Predicting Mercedes Mone’s next 4 challengers for the AEW Women’s World Title

Over two years after making her debut in All Elite Wrestling, Mercedes Mone finally accomplished her goal of attaining the AEW Women’s World Championship last August at All In: London, unseating her nemesis Willow Nightingale for the belt. The CEO failed to defend her strap at All Out 2026 because of a broken nose she sustained during her battle against Willow at Wembley Stadium. However, earlier this month at Grand Slam France, she retained her belt for the very first time against Queen Aminata.

This past weekend at WrestleDream 2026, Mercedes mounted her first successful pay-per-view title defense by defeating Thekla. With just a couple of months left till the end of the year, fans have been speculating on who could challenge the Boss for her Women’s World Championship after her recent retention against the Toxic Spider, considering her dominant record against most of the All Elite Wrestling women’s roster.

Keeping in mind her programs in the company so far, let us consider four names who could step up to “Big D” Mone next to vie for her AEW Women’s Title.

#1. Former AEW Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale

Willow Nightingale is very likely Mercedes Mone’s most hated and consistent rival since her debut in All Elite Wrestling, actually since even before that. The two women have faced each other four times— their first bout taking place at NJPW STRONG Resurgence, where Willow defeated Mercedes in the finals of the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship Tournament. A year later, at Double or Nothing 2024, the CEO avenged her loss to the Babe with the Power by dethroning her for the TBS Championship.

Mercedes and Willow reignited their feud in mid-2025, especially after the introduction of the new AEW Women’s World Tag Team Titles. “Ultimo” Mone and her tag partner Athena entered a tournament to crown the inaugural Women’s Tag Team Champions, but were eliminated at the quarterfinal stage by the duo of Nightingale and Harley Cameron, who proceeded to win the tourney. The following month at Worlds End 2025, the Babes of Wrath retained their tag titles against Mercedes and the Fallen Goddess.

The next time she went one-on-one against Mone, Nightingale reclaimed the TBS Title from her foe on Dynamite: New Year’s Smash at the end of 2025. Earlier this year, Mercedes evened up her record against Willow by unseating her for the AEW Women’s World Championship at All In: London. Since both stars hold two victories over the other, a rubber match between them seems all but inevitable, and such a bout could take place this coming month at Full Gear 2026.

The Conglomeration member could therefore step up against the former WWE megastar at the upcoming pay-per-view in a bid to regain her AEW Women’s Championship. The latter, in turn, could be motivated by the desire to legitimize her reign by retaining against her challenger and establishing herself as the superior competitor between the two (at least for the time being). Such an angle would also lay the foundation for Nightingale potentially beating Mone at some point down the line.

#2. AEW TBS and CMLL World Women’s Champion Persephone

Mercedes Mone shared the squared circle with Persephone for the first time in AEW at Forbidden Door 2025, where she successfully defended her TBS Championship against the Goddess, Alex Windsor and Bozilla in a hard-fought four-way match. Around a couple of months later at a CMLL event in Arena Mexico, the Boss dethroned Perse to capture the CMLL World Women’s Championship.

However, this past March at La Noche De Las Amazonas, the up-and-comer reclaimed the CMLL Women’s Title from Mone at the start of the latter’s international tour from earlier this year. Since she signed a dual contract with AEW, over the course of 2026, Persephone has impressed viewers greatly, and established herself as a charismatic and impeccable in-ring performer on the company’s programming.

Last August at All In: London, she captured the TBS Championship from Maya World thanks to a major assist from her new ally Britt Baker. She has mounted successful singles defenses of her belt against VertVixen, Hyan and Dani Luna. Last weekend at WrestleDream 2026, Perse retained the strap in a four-way against Hyan, Luna and Queen Aminata.

The Queen of the Underworld even teamed with Mercedes last month on AEW’s tribute show for the late, great PAC—nonetheless, the 25-year-old holds a victory over Mone, and could feasibly claim a Women’s World Title shot against the latter on that ground. This matchup could take place at Winter is Coming 2026, an event which will see the promotion make its debut in Monterrey, Mexico.

The bout could be even more intriguing when accounting for the fact that Britt Baker, who will likely be in Perse’s corner as usual, has her own history with the reigning Women’s World Champion. Fans in Arena Monterrey could thus bear witness to Mercedes retaining her AEW Women’s Title against Persephone at Winter is Coming, and avenging her prior loss to the latter in the process.

#3. Former AEW Women’s World Champion Kris Statlander

Kris Statlander’s rivalry with Mercedes Mone dates back to late 2024, when “Born Again Kristen” set her sights on the Boss and identified her as the real reason behind the dissolution of her friendship with Willow Nightingale (at the time, that is). This led to the two women squaring off for Mercedes’ TBS Title at Full Gear 2024, where the defending champion emerged victorious. Just over a month later, at Worlds End 2024, “Ultimo” Mone retained her strap against Stat once again.

Last year at All Out: Toronto, Kris Statlander captured Toni Storm’s AEW Women’s World Championship by winning a four-way for the belt. At WrestleDream 2025, the Galaxy’s Greatest Alien successfully defended the belt against the “Timeless” One. Stat’s victory celebration was interrupted, however, by Mercedes, who dismissively asked the Women’s Champion to vacate the ring for her own upcoming title-for-title match, which ended with Mone capturing the ROH Women’s World TV Title from Mina Shirakawa.

Unfortunately for the erstwhile Sasha Banks, Stat Daddy took a measure of revenge on her by interrupting her celebration after the bout, dodging her attack and dropping “11 Belts” Mone with a Samoan Drop. This led to Mercedes challenging Statlander for the AEW Women’s World Title at Full Gear 2025, although this time she was unsuccessful at beating the latter. Almost a year later, now, it is Mone who holds the All Elite Wrestling Women’s Championship, whereas Stat is pursuing the Women’s Tag Titles with Harley Cameron.

The Cosmic Killer’s victory over the CEO in their last singles encounter could prompt Stat to challenge Mercedes for her AEW Women’s World Championship before the end of this year. She could challenge Mone for her strap at Worlds End 2026, two years after their second one-on-one match at the same PPV. Retaining against Statlander would allow Mercedes to avenge her loss to the fan-favorite last year, and to further boost the credibility of her reign.

#4. Former AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm

Toni Storm has been missing from AEW television since she was discovered backstage bloody and unconscious just ahead of Dynamite days after Revolution 2026. It was subsequently reported that the former Women’s Champion may not return to programming for the remainder of the year, even though the specific reasons behind her hiatus are not clearly known.

While the “Illustrious” fan-favorite remains absent from All Elite Wrestling, last Saturday at WrestleDream 2026, some cassette tapes containing recordings of Toni living her life while on hiatus from AEW were distributed among select audience members and media figures. The tapes might be teasing the 31-year-old’s imminent comeback, even though Tony Khan refused to share any definite timelines for her return during the post-PPV scrum.

If Storm does return to All Elite Wrestling at the end of the year, it would make sense for her to immediately set her sights on Mercedes Mone and her AEW Women’s World Championship. After all, the only time they locked horns one-on-one in the company, Toni handed Mercedes her first singles loss in the promotion last year at All In: Texas to retain the Women’s Title.

Assuming she returns by the end of 2026, or by early 2027, Storm could challenge Mone to put her strap on the line against her next year at Grand Slam Australia. The defending champion could use this as an opportunity to expunge her previous loss to the Timeless One, and install herself at the pinnacle of the All Elite Wrestling women’s division in doing so.

Edited by Anurag Mukherjee