D.M.D versus CEO; that’s what we have today at ALL IN: LONDON 2024 with the TBS Championship in the mix as well, but it’s also so much more than that. These are two women who have been definitive forces in the landscape of Women’s Wrestling albeit in different fashions. Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D was the first woman signed to AEW five years ago, she can reasonably claim to be the face of the Women’s Division for much of that half-decade, a former Women’s World Champion in her own right, and involved in some of the most memorable matches in AEW’s history.
Moné is nine years and three days removed from one of the most important matches in Women’s Wrestling history, a Brooklyn bout that many look to as a game changer, that helped set the course for the near decade that’s followed. In the years since Mercedes has been engaged in many of the most memorable women’s matches in modern women’s wrestling, she’s expanded her name into the acting world, but the focus has always been on the wrestling. She has traveled around the country, and into Japan, to hone her skills, and when the opportunity came to expand her professional wrestling horizons, Mercedes arrived in New Japan Pro Wrestling at WRESTLE KINGDOM 17, eventually winning the IWGP Women’s Title and reigning as champion for 64 days before falling to Mayu Iwatani. She entered into the NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship tournament where, in the finals against Willow Nightingale, she suffered a serious ankle injury that played a part in Nightingale defeating her to become the first NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion.
That led to a nearly year out of action recovering from that injury, a time during which she officially joined All Elite Wrestling at DYNAMITE: BIG BUSINESS on March 13th. Her signing on with AEW had been speculated about ever since Mercedes was shown at ALL IN: LONDON 2023 watching the event, and it finally became reality in her hometown of Boston. Her arrival sent shockwaves through the Women’s Division, and two months after her debut “The CEO” captured the TBS Championship from Willow Nightingale, evening the score for their NJPW STRONG contest a year prior. Moné proved herself a fighting champion, defending the belt against Skye Blue just a few days after DON ’24, facing CMLL’s Zeuxis shortly after that, then defeating Stephanie Vaquer in a Title versus Title bout at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 to, at long last, take ownership of the NJPW STRONG Women’s Title.
It felt inevitable that the original face of the AEW Women’s Division would collide with “The CEO of Women’s Wrestling”, and after Mercedes’ victory at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024, that moment came to pass. But it was just a moment, the first real confrontation between the two took place during the subsequent DYNAMITE, and despite Mercedes saying it wasn’t going to happen, their fight was destined to come to fruition. Perhaps a concern about Baker’s ability to defeat her is what prompted “The CEO” to bring “The Brickhouse” Kamille to her side, an addition that has left the Good Doctor battered and bruised several times over the last few weeks. She certainly helped Mercedes defeat Hikaru Shida to insure “The CEO” was going to Wembley as the defending TBS Champion, and there is no doubt her presence at Mercedes side today at ALL IN: LONDON 2024 has the potential to sway the fight in The CEO’s favor.
At the biggest event of AEW’s year, this is one of the biggest fights that could possibly be presented to the AEW faithful, and it has rapidly turned into one of the most heated rivalries we have seen. It’s as much about the future of the Women’s Division as it is about claiming the TBS Championship!