Mercedes Moné Accuses Men of Holding Women Back In Wrestling

Mercedes Moné is calling out what she believes is the biggest barrier to equality in professional wrestling — and she says it’s men.

During an appearance on The Sackhoff Show, the CEO of AEW didn’t hold back while discussing pay gaps and opportunities for women in the industry. According to Moné, the success of women’s wrestling is already obvious if you look at the numbers. She pointed to ratings, merchandise, and crowd reactions as proof that women are drawing just as much attention as the men.

“I’m in pro wrestling, and it’s shown weekly on television ratings. It’s shown weekly with our merch sales. It’s shown weekly with fans coming and holding up their signs and knowing that they came and bought a ticket to see the women.”

Moné argued that those results should already be enough to justify equal pay and television time. The former multi-time champion also reflected on the barriers she’s personally broken throughout her career, noting that her accomplishments didn’t happen by accident.

“It is proven that we do it just like the guys, so why not get paid equally? Why not get paid the same? Why not be given the same amount of TV time just like them? So that’s what I’m here to do. That’s what I’m here to prove. Because I’ve been able to have the opportunity to do that so many times because of the hard work that I’ve been putting in my whole career.”

She pointed out two of her biggest milestones in particular. Moné said those historic moments motivate her to create more opportunities for women around the world.

“I’m the first ever woman to main event a pay-per-view, which is so special. I’m the first ever African American woman to main event at WrestleMania. So for me, my biggest goal is to make that happen for women globally all over the world, and to give a place for women to know that if I can do it, they can do it too.”

However, when asked about the biggest obstacle to achieving that equality, Moné didn’t hesitate. She explained that women often prove their value when given the chance — but those opportunities don’t always last.

“The biggest roadblocks? These men. It’s just these men. Sometimes we prove it so often, but it’s never consistent with them. It’s like, ‘Okay, let’s give them a bone. Oh, they did great. Don’t let them be better than us. Oh, we’ve got to take our bone back.’”

According to Moné, real equality means giving women consistent opportunities rather than occasional moments in the spotlight. She also criticized the pattern of women being given temporary main events before things revert back to male-focused programming.

“It’s letting them know it’s actually okay to give us the same respect and time, and not to take that bone back but to let us keep it and consistently do it every single week. Not a little pat on the back like, ‘Okay, you can have this main event just this month, but next year it’s about us.’”

Moné finished by saying women can’t wait for change anymore — they have to claim their place in the industry themselves. She added that women must keep pushing forward once they earn those opportunities.

“Society is so used to lowering women, and I think for us, we can’t lower ourselves anymore. We can’t stand back and say, ‘It’s okay, I’ll wait my turn.’ No — we’re going to take it. I think that’s just on us as women to say, ‘No, we’re keeping this spot. Thank you.’”

Moné’s comments come as conversations about equal pay and representation continue across professional wrestling and sports, with more female stars pushing for consistent main event opportunities.

Do you agree with Mercedes Moné that women in wrestling deserve equal pay and TV time? Let us know what you think.

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