Mercedes Martinez on 24 Years In Wrestling, Her Entrance Themes, AEW, Snow Tha Product

John Kiernan (: 02:00

Mercedes Martinez enjoying so many celebrations, enjoying your birthday, enjoying 24 years in the business, all these things. And you're coming on here. I appreciate you. How you doing?

Mercedes (: 02:10

Yes, many. It's an honor to be a part of this, John. Thank you, thank you. I know we worked so much and it's a pleasure to be one of your firsts. So that's a celebration in itself. But yes, celebrating 24 years, celebrating my birthday. It's good November so far.

John Kiernan (: 02:30

It's so exciting. And it's like, it's one of these things where you were saying that it's your birthday. You're saying that you're 24 years. We have all these awesome things happening. You're a veteran. You're one of those people in the industry that comes off and everybody knows. How's it feel to have that cache in the industry of just saying, you know what, I've been in this game so long and you know, this is, this is what you have. This is awesome.

Mercedes (: 02:53

you know it's it's it's the pros and cons to it I think I'm actually very blessed and I'm very grateful very humbled to still be in this business hitting 24 years I didn't even think I was gonna make it to 20 you know even ten at that especially with women's wrestling and

the decades that I've been through it and just the ups and downs of it. But just to still be here grinding and hustling and winding down little by little, you know, as we age and my body's giving me the signals and stuff. But I still want to be a part of the business and still give back to women's wrestling and to the young and upcoming wrestlers. And I still do my indie dates and stuff and my independent bookings just to see what's out there, see the girls and just get my reps in because I still love this business. I would always love this business, but just to be

Considered a veteran and people and people look up to me and stuff that's still a humbling and just an awkward experience for me because I'm a very private person and I'm not one to be up in the spotlight like that, but it's a it's a very blessed opportunity that I was given and I'm just doing the best that I can with it.

John Kiernan (: 03:56

I still remember us hanging out over at Monster Factory down in New Jersey. And we were just like, wait a minute, like, you're here? I'm like, wait, you're here? This is crazy. So it's so cool that you get to see just everywhere you're going and obviously doing amazing work with AEW, doing amazing work in Ring of Honor, just continuing to crush the game as we know you do. And, you know, I've been grateful to be part of your Sonic part of your career in probably the last four or five years or so with...

Mercedes (: 03:58

Hahaha

Hahaha

John Kiernan (: 04:22

the different themes that we've been able to jam on together. And as always, thank you so much for trusting me with that. you know, with Ropes and Riffs, we talk about wrestling, we talk about music, and when we get the opportunity to have a conversation with people that we've worked with, I love to be able to have that here. And for me, it was such an awesome experience to just obviously see the theme that we've worked on over the years grow into different elements. But that first night,

Mercedes (: 04:49

Yeah.

John Kiernan (: 04:51

that you came out on AEW and you had the whole mask on and everything and the reveal was there. It was just like, Mercedes is here. It's awesome. And then you had your first match and you heard the theme. How was it for the first time walking out into AEW and hearing your theme go off?

Mercedes (: 05:00

I'm

It's awesome because sometimes it's a weird concept sometimes listening to my music in a car and think it's you think about your entrance you think about all right the lights may be here maybe there and then you do rehearsals and you always think you're gonna mess up I always think I'm gonna miss a beat I'm always thinking okay where's the camera am I gonna do this am I gonna do that how long is the ramp you you try when you make my music there has to be like a delay somewhere so you can get to here and there and it's humbling

but it's also like scary because I always feel like I'm gonna trip. I'm going to miss the camera. Where here? Can I hear? Sometimes you can't hear the beats. So I know my theme music by heart now, so I know where the beats are. But it's a great feeling to know that when you hear your music, it's yours. It's something that you help create. It's something that you envision. It's something that you can jam to. it's not anybody else's. It's not like a generic music as someone said here. This is you. This is your character. No, it's something that me and you put together. We put some time in.

