What's going on, guys?
I'm Mckenzie Mitchell joined by maybe one of the most badass women in NXT and
WWE, Mercedes Martinez.
How are you doing?
>> Tremendous, awesome, phenomenal, outstanding.
>> Love it, I'm so glad that you're here this morning.
But I don't know if you've seen the show before.
We don't actually have an official name for it.
But every superstar that I sit down with, they name it's something different.
So we'll go through it.
Bronson Reed named it.
>> Apron hangs.
>> Ever Rise named it.
>> Hot and loud.
>> Jake Atlas named it.
>> What's T.
>> Dakota Kai named it.
>> The Mackinac attack. >> And then last week, Leon Ruff named it.
>> The ring time with Raw.
>> So do you have an actual name for the show for me for today?
>> No, we don't do that.
>> No.
>> So we're not gonna name it today?
>> Nope, we're just gonna leave it as is, just blank.
>> Blank with Mercedes Martinez >> Just private, yep, just.
>> All right, well.
>> You guys can add your own stuff in there.
Just, nope, I ain't playing.
>> Well, moving right along.
So you've been signed with the WWE for a year.
Take me through this journey of what's been a year of Mercedes Martinez.
>> Up and downs if we wanna get on the serious side and
a little bit into my private life.
When I got signed, everything was like, yes, yes!
But my grandmother passed away right before I got signed.
>> I'm sorry to hear that.
>> And I'm also going through a divorce.
[LAUGH] >> Wow.
>> So it's kinda one of those things where you wanna enjoy this but
you can't because you get so much stuff happening inside of you.
My heart's breaking in every which way that it can go.
And WWE in the first three months, everything was just go, go, go, go, go.
I had no time to stop, but the pandemic literally was one of those things where it
was like, everything just stopped and I had time to grieve, and
I had time to deal with my broken heart and everything, and it's really hard.
>> Sorry, how do you take those personal stressors away and
put all your energy inside the ring?
>> You kinda remember why you're here in the first place.
The love for it, the love for the business.
I really enjoy it.
It literally is all I do besides working out or taking care of my son and
doing school stuff with him, and then just being a mom.
But wrestling is really what sets me apart from what I've could have been doing it
wasn't for wrestling.
Basketball was my love, and I wanted to become a police officer.
And I wanted to do all these things and wrestling fell on my lap literally and
that was the role that I took.
And I really believe that that was my destiny.
And no matter which way I went, wrestling was still there and it was the only thing
that kept me sane and kept me responsible for everything that I do in my life.
I love it, I really do.
>> Do you feel like basketball prepared you for your in-ring style?
>> Yes, I think, basketball, I'm really aggressive playing basketball.
It was that mentality of just take anybody out.
I wanna get to where I gotta get to.
And to do that,
I have to play all these people that have everything handed to them.
And I'm gonna work myself and
work myself up to the point where I can get this full scholarship.
And if I gotta get a couple of flagrant fouls and stuff, it's fine but
it's gonna prove to them, don't mess with me.
I'll give you the elbow to the jaw, it's fine, I'll take.
I'll sit down for a game, it's all good.
>> I love that-
>> [LAUGH] >> Because this is why I never played
physical sports is because I would be this person.
I would be you.
I would be poking people in the eye.
I would be biting.
It is just awful to say but that's why I was never a physical sport person.
I stayed on the sideline for cheerleading, so.
>> No, no, I laugh at the cheerleaders.
I throw the ball at them.
>> So last Wednesday, Mr.
Regal came out and made the announcement about the new NXT Women's Tag Team titles.
How important, how historic is this for NXT?
>> [SOUND] Mind blown.
I think it's awesome.
I think it's with the depth that we have on this roster for woman's, it is amazing.
It really is, to put people together and show a different side of people and
their cohesiveness.
And I don't even know, I'm not a tag team person.
I like to be on my own and do my thing.
But if I needed to tag partner, applications are being taken.
I won't even say who I want, just applications taking the best shot.
>> You can't even give us a sneak peek of who you would think it would be.
Who would you pick as your tag team partner at this moment?
>> Someone who lets me lead, hello- >> Doh.
>> Doh. >> Okay.
>> Jeez, whoever wants to follow greatness and awesomeness, wealth-like.
>> So it wouldn't be Robert Stone or Leah.
Let's not even go there.
>> All right.
>> They just, no.
>> Okay, moving right along.
>> Yes, please.
>> You have been part of so many historic moments, first may young classic.
You've been in the Royal Rumble.
You were at Take Revenge and Stay in a triple threat match with Io and Tony.
What do those moments mean to you?
>> Exactly what they are, moments.
One thing that Shane Heath told me in my Royal Rumble, he said,
you take in the moment because that is what you're going to remember.
You don't think about what you did the night before,
you don't think about what you're going to do in the ring.
You think about when you walk through that curtain and you take it all in.
So that's what I do for every show that I'm in.
As soon as I walk out there, take a deep breath and I take my moment, and
because you may not have that same moment again.
Every moment is different.
You literally take the moment, you cherish the memory and then you keep it moving.
And that's what I live for, is those memories that I can make for
every match and every show that I do.
>> Well, Mercedes, thank you so much for taking the time to sit here and
kinda talk and share things this morning.
>> Yes.
>> It's been super awesome and we love watching you weekly on NXT.
Keep killing it.
>> Thank you, I really, really appreciate it.
Thank you.
>> Yeah.