Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!

Mercedes Moné revealed yesterday that she had originally planned to return to World Wrestling Entertainment in time to appear at WWE WrestleMania 39. However, as events would turn out, Tony Khan invited her to check out an All Elite Wrestling show, and the rest is history with her joining the AEW roster instead.

My question for you today is “Are you happier with Mercedes Mone in AEW right now, or do you wish she would have returned to WWE at WrestleMania 39 instead?”

Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.

As far as my answer…

This is going to sound brutal. I’m sure her rabid fan base is going to hate me for this. But even though I’ve been a fan of her since her NXT days, I haven’t enjoyed much of her work over the past few years. Like Bayley, I feel like she hit her peak with her match against Bianca Belair (even though the feud itself was utter crap that WWE put zero effort into) and after that, she’s just been coasting.

I also haven’t enjoyed almost anything I’ve seen of her work in AEW, pretty much at all. Her promos are as stale as can be, the CEO name is dumb, the song is several magnitudes even worse, and her storylines have been at best just fine.

But with all that being said, I’m going to say she’s still in a better spot right now than if she had returned to WWE at WrestleMania Hollywood, strangely enough.

I look at a lot of wrestlers in the same way, wherein if they’ve grown stale, the only way to possibly freshen up the formula is for them to get a change in scenery. It doesn’t always work, and it may sometimes lead to an even further downward spiral, but it does present the opportunity for them to work with some new talent as a change of pace, experiment with some different ideas, and develop into better stars. Then, they can come back to WWE (my overall ideal spot for most people, I’ll admit it) and bring those new skills to another fresh pool of talent that has gotten over in the meantime.

Realistically, what would Sasha Banks be up to right now if she had returned to WWE last year at WrestleMania 39?

She’d have partnered up with Bayley to face Damage CTRL, I’m sure. Big whoop. We’ve seen it a million times.

Maybe she would have facilitated a quicker return for Naomi, and/or partnered back up with her for a run with the tag team titles. I wouldn’t be opposed to that, but in the grand scheme of things, would they have been in any better position than they were when they walked out? At least, would that be better than being the AEW TBS champion? Doubtful. And I don’t think there are any barn burners of Banks and Naomi against Blah Blah and Blah Blah that would have been instant classics that we’re missing out on, either.

Banks could have been an opponent for Liv Morgan, or fought Rhea Ripley at some point, or wrestled some newcomers to the main roster like Kiana James and Blair Davenport. Again, nothing that I think would have changed the game.

I would probably dig a feud between Banks and Tiffany Stratton, and I would be interested to see Banks against Jade Cargill, but nothing is stopping that from happening in the future. For all we know, Mercedes leaves AEW within the next couple years and those matches do happen in WWE on a much bigger scale after Stratton and Cargill break into the main event title picture properly.

Nothing I’ve seen from her in AEW has wowed me, but that’s also in part due to their women’s division just not having enough depth for my personal tastes. At this point, almost no one on the roster is an interesting enough pairing for me to get truly excited to see her in the ring. But a lot of other fans seem to love it, and if I feel okay with missing out on Banks in WWE for a while until I grow to miss her in that environment, then I think it’s the best call for all parties for her to be where she’s at. She’s in a better spot now than she’d be in WWE as far as star power, and it’s the only way we could have seen some of these matches, as I can’t imagine most of the women in AEW ever joining WWE.

Variety is the spice of life. Having some Mercdes Mone isn’t my favorite seasoning, but it does add a little more flavor to her career than just sticking in WWE for the whole shebang.

What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!