Mercedes Justine Kaestner Varnado[11][12] was born on January 26, 1992, in Fairfield, California.[13][14] Her mother Judith (née Kaestner) is of German descent, while her father Reo Varnado was African American.[ On January 2, 2022, Varnado sustained a calcaneus injury during a house show match against Charlotte Flair.[220] She would make her return on the January 28 episode of SmackDown, where she declared herself an entrant for the Women's Royal Rumble match the following episode of SmackDown, it was announced that Banks and Naomi had been suspended indefinitely, therefore vacating the titles, ending their reign at 46 days In December 2022, it was reported that negotiations over compensation had fallen through during the summer and that Banks was done with WWE After months of speculation, Varnado made her debut appearance for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on January 4, 2023, at Wrestle Kingdom 17. Now going by the ring name Mercedes Moné, she confronted and subsequently attacked reigning IWGP Women's Champion Kairi and announced that she had joined both NJPW and its sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom, establishing herself as a heel On June 30, 2024, at Forbidden Door, Moné defeated Stephanie Vaquer to win the Strong Women's Championship in a Winner Takes All match that also involved Moné's AEW TBS Championship.[243] She successfully defended her title against Momo Watanabe at Capital Collision[244] and Hazuki at Strong Style Evolved. In August 2023, Moné made a cameo appearance as an audience member at the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) pay-per-view event All In. Within the span of 35 days, Moné made her in-ring debut at on May 26 at Double or Nothing, where she defeated Nightingale to win the AEW TBS Championship[255] and later won the Strong Women's Championship from Stephanie Vaquer on June 30 at Forbidden Door, becoming a double champion in the process. Following a five-month hiatus, Moné returned to AEW on the June 3, 2026 episode of Dynamite as the Wild Card in the women's bracket of the 2026 Owen Hart Cup.[282] After defeating Alex Windsor and Hazuki in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds respectively, Moné defeated co-finalist Maya World at Forbidden Door on June 28, winning the tournament for a second year in a row and becoming the first two-time Owen Hart Cup winner. On March 15, 2025, Moné made her debut for House of Glory (HOG) at City of Dreamz, defeating ROW Women's Champion Indi Hartwell in a non-title match.[292] After winning the Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) Undisputed British Women's Championship at Wrestle Dynasty in January 2025, she successfully defended it against Kanji at High Stakes and against Safire Reed at Summer Sizzler During her matches, Moné often performs the frog splash and "three amigos" triple suplex in tribute to Eddie Guerrero, in addition to often wearing attire patterned after "Latino Heat" When she signed with AEW, she became the highest paid female wrestler in history.[325] Over the course of 2025, Moné won and held 13 belts comprising 11 singles championships simultaneously, surpassing a record set 30 years prior by Último Dragón. Song for Sasha Banks", written and performed by The Mountain Goats, tells the story of Varnado's childhood, watching Chris Jericho on SmackDown, and then becoming a professional wrestler in her own right. It was released as a single digital track on June 18, 2018 Varnado has publicly discussed facing mental health struggles throughout her career. AEW TBS Championship (1 time) Women's Owen Hart Cup (2025, 202 WWE Raw Women's Championship[c] (5 times)[379] WWE SmackDown Women's Championship (1 time)[380] NXT Women's Championship (1 time)[381] WWE Women's Tag Team Championship (3 times, inaugural) – with Bayley (2), and Naomi (1)[382] Fourth WWE Women's Triple Crown Champion Third WWE Women's Grand Slam Champion NXT Year-End Award (1 time) Match of the Year (2015) vs. Bayley at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn