• sasha banks

  Birthdate:

  1992-01-26

  Birthplace:

  Fairfield, California, USA

  Birthname:

  Mercedes Justine Kaestner-Varnado

  Height:

  5 feet 5 inches

  Debut:

  2010-08-08

  Championships Held:

  Raw Women's Championship (x5), SmackDown Women's Championship, WWE Women's Tag Team Championship (x3), NXT Women's Championship, IWGP Women's Championship

  Finisher:

  Money Maker

  Twitter:

  Notable Rivals:

  Charlotte Flair, Carmella, Bayley, becky lynch

  Notable Allies:

  Bayley

  Current Promotion:

  NJPW

  Instagram:

  Eye Color:

  Brown

Highlights

• Mercedes Mone's debut on AEW yielded a modest ratings increase, falling short of expectations despite the hype.
• Industry analysts dubbed the ratings performance as "middling business" despite the star-studded lineup.
• AEW missed an opportunity for sustained engagement by not holding out Mone's arrival and not planning more early moments.

AEW is banking on Mercedes Mone's being a huge draw for the company, upping the ratings, bringing in merchandise sales, and increasing rather poor attendance. With that in mind, the news coming out of Wednesday's episode of Dynamite has been somewhat troubling. While Mone did bump up AEW's ratings, the jump likely wasn't at all what the company was hoping for.

Mone's highly anticipated debut on AEW's Big Business episode yielded a modest ratings increase, drawing in 801,000 viewers with a 0.27 rating in the coveted 18-49 demographic. While this uptick represented a 3% rise from the previous week's numbers, it fell short of the astronomical expectations set by AEW's substantial investment in Mone. Granted, AEW didn't definitively say she would be there, but it was clear, based both on their previous history of bringing in stars and their hints heading into the show that this was going to be her debut for the company.

Despite the star-studded lineup and the hype surrounding Mone's arrival, some industry analysts dubbed the ratings performance as "middling business" at best. The anticipation surrounding Mone's debut, fueled by over a year of speculation, failed to deliver the monumental surge in viewership that many had anticipated.

Mone's debut segment, set against the backdrop of her hometown of Boston, Massachusetts, kicked off Dynamite's Big Business special. Mone mentioned wanting to take the Women's Revolution global and she thanked the audience for sticking with her. It was an emotional opening. When she was done, the ratings fell off for the rest of the program.

Many are calling the debut a missed opportunity for sustained engagement throughout the episode and because AEW didn't hold out her arrival until later in the show, while also not advertising the debut, Tony Khan and company missed out on what could have been better numbers. If AEW truly believes Mone's star power will make a difference, the company should have planned for more than one early moment in an important show. Some are drawing parallels to CM Punk's unadvertised debut in Chicago, which garnered immense attention and record-breaking viewership for Rampage. The only difference here is that this didn't work as well. Punk drew 1.129 million viewers and on what was pegged as AEW's "B show."

Was Mone's Debut a Downer For AEW?

With just 801,000 average total viewers tuning in, Mone did make a dent, but not a big one. That they didn't hit 1 million viewers has to be disappointing. That said, it's probably not fair to judge her debut on television ratings alone. The attendance was among AEW's highest in weeks and there will be a windfall related to merchandise.

As AEW reflects on the aftermath of Big Business, the debut of Mercedes Mone serves as a reminder that planning out a show might be as important as spending big money on a performer who doesn't necessarily have a track record of turning around a show. Some are saying Mone is now the highest-paid female performer in the wrestling industry. Do these numbers justify that type of payday?