I said no to this and I said, you know, it's humbling and it's so awesome to hear that and walk out to it and just see your vision come to life. And I'm sure that you're proud of it when you hear it and, you know, with the whole get up for me. But for me, it's just like, yes, this is mine. This is my theme. I can rock to it. And I hope that, you know, my fans and the audience understand why that music is the way it is and why.

Sometimes people don't understand what goes into a theme entrance, because it's a part of you. It literally is. It's not just the character, but that music is a part of me and what I'm about and just the riffs that it goes through and stuff. just hearing it for the first time was like, all right, I got this and I'm not going to trip. I'm going to get in here at this beat. It never works that way though. I always miss something.

John Kiernan (: 06:53

I think we all do, but that's also being part of a live capacity like you're doing here. But we've always rocked it out on stage. And what's cool is, you know, we talk about a couple of different themes. So the original one that we had worked on that's grown into the Ring of Honor and AEW themes was the one that we had done when you went to Impact, which was Brass City Revolution. And when you listen to that theme,

Mercedes (: 06:58

Yeah.

Thanks for

John Kiernan (: 07:19

I think you hear in the later iterations of everything you've done, even in your tag team with Diamante with No Paz, you hear that there are those little chunks from the previous that we just kept in to say, okay, no, this is Mercedes. Anytime you hear Mercedes or think of Mercedes, you're gonna think of this little melody here. How important do you think it's been to have little pieces of those themes from previous that have gone through the entirety of your career so far from the...

Mercedes (: 07:25

Yes.

John Kiernan (: 07:49

from evolution into No Paz?

Mercedes (: 07:52

It's very important because I look at music as a reflection of who I am and even just a little bit of something. It's an evolution. Going into 24 years, it's an evolution of my career and music is a big part of that. From doing the impact music, there was no words. There was just the beat and the music and it was more uplifting. It was more like, hey, I'm doing this new transition from one company to another like this is a new Mercedes.

a new gimmick, a new, how do I say, I went from the Latina sensation to the OG badass. So it's an evolution and there's certain parts that we have to keep in the music because fans resonate with that when they hear certain risks and they hear certain parts, they're like, that's Mercedes. So I tend to, and it me working in the last two musics, especially with the music with Diamante, they have...

to be a part of Mercedes in there because people resonate with that and they know that that part is important for a reason. It just keeps me evolving as a performer, but evolving with music and keeping the fans hooked into something instead of just coming something brand new and they're like, who is this person and here I am coming out. They're like, that's not Mercedes, that's not their music. You want to keep things on the level playing field with them so they know what you're using and they know who's coming out with the same gimmicks. So think it was very important to keep

something in that little rift, it's like that hook in the horn and the gun clacks. Something has to stay consistent so people know that it's me. And even if the beats change or the melodies change and the flow changes, there has to be something that hooks them like, okay, we know this Mercedes, this is just Mercedes involving into something different. We always have to involve this business to keep our longevity.

John Kiernan (: 09:40

Exactly. And I love how sensitive you are too when it comes to some of the things that have stayed in the theme, some of the things that have fallen by the wayside. You know, for me, and when we started working together, one of the big things that you had always discussed was the fans have to be into it. The fans got to be into it from the first time they hear it. And when we went from OG Badass, which was I think the second iteration of it, and then we went to Brass City Sleeper, which is the one you hear most currently.

with Denise on it, is with Jasmine on it, which is just awesome. I think you hear those elements moving around in the presentation that you're giving at the time. But I love how sensitive you've always been in terms of, hey, this is working. Let's go ahead and amplify this more. This is something that I'm noticing people are doing. Let's go ahead and bring that out more. Is that something that you take throughout your entire career with, hey,

not just with the music, but maybe things you're doing in ring that work, things that you're doing in the entrance that work. Are you just as sensitive to those things and do you make those changes over time?

