A top name from AEW’s women’s division has seemingly relinquished her only remaining title belt in the company. The star in question, Mercedes Mone, is expected to return to the Jacksonville-based company and end her hiatus soon.
Earlier this Wednesday, All Elite Wrestling finally announced the brackets for the 2026 iteration of its annual Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. Participants from both the men’s and the women’s divisions were unveiled for the tourney, with the winners set to receive a shot respectively at the AEW Men’s and Women’s World Titles later this year at All In: London 2026.
The women’s tournament for the 2026 Owen Cup will feature a number of prominent names, including Willow Nightingale, Alex Windsor, Skye Blue, Saree, Mina Shirakawa, Athena, Persephone and Hazuki. Notably, even though a vast section of viewers expected her to make her comeback for the tournament, last year’s winner Mercedes Mone was not declared as one of the entrants.
Courtesy of winning the Owen in 2025 (by defeating Jamie Hayter in the finals), the erstwhile Sasha Banks was awarded a title belt to commemorate her victory. This belt was part of her extensive collection of titles which she captured over the past couple of years. Unfortunately, Mercedes lost most of these championships this past March, and now that the 2026 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament has been announced, she will likely relinquish her 2025 Owen Cup title belt as well.
Mone has not been in action in AEW since she lost her TBS Title to Willow Nightingale at Dynamite: New Year’s Smash at the end of last year.
Mercedes Mone might be returning to AEW “really soon”
Over the course of March, Mercedes Mone went on an international tour to defend her numerous independent circuit championships. Unfortunately, the run proved disastrous for The CEO, as she ended up dropping almost all of her titles on her global journey.
During her interview with IL61 in March, Mercedes had listed out her upcoming destinations, and revealed that she would be returning to AEW after her scheduled title defense in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
“I’m returning really, really soon. Right now, I am on my Mone Madness Tour all over Europe. First it started in Mexico, now here in Italy, next stop is Paris, then London, then Poland, then Winnipeg. After that, Mama is gonna return home,” Mone said. [H/T – Fightful]
On March 31 in Winnipeg, Mercedes was unseated as the WPW Women’s Champion by Jody Threat. “Ultimo” Mone has not competed since then, and it remains to be seen how imminent her All Elite Wrestling return actually is.
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Edited by Anurag Mukherjee