AEW Full Gear 2025 saw Mercedes Mone make yet another unsuccessful bid for the AEW Women’s World Championship, losing to the reigning Kris Statlander. This was only her second time vying for the title, having done so previously against “Timeless” Toni Storm at All In.
Yet that doesn’t mean she’s deprived of gold—14 championships. Surpassing the image of Ultimo Dragon following the 1996 J-Cup, Mone has journeyed across the world. Along the way, she’s won belts from independent promotions in England, Poland, Mexico, Canada, Austria, and more. She’s shown no signs of stopping; when it seems she may be content, there’s another title in her collection.
Mone’s a fantastic wrestler, with the results to back it up. She thrives in big matches, earns high ratings, ranks high on lists, and remains in the conversation of both fans and naysayers alike.
Her TBS Championship reign has recently overwhelmed the 508-day reign of the current WWE Women’s Champion, Jade Cargill. So, why can’t Mone chip past the armor around the changing holders of the AEW Women’s World Championship?
What is Aparigraha?
First, we must start with the spiritual belief of aparigraha. Aparigraha, or non-possessiveness, is one of the five yamas (otherwise known as restraints) that guide the self to move lightly when it comes to belongings. According to Yoga International, it compels humans to let go of material, both physically and mentally.
The more an individual wants and covets, the more it burdens them, anchoring them from what they can truly aspire to.
Possessiveness fogs the mind, preventing people from discarding things that are no longer of use to them or have outgrown. Whether it’s a sentimental item, a milestone, or a relationship that’s gone stale, it’s baggage that weighs heavily. When there’s a tangible thing to latch onto, it isn’t easy to let go.
Whether you’re mourning a time period, a place, or a loved one, it sinks its claws into you when indulged too much. Sometimes nostalgia is as parasitic as it is healing.
As William Faulkner once said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” In wielding what was so fiercely, we deny ourselves the visibility of what’s in front of us. In Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily”, the titular Emily has a hard time letting go of relationships. Throughout the story, readers see how heavily it weighs upon her.
I think we’re seeing that with Mercedes Mone’s character.
Why Does Mercedes Mone Need Aparigraha?
To me, Mone’s belts signify a few things about her wrestling persona. The baggage that saw her leave WWE’s Sasha Banks behind. That 2023 injury at NJPW Resurgence—why she’s still spiteful of Willow Nightingale. Her negative perception by influencers and media personalities who claim to know her intentions and who she is, despite her limited contact with most media.
Sasha Banks’s overwhelming shadow that dictated her life and identity, even when she performed under WWE. There are loads of possibilities to draw from. Since I don’t know Mercedes Vernado personally, I cannot say with certainty.
Fiction is a funny thing. Sometimes we find symbolism and meaning where there was none intended whatsoever. Sometimes. There’s a path, a long one, where Mone is heading. The CEO will likely be uncontent. She’ll continue to fill that hole, again and again, and still it will gape wide open, begging to be fed once more. Yet there’s nothing, there’s no surface at the pit, just a maw that stretches to an infinity. But it can be closed.
As many fans have posited, this can easily come through a fractured psyche. A catastrophic mental, emotional, and spiritual phenomenon unique only unto her that strips away her hoard. A breakdown, soaked in tears and wails, pathetic to onlookers but deeply scarring to her. And in that, there may be a healing.
Aparigraha and How It Can Help Mercedes Mone
The reason that Mone desperately yearns to hold the AEW Women’s World Championship is that it’s a glory she struggles to hold onto. In WWE, Sasha Banks, her previous persona, held some huge championships, with neither of them having the same impact as her iconic NXT run with that women’s division’s belt.
It’s a reign that awoke many North American fans as to what women’s wrestling could genuinely be. But on the main roster, her championship reigns were short. Even her and Bayley’s initial inaugural Women’s Tag Team Championship tenure lacked impact.
With her becoming the second IWGP Women’s Champion in 2023, Mone showed the world she had more to offer than sports entertainment. In parting with the Banks, Mone displayed the variety needed to present her eventual vision. By the time she signed with AEW in 2024, the CEO’s adventure truly began.
Her mission? To show the world that women can aspire to be greater than just one monopolistic entity. Through this, young girls could grow up and see what they could do. In challenging champions across the globe, Mone’s spread this belief internationally. She’s platformed independent stars in addition to indie promotions. Elevating the world of pro wrestling beyond the giants of the industry is a net positive she’s contributed to.
Conclusion
So to earn that elusive prize, she would have to abandon all of it. All of it, just to stand among the greats and transform her career by finally having a substantial run as a network television World Champion in North America.
Could she do it? Can Mercedes Mone find it in herself to etch her name in the history books once again by letting go of her relentless hunger for gold? This dragon can unsheath her fangs and breathe her fire, but it is by the solemn and dedicated knowledge of letting go. All she has to do is center herself, embrace the fear and desires of her ego, and see the future laid bare in front of her.
Only then can she overcome this obstacle and become the AEW Women’s World Champion. The golden scales shed to reveal that she is weightless and can fly. There will be nothing dragging her down because she’d have pushed them all out of the way, to paraphrase her WWE theme, “Sky’s the Limit.”
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Header photo – AEW – Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on Mercedes Mone and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS. AEW Collision airs Saturday at 8 pm Eastern on TNT. More AEW content available on their YouTube