Mercedes (: 10:43

I'm sensitive to things that work. Throughout my career, there's certain things that I kept from the beginning of my career to now that I still do, and even in in-ring stuff. Entrances are important, but I try to not be so elaborate, because I'm not an elaborate person. I'm an OG. I'm all gangster here. So I'm not super charismatic. not super, I'm just, I am who I am, and it's hard to that on TV and through your entrances and through my work.

John Kiernan (: 11:00

you

Mercedes (: 11:12

I think when people watch me wrestle, I have signature moves that I've been doing forever. It's just where you place them. I'm very sensitive to certain things when it comes to the way I portray myself in the ring. The way I am in the ring sometimes doesn't translate to the I am in personal life. You know that personally. I'm a sweetheart, okay? But in the ring, I have to translate to something different and the music plays a role in that. My gear plays a role in that.

My gear, I'm very sensitive to my gear and the way it has to look and the way the layouts is and the way things are. And my gear has involved tremendously throughout these years, as well as my music. If you ever heard my first music ever, my first entrance, it was live at Jimmy's. That was the name of my music, Cuban Lincoln, Angie Martinez. And it was so upbeat and you come out and I came out dancing and I was like, wait, but that's the Latina sensation. Very upbeat, very going, hitting that Latin roots.

and has my career transition, my moves transition, the gear transition, the way I do my entrance transitions, everything's evolving. And I'm very clued in into what works for the people and for the fans and what can they get into. But it also depends on if I'm a good guy or a bad guy or my in-betweener, who am I wrestling? Sometimes things have to change in the mid-match, but maybe I come out as a good guy and then I change to a bad guy. So my music has to reflect.

that as well. My gear has to reflect that as well. There's a lot of interchangeable and audibles that we have to call. But one thing that I know for sure when it comes to my music is that if I can rock to it, I know my fans can rock to it. You know, if I can't rock to my music and it just feels off, then I can't get into my music because the music is the first thing people hear. It's the first thing that I hear to get me through that curtain. It's the first thing that I'm jamming to. And if I feel good about my music, I'm not worried about steps or falling down the ramp or falling in the ring.

then I know I'm going to have a good match. But if something's off, I'm like, man. But the music, if I can come out dancing and bop into my music, that's the first thing that gets me in a good mood when I go in the ring, because that's the first thing that everyone sees and hears. And then everything else happens from there.

John Kiernan (: 13:20

I've been speaking to a lot of wrestlers recently and I think one of the things is that not only is it that the music has to resonate with the fans, but the music's got to resonate with you. And even further than that is it's about this confidence that instills in you, right? Is you can have lots of different combinations of gear and music and things like that. But if it doesn't resonate with you and it doesn't make you confident, then you're doing a disservice to the audience. And with you, anytime we've had these conversations and created those themes, I always feel like in that

Mercedes (: 13:22

Thanks

John Kiernan (: 13:50

iteration of Mercedes Martinez, you've seen that confidence. I feel like the most confident though has been in Brass City Sleeper. And I'm not talking about the tag team side, I'm just talking about with Brass City Sleeper. I remember that conversation with us was, I need people bopping to this man. I need people up and down. I needed to be as engaging as possible. How did you, and let me ask you this too. We went from having no lyrics, right? We went from the impact theme,

Mercedes (: 13:57

Yeah.

John Kiernan (: 14:17

to the first AEW theme, which was OG badass, to breast sitting sleeper. For you, what were you seeing in terms of, this one needs lyrics?

