Former Cora Jade names Mercedes Mone as ‘current dream match’

In her post-WWE life, Elayna Black is hoping that she’ll get to face off against Mercedes Mone.

The former Cora Jade was released by WWE at the start of May and has already returned to the indies, lining up a full schedule of bookings. Her current dream opponent is AEW star Mercedes Mone, with Black expressing that she felt a strong connection to Mone growing up watching her as Sasha Banks in WWE.

“That’s my current dream match,” Black said about Mone on a new episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet. “I feel like her and Bayley were my favorites out of the Four Horsewomen. I loved all of them, but I feel like I really, really looked up to them two specifically. I feel like I just felt the most connected to them two because Mercedes was always doing the same thing, saying she was always writing in her wrestling notebook [about her dreams] too. And I feel like I look at her and see aspects of myself too. So to be able to wrestle her now, where we both have had our time in WWE and we’re both doing our own thing now and doing whatever we want creatively, I feel like that is the ultimate dream match.”

Black did share the ring with Bayley multiple times during her career in NXT.

Before signing with WWE, Black worked some dates for AEW in 2020 on AEW Dark. She would definitely be open to signing with AEW now but is trying to be present and not worry about her next destination.

“I’m open to whatever. I’m not in any rush to sign anywhere right now. I’m not like sitting here waiting for that. Because I feel like for the first time in my life, I’m trying to be present and just enjoy life now and what’s happening now,” Black said. “Because I feel like a lot of times I was always worried about what’s next, and this business is so go, go, go, go, go. It’s hard to sit and be present. So I feel like I’m trying to just enjoy where I’m at right now and not worry about that. But if the call came, I would definitely be open to talking and whatever. Because I love AEW. I’ve watched all the AEW shows since 2020, I never stopped watching them. Just couldn’t talk about it. I love AEW. I love wrestling. I want to continue to wrestle, wherever that is. If the call comes, hey, I’m here. But if it doesn’t for a few months or never, I don’t know. I’m not sitting here stressing about it, but I’m open to it.”

Mone is the TBS Champion in AEW and has a growing list of other titles, including winning the CMLL Women’s Championship at Arena Mexico on Dynamite last night. She works occasional dates outside of AEW and could still potentially face Black on the indies even if Black doesn’t end up joining AEW.

Black named AJ Lee as her all-time dream opponent, but that match might not be possible with Lee having been retired for a decade now. Black hopes that either she or Roxanne Perez will be able to bring Lee back to the ring for one more match.