Mercedes Mone Talks Bayley's Royal Rumble Win, Says She Should Main Event WrestleMania
In less than one month, Bayley will challenge her former Damage CTRL stablemate IYO SKY for the WWE Women's Championship on the grandest stage — WWE WrestleMania. This contest was officially set after Bayley won the 2024 Women's Royal Rumble, which guaranteed her a title match of her choosing at WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia. During an interview with "The Kick Rocks Wrestling Podcast," Bayley's real-life friend Mercedes Mone (fka Sasha Banks) weighed in on this recent success, highlighting her delight in seeing "The Role Model"'s hard work pay off.
"I am nothing but so proud and so happy for [Bayley]," Mone said. "To be the person, I'm backstage, I get to see her from afar, [and] do all this, see all her hard work, and hear her talk about her dreams and her hopes and what she wants to do in that business. To see it come through and to see so much magic that woman can make, she does so much for that division and I'm just beyond proud. To know, to me, that she is going to main event WrestleMania, because that's how it should be, I am just beyond the moon for her. She had a crazy past three years, coming from the pandemic, getting injured, seeing her go through that, make her return and make her return with IYO SKY and Dakota Kai."
As Mone alluded to, much of Bayley's recent efforts have been aimed at elevating Damage CTRL. The trio collectively emerged at WWE's 2022 SummerSlam event, after Bayley made several pitches for WWE to organize an all-women's faction. In the months following their formation, Kai and SKY (with the help and support of Bayley) clutched two reigns as WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, with SKY later adding on her current reign as WWE Women's Champion as well.
"[Bayley] is so selfless and cares so much," Mone said. "I just love cheering her on and I can't wait to see her go."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Kick Rocks Wrestling Podcast" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.