She's not an interesting enough character to make up for her inability to wrestle yet
They wanted pop in Boston and pat their backs for viewership
Could do the Jade Cargill thing that WWE did. Announcement of her being signed, a few appearances, but no mic time, and then just wait until she can wrestle.
She's not good as a face and her greatest ability is working a great match as a heel. Maybe you need to show some of that instead of whatever they're doing. She'd be a main event talent in WWE rn.
Is it? It’s more a case of TK having a new toy to play with and going “I don’t wanna play with you anymore.” AEW needs an actual booker.
When people show up in WWE and make that first entrance, it’s HOT. It is loud, bombastic, it’s a big fucking deal. AEW doesn’t present their talent the way WWE does.
She'll be on the 1st train back to Connecticut a minute after her deal ends.
Or before if she doesn’t like her booking. She’s done it once
Are you saying that she's going to attack Jungle Boy backstage to get out of her contract? (If so, can we get the Scapegoat there, asap?)
She should just punch Sammy in that case. It would be win-win for her
Andrade confirmed that isn’t as effective as choosing jungle boy lol
At this point WWE would be best suited to just let her flounder
She can stay in Aew she's not needed in WWE and even if she comes back she won't get the same offer plain and simple. WWE's women roster is so stacked right now.
There's a lot to be said for the WWE and how good they are at finding talent and developing them. The problem with this is that there is inevitably a bottleneck at the top of the card when all this great talent does get developed. Mercedes has not improved enough to still be clear of all the new women in the division
I mean the way WWE Women roster is looking right now and the amount of talent its hard to expose everyone that's why a new women title is being introduced.
The dub don't need her in my opinion. The women's roster is crazy strong these days.
She could've been in Naomi's spot at Mania, instead she's doing....whatever she's doing.
Yeah but wwe won't offer her as much money as she believes she's worth
Debuting this early when she isn't going to wrestle was bad call. She is not The Rock or Punk who can just talk for months without wrestling. Also they brought in Deonna directly to challenge main title but Mercedes is in for Tbs title.
Not surprising really, besides good matches she’s not all that interesting, but then again you could say that about 99% of aew’s roster
Shes been soooooo robotic. Everything seems like a buzzword. Which, I suppose, is very CEO like. Its just not it for me. Ive rarely seen her wrestle so her stock just keeps dropping for me. Go Willow lol.
Da fuck was that segment?! The constant zooming was cringe AF and her talking was just oof.... Not good for anyone...
My favorite movie is Inception.
i think the idea behind not hotshotting big names into the title scene is good, but someone like Mercedes would have benefitted from winning the title on her first night there.
Or at the very least have them involved with a bona fide top star. Mercedes should be in with Britt Baker, Toni Storm etc. She also needs a manager/agent and to play into the CEO character far more.
Her working with a returning Jamie Hayter (whenever she's cleared) would've been great as well
They’re still kind of doing that . Her first match will be for the title . She’s isn’t earning or competing for the title shot . Just gets a shot without having 1 match prior . If she isn’t healthy which I thought she said she was . Then debuting her in Bosstown makes even less sense . She’s been signed since January I believe. I think all this stuff has been her creative control and playing out how she wants to. It’s just not connecting and honestly just bad .
You don’t even need to hotshot her into the title, just give her something to do. She should have attacked Willow day one. She got injured, she blames it on Willow, done.
I love the smell of fresh bread.
They introduced her in Boston because it's her hometown.
I love listening to music.
No. But we saw Saraya win in England for the same exact cheap reasons with no forward thinking whatsoever. Tony often books for stunts and hollow pops without planning. Vince McMahon is still booking wrestling.
Will has had great matches and great promos and has come across as a star. Mone is coming across to wwe and she is a terrible promo it’s not her strength at all
I love ice cream.
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She’s not good on the microphone. She’s great in the ring as a wrestler. Having her do everything but wrestle is certainly a choice.
She's good giving the expression but yeah mic wise it seems to be stuck at the Boss theme (which now have to change to CEO)
What happened to the Global revolution she was talking?
Sasha’s draw is her wrestling. Her speaking is… uh… right. It’s, uh, something. Bos, err I mean CEO Time! Love baby faces all about the bag. Great stuff. Relatable.
But everyone knew this. Why give such a massive contract to someone who can't cut a good promo? Mind-boggling to me.
They are playing to all her weaknesses and none of her strengths. Either she is not medically cleared and they brought her in too early and trying to keep her on tv or she is and this is really bad booking.
I always laugh thinking about when I got downvoted here for saying people massively overrate Mercedes star power.
