Nic Nemeth Comments On Mercedes Mone's AEW Debut, Her Being A Natural Heel
After months of speculation, Mercedes Mone finally debuted on last week's "AEW Dynamite." Nic Nemeth talked about her introduction on an episode of "Busted Open Radio," noting that he wouldn't have debuted her at the beginning of the episode, but wouldn't have let fans go on too long without seeing her.
"Maybe, [Mone] is coming, because we don't know for sure, you don't know a segment. As long as you don't blow it to the end. In 2024, you don't want an audience sitting for an hour and 50 minutes, waiting for the thing that they knew was happening," he said. "Tease them, take it away, whatever, first 30, 45 minutes, something happens, and she shows up out of nowhere."
Nemeth was also confused by Mone calling out Willow Nightingale only to help her later on. Mone suffered an ankle injury against Nightingale at NJPW Resurgence 2023, and a feud has been teased. Nemeth was thrown off by Mone dancing on the stage before running down to help. However, he said it's one of the few times the spot works because the fans didn't know what Mone was doing after calling out someone she has unfinished business with.
"Something I got, when they stared each other down, they had their moment, I said, 'Okay, what are we going to do here... Is Mercedes going to back away?'" he said. "And Willow raised her hand for both of them in the ring. It almost looked like Mercedes didn't want it to be raised or touched, to where she took it and was like, 'Alright, you can hold my hand up. You can share the ring with me and take a little glory of this new star debuting.'" Furthermore, Nemeth believes that she shouldn't be booked as a babyface.
A natural heel
Nic Nemeth said that Mercedes Mone's initial involvement in the TBS Championship picture, rather than the AEW Women's Championship scene, is a big deal for the division because she has such star power. He said the division got more significant now that she's there, as long as she is presented as a star. Additionally, he believes that Mone even holding up the TBS title, whether she's going for it or not, would elevate the championship instantly. That said, he believes that she also works better when playing the villain.
"I think she also, there's very real cockiness to Mercedes that... you can just see in her eye," Nemeth said. "She's a natural heel, but when you're a superstar, and you're over, and everybody's cheering for you, and everybody's talking about you, it almost doesn't matter."
Meanwhile, Tommy Dreamer also discussed how AEW should use Mone. The ECW alum believes that she should be booked as a special attraction, noting that big names such as Hulk Hogan and Tommy Dreamer have benefited from this type of presentation.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.