Before Mercedes Mone could even make her in-ring debut for AEW in the opening segment of Big Business in “Bo$$ton,” Massachusetts, the “CEO” had already garnered a good bit of controversy within her new fanbase due to some comments about potentially returning to WWE in the future.

Talking all things wrestling in an appearance on Kick Rocks with Evan T Mack, Mone noted in a since-deleted segment of the interview that she knows she will eventually return to WWE one day, a statement that largely overshadowed all of the positive things she said about her current plans in a promotion that, at the time, was still a mystery. AEW fans were angry, WWE fans loved it, but what did the boys and girls in the back think about Mone's comments?

Discussing these comments on his Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed that fans weren't the only people who took issue with Mone's comments, as some of the wrestlers in the back took issue with her comments as well.

“Regarding WWE, she said, ‘I know I’m gonna be back there one day. Like I said, I have a lot of unfinished business in a lot of places.' Boy did this one rub a lot of people the wrong way. Time will tell, and quite frankly she should always have it in her mind the possibility of going to WWE, but saying so days before she’s about to start in AEW wouldn’t be the right time politically to say that. There is a reality that some people consider AEW as the place they want to be and some see it as a place to make money until getting the call to come back. The latter group has in general been more of a detriment to the company,” Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio via WrestleTalk.

“In her case, she negotiated with both sides. WWE didn’t give her the money she wanted, and AEW did. Could you imagine Jade Cargill or Cody Rhodes, right before her or his WWE debut, saying that they know they’ll one day go back to AEW, and if they did, how do you think WWE would react? In time, this will play out as it does, but the people who were skeptical are now more skeptical. In the end, if she’s a long-term valuable asset to the company nobody will remember this statement. And if not, everyone will remember this statement.”

Was it unfortunate that Mone's comments came out mere hours before her AEW debut? Yes, fans of WWE have certainly thrown the “CEO's” comments back at her since her debut and will probably continue to do so for the remainder of her career in AEW. Still, if the crowd continues to react to her the way they did in Boston moving forward, it's safe to say AEW fans won't hold it against her.

Mercedes Mone reveals the origins of her “CEO” nickname.

Elsewhere in Mercedes Mone's one-women media tour to celebrate her new spot as one of the top performers in AEW, the “CEO” sat down with Renee Paquette for an expansive interview, where she talked all things wrestling, from her origins to her business-themed nickname.

Discussing how Mone went from a “Boss” all the way up to “CEO” alongside her fellow WWE-turned-AEW turncoat, Mone revealed that she felt the promotion was appropriate because she's done the work to own her business.

“I mean, first is just finding a team. Finding people that I can go to for help because I felt so lost, so broken, so hurt and so confused. [She didn't know] where I fit in this world and especially in the world of wrestling that gave me so much hope, gave me so [many] dreams, gave me so much opportunity. I felt very lost and confused and unsure, and it hurt me because of how much work I put into being in wrestling and all my dreams into it just felt like it got taken away from me and just kinda came crumbling down,” Mercedes Mone told Renee Paquette via Fightful.

“So it took a little bit of healing, a lot of healing, but a team to really help build me back up and to have my back. To let me know, I am more than a boss, I am a CEO because I took control of my own life. I walked out with my head held up high, and I found so many new passions that I never got to discover before. Wrestling has always been my one and only and my everything. To be a 30-year-old back then, now I'm 32, to grow and understand that there's so much more than this.

“Wrestling is so much more. It's so beautiful. It's more than just in the ring.To be able to discover a new love, new foundation, just new everything. It just felt so freeing to grow.”

After spending a decade in WWE where she played a character that wasn't her own, Mone now owns the name Mercedes Mone, “Bo$$ton,” and all of her own iconography and signature verbiage. While some wrestlers jump to AEW in order to continue to get paid until they return to WWE, who knows, maybe Mone really does have a different mindset, one dedicated to ownership, instead of making money for someone else.