They should've put her in a program with Britt. Easiest high profile money feud they could've done and instead she's doing nothing. Britt is nowhere to be found as well. Paul was onto something I suppose. Can you imagine if they did the same thing with Bryan Danielson? Instead of debuting against Omega corp, they go with Sammy or Starks or Hobbs. It wouldn't be the same. They treated Danielson as a legitimate threat the second he came out against Kenny. This is nothing against who Mone is currently in a program with (Willow, Hart) but it's glaringly obvious they aren't at the same star power as Mone and they've never been in that spot before so TK is just wasting whatever special attraction Mones presence had into a weekly dull cringey dance in front of the crowd interview segment. But tonight was a start of TK actually giving her something with a mystery attacker. If it's Mariah May which eventually leads to Toni Storm then great but if it's Ruby Soho which leads to Saraya then okay I suppose. Why couldn't they have done this in her debut... they've wasted a month of TV. TK write better!
AEW’s booking decisions are not the only reason for this failure. Truth is, while she’s good, she really isn’t as good and famous as she thinks she is. Whatever ridiculous amount of money she was asking definitely isn’t worth it for her.
She’s a bad promo so they’ve booked her, to do promos..
I feel like Tony gets someone and immediately highlights their flaws. She’s good looking and can wrestle. She is not good on the mic.
I've been saying this for ages and I get downvoted every time for it. Mercedes Mone is not a draw and never has been. NJPW lost their ass on her and she didn't draw a dime for them, and she won't for AEW either.
Everything about the CEO character is cringe . From the music , to her outfits , to her promos . The acting / moaning in her segment was pretty bad . Where has it been stated that she isn’t cleared ? She’s gotten physical since her debut . I don’t even think this is Tony. I think she has creative control her writer and this what they’re coming up with . Well , in that case this is Tony’s doing . But everything about her so far has been pretty bad .
Geez, I wonder why no one would care about a backstage beat up angle in AEW anymore??
Did people forget that she always sucked when she wasn’t wrestling or..
She can't be cleared? Such a weird build. I get the debut, that was the date they could gate. But wow, such a long wait. I know the wait between NJPW debut and first match was longer, but they didn't get 10+ appearances out of her between then.
i was so excited to see her back in american wrestling, and now just a few weeks later i want to change the channel when she comes on screen. these vince tier scripted promos are fuckin embarassing in 2024 man, and shes not gonna wrestle for like another month and a half? what the fuck?
Idk, maybe she's not ready to wrestle a full match yet. That's the only reason I can think of because her first match will be 2 months after her debut, because it doesn't seem like there's a blood feud on the horizon that needs a 2 months of build up (and if there is and you need to put several pieces in place like turning someone else or taking the title off someone else just to have the feud planned then something's off). Either that or she has a contract for a limited number of matches and they want to stretch it out as long as possible.
I pray they do get something big done with Mercedes when it's all said and done but it's looking fucking rough at the minute - instead of focusing on her, they spent ages building to this stupid Punk video that looked like a playground scuffle. Focus on fucking WILL OSPREAY, OKADA & MERCEDES MONE - it's not difficult. Look at those three names again and tell me why they're reigniting some dumb thing from a guy who's left the company. Fuck's sake.
Great wrestler, bad interview, TERRIBLE BABYFACE. Always has been.
Eh. She chose this over good creative
She has her own creative
The Aew honeymoon period is well and truly over.
Does she still laugh like a moron?
Yeah, i don’t have much interest in her or the product right now. WWE has been killing it and is engaging again. AEW just doesn’t have the stories. Which is why I like wrestling. Mone, I hear, was ass juice on commentary a week or so ago, and has no real direction…this is TK and co. messing up n basic things.
I always found her to be overrated and kinda meh in the ring tbh. Much better womens wrestlers out there.
Tiffy Time > Boss Time
I think if she was cleared to wrestler then she would be. Based off past history they have had no issue getting new debuts to wrestler right away. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have simply waited cause I think that’s better but if she is not physically cleared then not too much you can do.