Mercedes (: 14:28

I've never had lyrics. Besides my generic music, back in the day when I would put my music out there, it was always copyrighted music, but no one cared at that time. I did have an original music made from a guy named Pooh Bear up in Connecticut. He had lyrics, but it was more just, it was a bop, was reggaeton, he added his lyrics, but it more of a chorus type lyrics. So was just one or two phrases, and it went through the whole

genre, you know thing because at that time no one really did any type of music like that So I knew that if I ever hit the big time that my music has to translate me and when I worked with You know WWE they had the music we worked on our music We changed it twice and it fit for what it needed to be at that time But I knew that once I did impact. Okay, we did you know our music there I had no lyrics and I was like I need lyrics because I feel like I should be singing and Bopping to my own music and it was just something that I needed

Because sometimes, and this is maybe just my own personal preference, when you hear music and you just hear the tone and you just hear the flows and stuff, you can bop to it, but you really just want to get into it. And sometimes lyrics actually tell a story of who you are or what you're going through. And lyrics resonates with a lot of people when they hear the lyrics. And that's what I wanted to do at this point in my career was let me have lyrics that translate where I am now. Eventually we got to change it, right? But.

The lyrics now translate to what I was doing at that time, which I was a Ring of Honor champion. And I was like, just, I want people to sing to my music if they can and just bop to it and just listen to the words and really just clue into music.

It's one thing to be able to bop and just rock it and rock it and rock it but when you can actually listen to the lyrics and it resonates with you, that's on a whole different level when it comes to fan base. Because now they're listening to why I am who I am and they're listening to these lyrics and if you look dive into those lyrics you can understand a little piece of Mercedes on a different level. And I think that's the way I wanted to go and give a little bit more insight to something. My gear is the same thing but when it comes to music I needed lyrics. I was like it's just time.

And Jasmine did a great job. She did that quick too.

John Kiernan (: 16:43

Yeah, Jasmine's unbelievable. She is someone who I've worked with a lot on a couple different themes and she turns things around so good, so quick, and makes these different passes. She's like, take whichever one you want. I'm like, I want all of them, they're great.

Mercedes (: 16:50

God, yeah.

Yeah, we got to give props to Jasmine. She did really good on this one and it was really quick. I would love to work with her on a different project if we have to do a different music. I do want to change it up a little bit when I do get back to TV. think there's a lot of things going on creatively in my head as I hit my 25-year mark coming next year. It's just evolving, always evolving. So we got to get on that,

John Kiernan (: 17:22

yeah, yeah, definitely. And also the fact is, you know, she did a great job when sometimes I catch you singing it to the ring too. See, that's the important part too. But I see you singing it too, which is I'm totally down for that. And I'm sure she is too. Now, when you are talking about different references, right? There's music that you're pulling on from all courses of your life. And one that we always talk about is Eve, obviously. Eve and Missy Elliott are two that you and I both resonated on. Yeah.

Mercedes (: 17:29

Yeah

But yeah.

John Kiernan (: 17:49

How important has music been in your life, both in and outside of wrestling, and who are some of the ones that you always go to?

Mercedes (: 17:56

You know, I think music and I'm very eclectic in my music. I can listen to anything as long as I can bop to it and it hits something. Music is just, it's a therapy. It's a way to kind of get your emotions out. You know, the slow music, the jams, but I always tend to go to Reggie Thone. I tend to go to Mariah Carey, who I love and adore, but freestyle.

s, know, the: 2000

And you got your bops and like I said, once you got your bops and you got, but if you listen to the lyrics, those lyrics hit you in a different way that most people don't realize. Music now is a lot different. I can't get into music now. I'm like, I don't understand what they're saying. But back then it was all about the bops. But when you hear the bars, the bars is what gets you. if you end in there and they're understandable, you can understand the bars.

But on my playlist before I go do anything, even for wrestling, it's always a reggaeton. It's also bachata in that soft music because it calms me down. It calms those nerves down. So that's the first thing that I listen to is calm the nerves, the slower music, the bachata, the reggaeton and all that too. That's what my dad's listening to. That's what my mom listened to. Then I get into the freestyle to be like, all now I'm ready to dance mode. And then I get into that Eve and I get into the Missy Elliott and I get to Queen Latifah and MC Light. I get to that.

e playlist from like probably: 2003

for me.

