Actress and professional wrestler Mercedes Mone. Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

AEW's Mercedes Mone backs Celtics to win back-to-back championships

By Adam Taylor | Last updated Oct 31, 2024 8:03 AM ET

A strong start to the season came to a grinding halt for the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. They fell to the Indiana Pacers in overtime, 135-132, giving them their first loss of the season and taking their current record to 4-1 over the first five games.

Despite their slip-up, the Celtics are still heavy favorites to retain their title as NBA champions. Joe Mazzulla's team currently sits second in offensive rating and fourth in net rating, making them one of the most fearsome opponents in the league.

Mercedes Mone, AEW's TBS Women's champion and NJPW's Women's Strong champion, recently spoke to Yardbarker via the "Taylor Talks Wrestling" podcast ahead of AEW's debut in Providence, RI, on Nov. 7. According to Mone, her hometown team is well positioned to continue dominating the league en route to back-to-back championships.

"We're definitely gonna get a repeat," Mone said. "I got to be right there when we won the championship this year. It was so amazing...So I definitely am going to predict that we are going to win another championship this year...I just always feel so welcome and so loved Boston. It's just home for me. I put the 'boss' in Boston, baby."

Mone is just one of multiple high-level professional wrestlers from Boston. WWE's Carmelo Hayes, Kofi Kingston and Tommaso Ciampa are also from the city, proving that its sporting excellence reaches beyond basketball, baseball, hockey and football.

Still, the Celtics' loss to Indiana must serve as a wake-up call. Boston currently ranks 29th in transition defense, allowing opponents to score 1.29 points per possession in the open court. As such, the Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons and now the Pacers have all looked to push the pace against Mazzulla's team as they begin pressing on a clear weakness within the current system.

Retaining a championship is often harder than winning it in the first place, as Mone herself could attest to. Boston is now at the top of the mountain, with every team in the league looking to take its place. The Celtics have to tighten up on the defensive end and rediscover the identity that saw them hold opponents to under 100 points in 11 of their 19 postseason games.

Fortunately for the Celtics, they have 78 regular-season games left to figure things out before trying to prove Mone's prediction right.

Adam Taylor

Adam Taylor is a sports journalist based out of the UK. Adam has been covering the NBA for nearly a decade with a core focus on the Boston Celtics. He currently holds bylines with Yardbarker, SB Nation and USA Today

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