AEW: Mercedes Mone on Harley Cameron’s “Growth In the Ring Has Been Nothing Short Of Inspiring”, Brock Anderson on Turning Down AEW Contract Renewal Offer, Christopher Daniels In-Ring Retirement Update

Mercedes Mone Comments on Harley Cameron’s “Growth In the Ring Has Been Nothing Short Of Inspiring”

A recent issue of the Mone Mag fan newsletter featured Mercedes Mone giving her thoughts and praise of Harley Cameron’s growth in the ring and her hard work in AEW.

“Harley is ready to hop on the Moné Train, and watching her journey in AEW has been a thrill. Her growth in the ring has been nothing short of inspiring. I know she puts in the hard work, traveling to various wrestling schools across Florida and soaking up knowledge from anyone she can connect with backstage at AEW. So, it’s no surprise that she has the guts to pursue the Moné Train—it’s hard not to when you’re holding four belts!

But Harley should remember that I’m the ultimate student of the game. I’ve traveled the world, learning from the best and facing the toughest competitors out there. Sure, she’s been training like crazy, but the reality is she hasn’t yet secured a win on AEW TV. So, as I hummed along to her catchy song, “Moné Train,” I couldn’t help but reflect. Yes, she hails from Brisbane, Australia, but the road ahead will be tough for her. Naurr, it’s not going to be easy!”


Brock Anderson on His Departure from AEW & His Reasons for Turning Down Contract Renewal Offer

As noted before, Brock Anderson’s contract with AEW expired in October of 2023. Following his departure from AEW, Anderson has been working for Major League Wrestling since this past August.

A recent virtual fan signing event for K&S WrestleFest featured Anderson as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Anderson’s thoughts about his reasons for departing from AEW and turning down their contract renewal offer in late 2023.

“About two years in probably (is when I thought I should not be on the career path I was while at AEW). Hindsight’s 20/20. It was like a brand new company. They’d only done a handful of TVs before COVID, and then they went into COVID. So, in one sense, it was the best place for me to be because it’s not like I could be out on the indies. They weren’t running. So, at least I was there and when I was there, Cody (Rhodes) was there and we were in Jacksonville at the Daily’s Place right next to the Jaguars stadium. During the day, like, TV days, they would have all the young guys out there and we would roll around and… some of the boys watching and they’re like, ‘Hey, that was good. This was bad.’ So in that respect, it was good, and like I said, it was a newish company and we’re in the middle of a global pandemic. We didn’t know if we were gonna develop a training center or any of that because it’s early so you’re just like, alright, we’re just gonna keep doing this and see what happens and surely, God, maybe getting a training center or see how they do — bring us along, and then, once we got out of the pandemic, we were rocking and rolling, hitting towns every week and it was just TVs, and that school never came. So, after just doing those five-minute Universal (Orlando) matches, you can’t really get better doing that. It’s too short of a time. You don’t learn how to wrestle. So, after about a year and a half — it’s great, I love everybody there, I appreciate the opportunity they gave me; Tony (Khan) and everybody. It’s just, where I was, I needed to be somewhere where I could actually get repetitions and learn the business. So, they sent me another — they wanted to redo the current deal I was on. It was not enough so I was like, ‘Maybe we just don’t do this and maybe we just go our separate ways,’ and I think it was the best decision I made, because if I just stay there and worked the five, six times a year that I was guaranteed, I would never have the mentor I got sitting to my left (C.W. Anderson), and all the knowledge I’ve soaked up in that short amount of time.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com


Backstage Update on Christopher Daniels’ In-Ring Retirement Decision

As noted before, Christopher Daniels is currently believed to have retired from his in-ring wrestling career following his Texas Death Match against Hangman Adam Page on the January 18th AEW Collision Maximum Carnage show. During this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show, Daniels announced his in-ring retirement after telling Page in a promo that his doctors had advised him to never wrestle again.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that several of those spoken to within AEW were under the current impression that Daniels won’t wrestle again. Others spoken to reportedly had the opposite feeling and believe that he won’t wrestle again for a while but it is not a lock he won’t come back for a future match.

In regards to Daniels’ promo on this past Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show, Meltzer reported that those spoken to stated that this was just part of the current storyline between Daniels and Page and not his actual retirement speech. Meltzer speculated that this storyline could lead to Page eventually turning face again.