John Kiernan (: 20:07

And that's the thing is you're not forced to listen to different music over time. You got what you like, you know what you like. And you know, with that roster, I mean, that's great music. You know, it was funny too, when you first were just like, for Brass City Evolution, hey, take a listen to this. And it was Eve, Who's That Girl? And you brought me back into childhood and I was like, this great. This is awesome.

Mercedes (: 20:24

It's that riff, it's that, it's just that riff, it's just, it's like, so it's like a bop, but she's hardcore, man, she's an OG.

John Kiernan (: 20:32

Yeah, yeah, the intro for it, it's like the intro you hear it, you don't expect it to go as hard as it goes 30 seconds later. All right.

Mercedes (: 20:37

Yeah, exactly. And that's the whole point is like, yeah, you're going and all of sudden it goes hard. You're like, damn, like she's going in and then you hear the lyrics and she's like, it literally gelled. And that's the kind of feeling I wanted to go to when we did our first entrance. It was like, kind of want that where people are like, shit. And then it just goes hard. You're like, that's it. And then I just wanted to add a different line of it has to be evolved. The music was just change it up. Do this, maybe add OG badass for that second one. But this one, the brass is a super.

John Kiernan (: 21:03

Yeah.

Mercedes (: 21:06

It's a good one because it's got those lyrics and when I walk out and people hear the lyrics, actually jam to it and they sing it with me and I'm just like, all right, cool. But that's what I wanted and that's just a different feeling than just not having. When people can sing your music, that's on a whole different level.

John Kiernan (: 21:22

Yeah, and I think kind of like you said, tying it into all of them too. With the Breast City Evolution, I think with that one, we really brought out a lot more of like the melodic side. You know, there was a guitar line in there that was, know, it was called like the Spanish Harlem kind of vibe. And it sounded really cool. I loved it. But I remember when we went to do OG Badass, you were like, no, gotta strip all that. It's gotta be super hard, super in your face.

Mercedes (: 21:33

Yeah.

John Kiernan (: 21:44

And I remember one of the conversations we had was about the gunshots, because that's become a bit of a staple in some of the themes, right? And for me, I was just like, I don't know, I'll probably take some of the guns out. You're like, no, has to sound like a firefight, super guns. So I loved that. That was always.

Mercedes (: 22:01

But doesn't, the guns are great, it's a thing and I think it's because it's been kind of staple throughout my whole career. But I didn't want the guns to be like the generic guns or it needed to be something that was quick and it was just like, got you, boom, boom, you know? It needed to be something like that, but it doesn't overpower the music, it doesn't overpower the lyrics is what I wanted to make sure when it came to Brass City Sleepers. Like it's still there, but it's very subtle and it doesn't take over the music.

I know when we did the tag with me, No Paz, it had to be really there because that's the Amantez gimmick too, know, that's her thing. So we had to make sure, her thing is all about that click, clap, boom, boom. I'm not into, I needed some of that, but that's on her. So my music is more just, it's a bop, let's just have some fun, but just know that we have to go hard because even though I'm fun and smiling and dancing, I'm gonna go in there and, you know, beat you up.

John Kiernan (: 22:59

And even too with Brass City Sleeper talking into that one, right? We go from OG Badass, which doesn't have lyrics. It's just this really big epic theme. We go to Brass City Sleeper, which like we keep talking about, it's a bop. It moves your head. You've got all these awesome lyrics in there too. But all of a sudden we're also introducing different elements. Like the name of the theme is the name of your finish, which that's something that lyrics also give.

Mercedes (: 23:08

Yeah!

John Kiernan (: 23:25

a lot of elements to do. You've got this amazing submission hold and you know what? It's so amazing. Let's name your song after it. How's that sound?

Mercedes (: 23:32

Yeah, no, it was pretty cool. You know, the Brass City Sleeper. And it's funny because like, it's hard to come up with names and moves and people don't realize like, throughout my whole career, they're like, what are you gonna name that finisher? What it's really called? Like the fisherman's buster, like that's what it's called. So just keep it that way. Like that's the old school OG way. And I'm like the old school type of wrestler. And it's always been like that. So for me to name my actual moves and to put it in a song, it's like...

