The Journey of Blake Monroe to the WWE

WWE Shop Model

Monroe began documenting her wrestling journey through her social media platforms. She began growing her platform by modeling clothes for the WWE shop around 2017. She would create YouTube videos showcasing customizations of the shirts and post them on Instagram, which the WWE Shop’s Instagram page would then repost. 

I remember discovering her through the WWE Shop and her YouTube channel. It’s not every day you see someone document their journey to becoming a professional wrestler. It was intriguing, especially as a wrestling fan. Monroe documented her wrestling journey since the very beginning. She also began training in 2017, once she turned 18.

Through these videos, her passion for wrestling radiates through the screen. In various videos, she discusses how professional wrestling and the WWE are her dreams. She showed us how she had been fighting for her dreams, seeing her consistent improvement, it is no surprise that she ended up in the WWE. This was always her goal. 

Stardom Wrestling

Some of the best professional wrestlers have come out of Japan or trained in Japan. Under the ring name Mariah May, May expanded her fan base, experience, and overall persona with her time here. 

May was only with stardom throughout 2023. Even though she was only there for a short time, May had made her presence known on the promotion. She was part of Club Venus with Mina Shirakawa, creating their beautiful friendship. 

The duo had won the Goddesses of Stardom Championships when they had defeated God’s Eye (Ami Sourei and Mirai). They held the championships for two months before losing the titles to The Cosmic Angles (Natsupoi and Saori Anou). Despite losing the championships, their friendship remained throughout May’s time in Stardom. 

May’s last match with Stardom Wrestling was September 9, 2023, where Hanan defeated her. Stardom was a great experience for May as she consistently improves and strengthens her career. It was only the beginning of a roller coaster of the next few years.

All Elite Wrestling

Stardom Wrestling gave Mariah May the extra experience she needed and helped her gain fans in Japan. However, once Mariah May joined AEW, she became a commonly mentioned name when discussing women’s wrestling. 

Mariah May has arguably had one of the best storylines in women’s wrestling in her time in AEW. The duo of Toni Storm and her will go down in AEW history. It was a story that was built slowly, with various elements being added or something unexpected occurring. For example, through this story, we got to see Mina Shirakawa get welcomed to AEW and involved in the storyline. 

When the time finally came where May turned on Storm and won the AEW Women’s Championship, we saw some of the best women’s matches in AEW between the two of them. They were both ruthless, and their actions in the ring show how much the sport means to them. The storytelling was immaculate, one of the strongest stories AEW had at that time. 

May’s last match in AEW was a great way to put a close to May’s AEW career, having her take part in a Hollywood Ending match against Toni Storm. A final match to end this long, emotional feud between the two. Storm picked up the win and regained the championship, while May was looking ahead to her next chapter in professional wrestling. 

NXT

On June 3, 2025, Mariah May made her long-awaited NXT debut under the name Blake Monroe. This is simply the beginning of a long career for Monroe. On her first night, she was already making claims about taking the NXT women’s championship.

With her arrival and insertion into the championship picture, we can only expect Monroe to flourish in the company, whether she wins or loses the championship this soon into her NXT career. 

There is a whole new roster of talent that we will now be able to see Monroe face. It will be exciting to see her turn into a WWE superstar and see who she becomes under this new mentorship. 

She will truly make NXT very glamorous.