Former AEW Women’s World Champion Blake Monroe, known in AEW as Mariah May, has opened up about her decision to leave the promotion and sign with WWE. In an interview with Bully Ray on Busted Open Radio, Monroe explained that while she had a “fantastic experience” in AEW, she felt she had accomplished all she could with her story there and was ready for a new challenge. The opportunity to be a part of WWE’s women’s division and to embark on a completely new chapter in her career was ultimately the deciding factor.
Monroe’s time in AEW was a whirlwind success. After signing with the company in 2023, she was immediately placed in a high-profile storyline as the protege of “Timeless” Toni Storm. The angle was a highlight of AEW programming, culminating in a turn where May defeated her mentor for the AEW Women’s World Championship. Her final match for the company was at the Revolution pay-per-view, where she lost the title back to Storm in a “Hollywood Ending” match.
“I had a fantastic experience and I did things that I’m so proud of and cherish. I had a really short contract and when it came to an end, there were positives and negatives,” she explained. “It got to the point in wrestling where I did have an amazing story, but that was the one thing. I didn’t have much else. I just thought, ‘Is this everything I want?’”
Monroe revealed that she had other options on the table, including a potential return to Japan, where she was a star in STARDOM before her time in AEW. “I also considered going to Japan, which nobody knows. It’s something I talked to them about,” she said. It was only after her AEW deal was up that she began to consider WWE, and the company’s interest in her “Glamour” persona was a major selling point. “When I talked to them, they cared so much about The Glamour and all these different things. I was like, ‘Okay, now I do have a big choice to make.’ I sat and thought about it. It was a really tough decision.”
Ultimately, the allure of a fresh start and the depth of the WWE women’s division was too much to pass up. “It just came down to, I did everything I needed to do. I feel like I told a great story, and I made people feel something, and it’s time to close that chapter and start a new one,” she said. “Getting a new name and a whole new experience. There are so many women here. Women’s wrestling is very important in WWE. As a woman, that’s something I want to be a part of. All these different matches and possibilities, to me, it was a great deal. It was a challenge, and I want a challenge.”
Since arriving in NXT in June, Blake Monroe has been positioned as a topstar.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Busted Open Radio with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
