Should whoever made the decision to debut Mercedes Mone in AEW two months before she was actually cleared to wrestle be fired? Yes. Does that include Tony Khan? Also yes, but more so. But on Wednesday night, Willow Nightingale powerbombed Mercedes Mone through a damn table, and that long-awaited moment of physicality was a reminder that we’re almost there, we’re like 10 days away, Mercedes Mone is going to wrestle on an American wrestling broadcast for the first time in two years in less than two weeks, and it is going to absolutely rule.

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When Mone hit her finisher at the end of her debut episode, “AEW Dynamite: Big Business,” it was taken by many as a sign that she was cleared to wrestle and would be doing so imminently. As time went on, however, it became clear that this notion was premature. So I’m not saying her getting put through the table is an obvious sign that she’s been cleared — it’s just a sorely-needed reminder that that day is rapidly approaching. I also can’t help but notice that, while the excitement for Mone has cooled as a result of her being limited to promos, i.e. her primary area of weakness as a wrestler, the feud with Mone has done fantastic work in elevating Nightingale. The AEW fan base has been begging to get behind Willow for a while now, and her consistently strong performances, including her response to Mone this week, and finally given then license to voice their full-throated approval (it helps that “The last time we wrestled, I walked away a champion, and you didn’t walk out at all” is a line that goes extremely hard). The TBS Championship, which has had some rocky times in terms of prestige since the departure of Jade Cargill, has also been elevated, and with Toni Storm punching somewhat below her weight in her current feud with Serena Deeb, the two women’s titles feel almost equally important at this point.

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As for Mone, the contract signing also offered some evidence that she might achieve her natural heel form in AEW sooner rather than later. One reason the fans have gotten behind Willow so loudly, I think, is because Mone beating Willow at Double or Nothing seems obvious, and if that happens, Willow’s title reign will have lasted barely over a month. For that to happen to one of AEW’s home-grown rising star babyfaces, at the hands of someone who made her name in WWE and has only just entered the company, would be a bad look, and I think that’s a recipe for a heel Mercedes no matter how the company tries to present it. Mone’s promo this week was her usual brand of not great, but she did come off more heelish than she has previously. Slapping Nightingale after the aforementioned “you didn’t walk out at all” comment doesn’t necessarily disqualify Mone for fan favorite status, but trying to then hit her with the title belt was a bridge too far, and babyfaces generally don’t put fellow babyfaces through tables at a contract signing — if this wasn’t a Mone heel turn, it was the prelude to one. And now, if Willow wins, it’s an incredible crowd moment, and if Mone wins, it can be through heelish tactics, writing the inevitable cascade of boos into the storyline rather than having it seem like a fan rebellion.

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It hasn’t been perfect, but we got through it, and it looks like we’re heading toward Mone wrestling her first AEW match as a heel, which was always the ideal scenario. The 26^th can’t come soon enough.

Written by Miles Schneiderman