‘If You’re Paying Me This Money Why Are You Not Using Me?’ – Former AEW Star Mercedes Martinez Addresses TV Absence Whilst Under Contract

Published: 2 hours ago by Dave Adamson | Last Updated: 1 hour ago by Dave Adamson

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‘If You’re Paying Me This Money Why Are You Not Using Me?’ – Former AEW Star Mercedes Martinez Addresses TV Absence Whilst Under Contract

Having parted ways with AEW earlier this year, former WWE star Mercedes Martinez has questioned the logic of paying her to not wrestle.

Mercedes Martinez left AEW in January of this year after her contract expired, having returned to the company back in December 2021.

Previously a WWE star, Martinez had two runs with the company, starting in 2017, ahead of her AEW debut in August 2019, making a return to WWE in January of the following year.

With Martinez announcing that she’s calling time on her time as a full-time performer in 2026, she appeared on the Grue Rume Show to discuss her retirement plans.

Adding the distinction that while she’s done competing every weekend, nobody “ever really retires in wrestling,” Martinez said:

“I look at it as like, everyone says it’s a retirement, and we never really retire in this business. So I want to make the distinction and let everyone know this is my last year full-time active, which means that I’m not going to be go-go-go every weekend. It means that, hey, my body can’t take this beating that we do every weekend. Sometimes two, three times in a weekend. It kills our body, and I’m 45 years old. Like, my body’s saying, ‘Hey, we’ve had enough. I’ve done what I can do. I accomplished more than I set out to do. I’ve done more than I could ever dream of, and I think there’s nothing else left for me to prove.”

While expressing her gratitude for her time under contract with AEW, Martinez said the last two years were a “mental f**kcase” due to her inactivity on television:

“So, this last year is really the last year full-time active, meaning I’m going to get back to my fans, I’m going to put my body on the line as much as it’s going to allow me to do, and I’m going to do it my way without being contracted and being shackled and with chains on my wrist. Not to say I’m not grateful for the opportunities of being contracted, because I (am). It was the financial stability, it’s a chance to be on TV so people can see who you are. It’s a chance to build your brand. But there’s also pros and cons to being contracted on TV.

“And to me, in the last two years, not being utilized to my full potential for TV, I went back to the independents, and that’s where I fell in love with wrestling again. Being on TV and not being used is a mental f**kcase in your head. Yes, I’m home getting paid. Thank you for my money. Thank you for feeding my family. Thank you for paying my bills. But at the end of the day, wrestlers want to wrestle. That’s all we want to do… That’s in our blood, that’s our passion, that’s our livelihood. Money comes and goes. Contracts come and go, but at the end of the day, we just want to wrestle. And if you’re not utilizing us to our full potential, it messes with your head. Like, “Yeah, thank you for the money but damn, if you’re paying me this money, why are you not using me?’”

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Focusing on her return to the independents, Martinez would touch upon how she sees her final full-time run progressing and what the future holds, noting she will be in a position to elevate women’s wrestling, stating:

“So then you go back to the independents, and you feel that love, you feel that grind, you feel that hustle. It’s a whole different adrenaline when you’re in the independents compared to when you’re contracted on TV. It’s a whole different level of a mental game. So that’s where I kind of just told myself, ‘You know what, I’m going back to the independents. I’m going to do it full-time, and I’m going to give my all to the people who helped build my brand, who helped build Mercedes Martinez, and that’s the independents. Because nobody would know who I am if it weren’t for the independents.

“So, yeah, I will sacrifice my body for the independents, because now I gotta do that hustle again, I gotta do that grind again. I gotta like literally just do what I want, however I want, without no-one telling me what I can and can’t do, because that’s the way the independents are, you’re building your brand, and that’s what I love.

“Would I wrestle again? Yes, of course I will, at some point next year, maybe, there’s going to be a special match that I wanna do. It’s not that I’m retiring, the last run, this last year, I call it “the last run” because it’s the last run of me going full force in the sense of putting my body through a car crash every weekend.

“Once this year ends, it means I significantly step back, and I help women’s wrestling in a different way, and if I have to wrestle, a special match, somebody’s dream match, then I will do those, but it’s not like I’m wrestling every weekend, maybe once every, what, five-six months? Sure, I’ll do that.

“It’s more or less me just letting my body do what it’s gotta do and not putting my body on the line, and enjoying wrestling once again as a spectator and helping women’s wrestling achieve its next goal.”

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She would say she’s starting that goal now through her backstage producer work, also stating that she is going to miss wrestling as she takes a step back.

When it comes to “special matches”, Martinez has previously stated that she wants to face Nattie, who has previously stepped out of WWE and onto the independent scene.

Unused With Untapped Potential

Last seen in an AEW ring at the Winter Is Coming edition of Collision in December 2023, Martinez teamed with Diamante in a Texas Street Fight, losing to Kris Statlander & Willow Nightingale.

That stipulation should have been an indication as to where Tony Khan envisions Martinez, with the Street Fight expected to be a more hard hitting match than a regular tag team encounter would be. Indeed, it appeared that there was a direction for Martinez having found herself challenging for the TBS Championship earlier that year, and not being a stranger to the championship contenders picture.

A former ROH Women’s World Champion, it was clear that Martinez has potential that hadn’t seemingly been tapped when she was a WWE star, particularly considering her history as a two-time Shimmer Champion, among the many titles she has held in her career. All the tools were there, yet showing what she could do wasn’t enough to keep her used consistently right to the end of her recent contract.

Her talents had been recognized elsewhere, however, with a Women’s Wrestling Hall of Fame induction earlier this year that celebrates her 25 year, to date, career.

With Martinez making it clear that she is transitioning away from being a full-time competitor, it’s a testament to her love for the business, despite the hurdles she’s encountered, that she’s seeking to elevate the standing of women’s wrestling through her new ventures.

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