Current AEW TBS Champion Mercedes Mone recently looked back on one of the most historic and important moments of her career: main eventing Night One of WrestleMania 37 against Bianca Belair. In a new edition of her Mone Mag Newsletter, Moné recalled the emotion of the night and the massive impact that match had on her life and on the landscape of women’s wrestling.
Mercedes Mone on Making History at WrestleMania 37
The match between Mercedes Moné (then known as Sasha Banks) and Bianca Belair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship was the first time in WrestleMania history that two Black women had competed in a main event. Moné revealed that she and Belair didn’t find out they were officially the main event until just a day and a half before the show, a moment that was the culmination of years of hard work and hope.
“That night at WrestleMania will always live in my heart. Wrestling Bianca wasn’t just about a match; it was about making history,” Moné wrote. “We didn’t find out we were main eventing until about a day and a half before. I had been praying, manifesting, and hoping—and when they finally told us, I was overwhelmed.”
A “Cinderella Moment” in Defeat
In the historic match, Bianca Belair defeated Mercedes Moné to win her first SmackDown Women’s Championship. Despite being on the losing end of the result, Moné remembers the moment with immense pride and joy. She recalled watching Bianca’s husband, Montez Ford, run to the ring to celebrate with his wife, and being unable to stop smiling even as she was selling the pain of the match.
“Lying on the floor at the end, I watched Bianca’s husband run out to celebrate with her. Even though I was selling from the pain of the match, I couldn’t stop smiling,” she recalled. “I thought to myself, ‘If I had seen this as a little girl, I can’t even imagine the kind of superstar I would’ve become.’ Even though I lost, it felt like a Cinderella moment. That night, WWE didn’t just change my life—they changed the entire game for women’s wrestling.”
Her reflection shows that the historical significance of the moment and what it represented for the future of women’s wrestling far outweighed the personal disappointment of a loss.
A Lasting Legacy
The main event of WrestleMania 37 is widely regarded as one of the greatest women’s matches in WWE history and a landmark moment for representation in professional wrestling. It helped solidify both Moné and Belair as top-tier main event superstars and set a new standard for what women’s wrestling could be on the grandest stage of them all. Moné’s heartfelt recollection provides a beautiful, personal insight into a night that truly changed the game. While she is now one of the cornerstones of the AEW women’s division, it is clear that the memory and significance of that WrestleMania night will always hold a special place in her heart.
The legacy of that night continues to be felt today, as women regularly main event premium live events in every major promotion. Mercedes Moné and Bianca Belair shattered a glass ceiling at WrestleMania 37, creating a “Cinderella moment” not just for themselves, but for an entire generation of wrestlers and fans.