During an appearance on the New York radio show “The Breakfast Club,” Mercedes Mone cited Vince McMahon as the main reason for her decision to leave the WWE.

The former Sasha Banks did not mention McMahon by name, but said that a lot of personal things happened between her and “the chairman at the time.” Mone did not like the way McMahon talked down to her, which led to her leaving WWE.

“I left for a lot of different reasons,” Mone told The Breakfast Club. “There was a lot of personal stuff going on between me and the chairman at the time, and I didn’t like the way he spoke to me and the way he, you know, just talked down to me. And I thought to myself, ‘It’s time to really listen to your soul and your heart.’ One day, a light bulb went off in my head, and I left WWE. My leaders told me to, and I’m being guided to become a two-time champion in AEW.”

Mone and Naomi (who has since returned to WWE) both left the company during an episode of Raw in May 2022. In her Breakfast Club interview, Mone said McMahon was talking to her “a little crazy” that day – and something inside her told her she needed to stand up for herself.

“Yeah, a little crazy. He talked to me a little crazy that day,” she said. “It was enough for my light source to enter my body and say, ‘You know what, if you stay, this is not OK. This is for the rest of your life. And what are you going to teach your children? What are you going to teach people? If you feel like this after 10 years here, you have to stand up for yourself.’ And that’s what I did.”

When asked if there were any protections for female wrestlers in the WWE, Mone replied, “No, but we change that every day. I change that every day for women’s wrestling. We asked everyone, and no. There weren’t any.”

McMahon will no longer be with WWE after his retirement in January 2024. But given the good treatment at AEW, Mone cannot imagine returning to WWE.

“After the way AEW has treated me, I don’t know. I don’t think so,” she told The Breakfast Club. “I feel like I have the best relationship with AEW right now. And it’s real, I’m living my dreams and it’s the best place I’ve ever been mentally and physically. And to be able to have new dreams after 14 years in the industry is the best feeling in the world. So AEW is my home right now.”