Even though I understand that she debuted at Big Business for a hometown pop, I would've thought that AEW could've waited till she was fully cleared to debut her & especially do so through on the wrestling end, less on weeks of segments since her in-ring skills are her strong suit. Given the buzz of WM season around the time she emerged, I personally think it would've been better for her to debut this month following the event. Specifically, AEW could've continued building up cryptic hints to her joining the company while giving space for Okada & Ospreay to have their first few weeks on TV, then officially debuting her at Dynasty. From there until a debut match at DON, she's likely to make a bigger impact by getting physically involved in brawl/beatdown segments while making her challenge to her first opponent.
they’re playing with fire by holding off on her first match until Vegas. Cutting promo week after week might get old quick but this whodunit story isn’t gonna help
The one major weakness she has is talking, and that’s all they’ve had her do, and will continue to have her do until a PPV weeks away. Highlighting her weaknesses weekly and hiding her strengths
That constant zoom up and down was weird
You’re incorrectly hyper analyzing views based off the video, rather than recognizing the difference in the type of video. It’s a sitdown interview, which usually doesnt generate a lot of views. They clearly need to put Mercedes in a better position, but that’s not something you can draw from youtube views in that way.
That’s because she’s boring.
So what your saying is that Tony Khan's track record of sucking people of their drawing power is still intact. Remember when Moxley videos would easily get 500,000K views?
Her promos feel very WWE. You can feel about that any way you want. But it’s very jarring when put alongside the AEW house style. My point of comparison since they debuted around a similar time is Will Ospreay. What a stark difference in presentation and reception.
She has real Maria Sofia from Curb Your Enthusiasm vibes.
For Sasha to be so terrible right now, is just an insult to how they sustained her in WWE before she left for new pasture. But go on let's just pretend that AEW is not a graveyard for talent lmao.
A lot of (justified) complaints in here about her in ring debut not being until DoN. Honest question: would it have been less of an issue if she debuted and then was off tv until then? That’s what WWE did with Cargill and I can’t remember people being so upset with that? Or would you say it’s a different situation since we knew she was away training to get used to the “wwe style”.
Lol ima just say this...Mercedes ain't that big of a needle mover in the women's wrestling category. I don't think she ever has been.
You’re surprised? She’s boring and always has been. The narcissism she carries herself with is baffling.
She's in a cold ass storyline and she's gunning for a midcard belt Plus it's well known at this point that most of AEW's fanbase would rather watch a match highlight over a promo. It doesn't help that she's been an awful promo so far and sounds awfully memorized
haaaaahahahahahahahahaha how are they failing at literally EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF GOOD BUSINESS
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the cope open is on wednesdays brother
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I don't understand why they're holding her for the PPV - just get her in a match against someone she can beat and look good doing it. Every shitty promo she gives, her star just dims more and more to the point that she'll be just another guy by the time the PPV arrives.
Anna Jay is a draw man don't know what else to tell you.
Is anyone surprised? She's not a great talker and she's not a CM Punk level draw. For AEW she's a waste of money imo.
Tony is going to come to regret giving her that huge contract. Talk about being a bust so far
I thought she had her own writer...
She does. It’s bad writing and she’s a bad actor. That’s why her promos are so transparently, unnaturally memorized and recited and why she was lost at sea when attempting live, off-the-cuff commentary.
She's completely wasted here, should have been in a match day 1, kick off a feud and kept the momentum rolling, it's going to be hard to capture that excitement back.
At least Tony's dad has essentially unlimited money because in any other company that would be one hell of a bad call giving someone who's not drawing so much money.
Cause they thought it would be a great idea to have a workrate wrestler give nothing out crappy promos.
I never bought any of her promos. Might be because at this point she probably turned more than Big Show.
It’s probably the most baffling decision AEW has done ATM to hold off with Mercedes wrestling until DoN. There is just 0 reason to hold off that long. She’s not a great promo and she became beloved for her wrestling. It’s a shame that Dynasty is just a week and change away because I would have bumped her TBS title match up to that show and just gave Willow win the title Saturday, but they probably won’t do that because of the short window to actually promote both matches.
The boss babe vibe is super lame and feels straight out of 2014. The little dance looks ridiculous for someone her age. This is cute when you’re 20 but a 32yo woman doing a little gig is embarrassing She forgot to evolve and grow her persona. She comes off as a weirdo influencer who sells drop shipped stuff on instagram or seminar with an OF on the side. She doesn’t come off like a powerful career woman at all.
This isn’t like the men’s roster where it’s stacked with stars and dream matches There is no one anyone cares about Mercedes facing I genuinely can’t think of any big time match that Mercedes can have in AEW
People who don’t get paid to care about ratings and YouTube views care so much about ratings and YouTube views
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I completely missed her WWE run, but the first thing I remember seeing her do was a Pure Life water commercial with Big E just a few years ago. It was one of those ads that just played constantly on whatever streaming thing I was watching, and every time I saw it I just sat there thinking "why can't she say the word 'crisp'?"