Janai Kai has high praise for Mercedes Martinez.
Despite being signed to AEW/ROH, Mercedes Martinez, a 20+ year veteran, occasionally dips her toes into the world of independent wrestling. Over the past number of years, Martinez has competed for promotions like Kitsune Women's Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Eve, New Horizon Pro Wrestling, and Northeast Wrestling.
On the latest episode of Fightful Overbooked's Indied podcast, Janai Kai was involved in a conversation about locker room leaders in wrestling, which prompted her to tell a story about how Mercedes Martinez took over a locker room and made sure that everyone was taken care of.
“One example is one show I went to, and there wasn’t anybody leading the locker room until Mercedes Martinez walked in. When you’re in a locker room with Mercedes Martinez, she will literally take over and make sure everyone is taken care of. For the position that me and Brooke are talking about, we feel like we can’t fully do that just yet. We’re not at that level where we can do that. We can sort of squeeze in and check in with the promoter here and there, but having Mercedes there was absolutely amazing. She really made sure we were all good and comfortable, she made sure she really found the promoter every chance she could to make sure that we need to get this done right now, that type of thing. I’m very thankful to still have those locker room leaders and it’s such an inspiration to see that. I feel good and I look to her as someone that’s inspiring in that way because I don’t want to always feel like I can’t speak up for myself, but I when I see her do it, I know it’s possible — especially being a woman.”
Fans can see the entire episode of of Indied in the video linked at the top of this video.
Furthermore, check out Janai Kai's interview with In The Weeds from July 2023 by clicking here.
