It's been a wild year for professional wrestling, but by far the biggest story is Vince McMahon being forced out of WWE. He "retired" when sexual misconduct allegations first hit, only to return because, well, it was his company and he could do whatever he pleased!
However, following the sale of WWE to UFC owner Endeavor, there was no coming back for Vince thanks to a lawsuit filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant. That was full of explosive allegations of sexual, emotional, and physical assault and, while he's maintained his innocence, McMahon has still been fully ousted from WWE.
Many pro wrestlers have spoken out about the allegations and their relationships with McMahon and we can now add Mercedes Mone (formerly known as Sasha Banks in WWE) to the list.
"I had a great relationship with him," Mone said. "I mean I feel like me and Bayley really took over the pandemic era, and that's felt like the relationship really, really grew."
"That he knew he can count on us and trust on us, and so much so that he gave me the opportunity to main event WrestleMania 37, which was one of my biggest, biggest dreams, so big that I didn't even think that was possible."
Mone quickly moved on to discussing the importance of WrestleMania 37 to her career and seemingly decided against addressing the allegations head-on (a surprise when she's said to have walked out of WWE due to creative differences with McMahon).
For what it's worth, though, Mone now feels that AEW is a better fit for her than WWE.
"I love being part of AEW because there's just so many doors of opportunity for me. Not just in wrestling but outside of wrestling," she recently explained. "That's definitely a big reason why I came to AEW. Even doing The Mandalorian was pulling teeth with the WWE to even try to get time off to film that show."
Ultimately, it was her surprise appearance as a member of the crowd at last year's All In PPV in London's Wembley Stadium that sold her on signing with AEW over WWE.
"Seeing how 80,000 fans, and it wasn't WrestleMania, it was AEW All In, I was like, 'This is where I want to be. I want to be here and this company just feels so aligned with my soul," she revealed.
Do you think Mone made the right decision by signing with AEW? As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments section.