This is my cool finisher. Like this is, I'm putting you to sleep. I'm from the Brastedey Waterbury. It it tied it in together to have like my entrance name them. Like, yeah, that's pretty cool. The evolution, telling you, it's all about evolution, involving and just, you know, staying revelant to a certain extent, but giving a piece of yourself a little bit more to the fans and giving them reason to in depth of what your music really is about.

John Kiernan (: 24:24

Yeah, absolutely. And then we tie into like we're talking about the tag team theme, No Pause, which takes elements from Diamante's theme and elements from your theme and ties them together. And I think that, you know, a lot of the times when you see tag teams nowadays, there is either a just kind of like a mashup of two of the different songs, right? Literally take this audio file, mix it with this one, put something in it and we're good. But I feel like...

With this one, we really ended up taking elements of both of those themes and making something completely brand new that represented both of you. So for you hearing your theme and going into No Paz with Diamante and both of you having this thing that represents you both, how important was it for the both of you to have a theme that took elements from both of them, but was a brand new theme for people who maybe haven't even seen you before to get rocking into what you're doing?

Mercedes (: 25:04

I think it's something like that is super important. I've been a part of a lot of tag teams, know, with Charlie and Melissa, with Ivelisse. It's just the one thing that they've always done was they will always take

Whoever's the top superstar and take their music or they'll do play a little bit of it cut it up and throw in the other music So you never got something that was truly part of the tag team I always thought when you're a tag team you have to have something new something that's not just Individual but something new so people understand that this is the tag team version of you guys Everyone knows your individual music you can do the mashups with sometimes it doesn't gel well Sometimes you're just like it looks so it sounds generic and you can't get into the music

because sometimes they'll play my music first, I'm like boom, and then they'll slice it right when you get to the beat into something hard. And I'm just like, I can't bop anymore. Like this is her music now, all right. So it was very important that when we did this tag music and going up to Diamante and asking her, do you think we should do a tag team entrance music together so they're not mashing up our stuff and it doesn't sound right? She was like, yeah, she had to be a part of that. She had to be a part of that decision. She had to be a part of that.

And I think for her, it was just making sure that it reflected her music and her entity and her character and her lineage, I guess. And myself was just making sure that we can flow it together where people understood that it goes hard. They know it's her, they know it's me, and now we're a force to be reckoned with as we go on through the riffs. And it was just finding the right entrance and finding how can we go in. Like we changed that entrance so many times.

Because like I said, sometimes those ramps are big, sometimes those ramps are small, sometimes you get to one point and you're like, God damn. we're just at the point, it was just like, all right, let's just get our stage boom. And once we get in the ring, we do whatever, wherever we are in the music, just as long as we get her shots in and I get my stuff in and people resonate with that. that entrance goes hard. Like that's like one of those, that's a gangster. Like that's a, we come out there, you ain't messing with us.

Like you know that we mean business when we go out there, because it's just so hard. It's like, ugh. Like you just want to get in that mode and just like destroy stuff. And that's the, yeah, and that's that music. And it's a reflection of her, it's a reflection of me. And it has both of our elements and it was super, super important that it wasn't just a generic mashup. She needed a say in it and I made sure that, you I had a say in this music, because it's very important.

for both of us to make sure that we're when you're a team you got to have your music as part of a team as well.

John Kiernan (: 27:51

Yeah, and shout out to both of you guys, because I mean, I this goes for a lot of the wrestlers that I've worked with too, but the collaboration has always been great. Like you guys were awesome in terms of what feedback you had. And I think that it was just a good process to, like you said, be able to have both you and Diamante in there saying, hey, here are little different things. But one thing I learned from you guys too was really about

timing, you know, and it's not even just like for like musician talk, okay, measure to measure to measure. Like when you're writing music for wrestlers, it really does come down to the timing that they have on the ramp, the timing they have on television, you can really staple down how much time it takes for you guys to get there. And with No Paz for me, it was, you can even remember this, it was small little microseconds we were talking about. It was like, okay, cool, just extend this by like a second.

