Details on Mercedes Mone's AEW contract & choosing them over WWE

The former Sasha Banks arrived in All Elite Wrestling at the company’s ‘Big Business’ special event last week in Boston after months of speculation about her future.
It was reported back in December that talks between Mercedes and WWE had broken down, and that she was expected to join AEW, which finally ended up happening on last week’s Dynamite show.
Per PWInsider, more details on Mercedes’ deal with AEW have been revealed, as well as additional reasons she opted to join the company over returning to WWE.
PWInsider was told by multiple sources from both WWE and AEW that both companies were willing to commit to ‘eight figure’ deals for the former WrestleMania headliner, which would have been record breaking numbers for a female performer in professional wrestling.

It was also noted that Mercedes’ current AEW deal likely makes her the top paid female performer in the history of wrestling.
Discussions with AEW and Mercedes were said to have gone on for ‘about 18 months’ prior to her signing, and WWE came into the picture later, with top flight executives involved and WWE wanting Sasha Banks back ‘in the family’.
PWInsider notes that the final factor in her decision making was which company would allow for stronger potential, not just for her but for future women in wrestling.

Sources told PWInsider that a major part of her decision to go with AEW was that she believed that, while a return to WWE would have been beneficial, it would have been a return to where she had already been, as well as other projects being automatically made secondary to WWE touring and performing.
There was also said to have been a feeling that, while there is a lot of potential things left to do in WWE, the potential did not have to be jumped on immediately when there is a bunch of additional goals outside the wrestling world.
The belief among those close to Mercedes is that the best way for her to continue to develop her outside interests beyond wrestling was to be in a place that would allow her to still develop said projects.

Another factor in Mercedes joining AEW was her hope that she can assist the company in growing stronger and evolving overall, as evidenced with the recent hiring of Jennifer Pepperman to work as AEW’s Vice President of Content Development.
The hope is that Pepperman will be beneficial to all of AEW, and that the intent is not for her to work exclusively on Mercedes’ content.
Those close to the situation noted that Mercedes, who made the final call on where to land, hopes to shake up the overall system for wrestling and create new opportunities for women to get a higher payout, as well as more opportunities down the line as new generations of women pursue wrestling.