Blake Monroe Says She Wishes She Never Used The Name ‘Mariah’ In Her Wrestling Career

Blake Monroe opens up about her name change.

Speaking to Bully Ray on Busted Open Radio, Blake Monroe was asked a bunch of questions about her departure from All Elite Wrestling, where she opened up about dropping her previous moniker of “Mariah May” after she eventually signed a contract with WWE.

“No. If you’re familiar with my prior name, I feel like it was the end of a story, and I cherish that. It’s kind of cool that she died and that’s done. Mariah is my real name, and I wish Ihad  never used that in wrestling because it’s weird. I did it and can’t change it. The chance to start something new, and with WWE, we’re going to make this new thing and make it a megastar. Week by week, we do that. I love it, and it’s a tribute to my niece.

“My niece is Blake. We used to watch WWE together and she’d jump on the bed and be so excited. When they said, ‘How would you feel about the name? Would you be open to changing it?’ I said, ‘I absolutely would.’ Monroe was the first wrestling name I ever wrote down. I still have it in a book and a screenshot from 2017. I didn’t start wrestling until 2020. I wanted to do Monroe as a first name. The more I thought about it, people don’t like the name because they think it’s boyish, but that’s why I like the name. I feel if you’re in a really intense feud, it’s like, ‘Monroe,” while ‘Blake’ is more serious. Blake is my niece and it’s unisex, and Monroe is so pretty, but a little gimmicky. I thought putting the two together was different. The name was a little controversial, which I like because people are talking about me.”

Monroe was recently involved in a heated rivalry with Jordynne Grace, the two settled it in a Weaponized Steel Cage match at WWE NXT No Mercy.

(h/t to Fightful for the quotes/transcriptions.)

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