Renee Paquette Applauds 'The Balls' Of Mercedes Mone

Reneé Paquette is watching proudly as her former WWE coworker Mercedes Moné embarks on her expedition back into the independent pro wrestling scene for the first time in more than a decade.

On the latest episode of "The Sessions" podcast, Paquette opened up about watching Moné make her NJPW debut last week at the promotion's Wrestle Kingdom 17 event and how the moment cemented her belief that this is "just the beginning" of a monumental chapter in Moné's career.

Moné, already a six-time world champion from her decorated tenure in WWE as "Sasha Banks," reportedly left her former company in early 2022 alongside her then-tag team partner Naomi over a creative dispute with her on-screen character. Neither Moné nor Naomi, a.k.a. Trinity Fatu, have wrestled a match since walking out of WWE in May 2022.

But after nearly eight months off television, Moné made a surprise appearance at Wrestle Kingdom and challenged KAIRI for the IWGP Women's Championship. Their title match will take place next month at NJPW's sold-out Battle in the Valley in San Jose, California.

"Seeing what she's done now, for whatever exactly happened on her and Trinity walking out from WWE, I really applaud the balls of this woman," Paquette said. "She cares so much about what she does. She cares so much about women's professional wrestling."

Paquette, whose husband Jon Moxley left WWE to pursue a career in AEW, said she knows "it's not easy" to walk away from the company and the money wrestlers can comfortably make there. "There's not a lot of opportunities in the world to do what she does as a professional wrestler, make good income, and still professionally be satisfied with what she's doing," Paquette said.