Mercedes (: 28:18

Yeah.

John Kiernan (: 28:39

or like two seconds, and that makes the world of difference, not, okay, cool, let's repeat this section a bunch. It's like, okay, let's just extend it by like two seconds, can we do that? Is that a thing? And it makes all the difference for you guys getting to there and just doing your thing.

Mercedes (: 28:53

Yeah, the timing is very important because it's like I said, it's when we rehearse it nine out of 10 times, especially with AEW, the ramps are the same. know, sometimes the ramps are longer, they're steeper, sometimes they're shorter. But the one thing that we want to make sure is that when people hear the music, how long is it going to take for us to get from the back to the ramp and what that section is going to hit? Because that camera comes right in your face at a certain point. So every second counts.

Literally every set so one second two seconds if we miss a second that it throws the whole thing off So when me and her are we listening to our music? We literally just shimmy up as close as we can when no one can see us and we're listening and as soon as that beat hits We got to go and then we know we have to get in this pose because that camera is running up on us for this pose at a certain beat So she can get in a position to do her clicks

And then we walk down the ramp and then we're hearing, we're listening for those beats, we'd have to do another pose and there's a certain section in that music that we have to get to because we only have, we're only allotted so much time for TV. So every second counts. And that's why when we're trying to get into it, it's important to understand that, yeah, you can run it, run it back, but you don't understand that poses and camera poses and pictures, you have to elongate that because we think about the fans, we think about the cameras, there's cameras roaming.

Entrance like the presence has to be there in second two seconds in you're off it throws the whole music is then everything goes off So it definitely makes a big big difference Coming out and then doing what you have to do every second counts and it means the world When you can elongate something that means something so people to take their pictures or a camera to be in your face You can do your pose

Once you do that, that's money and you can get it down pat. And then once you're in the ring, you do your last pose and then ending after that is free game, but you have to get those elements in because those are important. That's your presence. That's what people see. That's what people remember. And that's what people mimic in video games and stuff is those seconds and those little bits of pieces that go with your music. Because when people make me in a character in a video game,

When they down to the gear, they also do the music. So when they do the music, they look at these entrances and they pinpoint it and every second counts. So if I'm off by two seconds and the music doesn't hit and I didn't do my pose yet, I lost it. So it definitely, and I'm glad like you point that out because people don't realize that that's very important for a lot of us. It really is.

John Kiernan (: 31:19

Yeah, and it can be down even to just like you said, a couple seconds to do something like that. I think when we think of someone coming to the ring, we just see them walking down. We don't think, okay, there's a couple seconds here to give handshakes if you're a good guy or to mess with the crowd if you're a bad guy, things like that. So it's something I don't think we think about a lot of the time. But I remember with No Pause, one of the best parts for that for me and one of the parts that we...

had talked about was, okay, there's gotta be this little downtime before that B section, before like you guys are in the ring. And I think I had talked to you about it. It almost feels like you have this awesome intro section, you have that swell up, you have the really memorable part up front, but then there's this section where it's just like that synth sound, where it feels like everything's okay, then the gunshots go off, and then it's like the hardest thing you've ever heard.

Mercedes (: 31:49

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah, I remember we had to put that and that's because we need a time to get in the ring. That's what it is. Like we have, it's when we've rehearsed it, we've rehearsed it like once or twice. We like, we had to listen to it. We were like, shit, how are going to do this? I don't know. Let's just wing it. Like that's literally how we did it. We to do a pose on the thing. So let me do my pose and just get behind me and do your pose. And then we'll walk down the ring. There's that little, you know, dip stuff. And then as soon as we get in the ring, like, well, what do we do now? I was like, but that's where their downtime comes.

Because like I said, sometimes your ramp is long, sometimes your ramp is short. But once we get in the ring, we do that pose and then we listen so we can look around and see if we got time to do anything. And at first, when we had that downtime, it's like boom, boom, boom, boom. We wanted to get to the corners and we wanted the wide shots so we can do the clicks. But then we realized that it was a little too short. So we're just like, well, we'll just stay in our pose and we'll do the clicks now in the ring instead of going up there. Because sometimes when the ramp is too long.

and we're taking a little too long to get in. Sometimes a camera guy's in the way, I gotta shoot him out the way, and we get in and we're like, shoot, we don't have enough time to get to the corner, let's just stay in this pose and do the clicks. That's where that downtime is great, because it gives us time to figure out where we're going. If we have enough time, we'll get to the corners. If we don't, we stay here to regroup, boom, and then people can see those, you know, that hard shots, boom, boom, boom, boom, and then that hard glows in where we're like,

And then we can regroup and get into our match. So it's very important that we have that for reason because you don't know what your ramp is going to give you. You don't know what your stage is going to be like. Anything can happen. I can get caught in the ring or something with my, who knows? Anything can happen. The cameraman's always in my way nine out of 10 times. I got to show him out of the way because I roll into the ring while she walks up the stairs. So he's always in my way. can like move. So it throws me off because now I can get in the ring all smooth. I'm just like, man. So stuff like that when we have that little

do do do do do do before we go hard, it gives us time to regroup and then we look at it. Once we, before we get into our pose, like we don't have time now, we're going to stay here. But if we have time, we'll be like, we have time, let's do this pose and we'll get to the corner. So we need that for a reason. So it's very important in our music to do that. I'm sure everyone else thinks the same when they do their music as well.

John Kiernan (: 34:17

Now talking about other people's music too, there's so many entrance themes out there right now and there's a lot of really good ones too. Outside of obviously yours because you know, yours is the best. Outside of yours, who are some of your favorite themes that when you hear them nowadays you go instantly that's them?

Mercedes (: 34:23

It's my favorite, yeah.

Oh, Willow!

John Kiernan (: 34:38

Yeah.

Mercedes (: 34:40

Anytime you hear Willow's music, like, man, this is just a dance theme. Like, I just want to dance and just have some fun. But that's a reflection of her character. That's reflection of technically It's really how she is. Like, she really is that bubbly. You hear that, and you're like, yeah, this is Willow's music. And I love it. Another instance would be like, Adam Cole, he's got that boom. Everyone knows it. That's his theme. That's his shtick. And that's what I mean is like, when a music, if it resonates with you, it's going to resonate with the audience.

get them into this energy that you're doing. And I love that. I love listening to themes and I love listening to... If I can get into it, then it's the right music for you. That's how I look at it. If you can get into your music and you can get people into your music, then keep that entrance because that's the way it's supposed to be. But I love watching Willow's music. I love watching her and how she interacts coming out of her theme, out of her music. Who else do I love watching? Chelsea Green is another one.

She's so, she changed, her character's so evolved, she's got this pretty look, boom, boom, and she comes out, she does her thing, and her music, and I think it's part of her entrance that actually intrigues me nine out of 10 times, because it's just her, and I know Chelsea, and I love Chelsea, but her music is another one that I'm like, she evolved her music, she involved her character, she involved the way that she does her entrance, and it fits her theme, it fits her music, and it's just, it's a bop, and you're like, all right, but it fits her.

And that's how you know when you have that type of music and that goes with your character, people are going to listen to whether you're a good guy or bad guy. They're going to love your music because it's just the way you interact with your music and if it fits or not. can't think of any others at the moment because there's so many. But Willow is the one that stands Willow stands out a lot, I because it's just so upbeat and just like that one stands out. Diamante's music stands out like really like that's just hard. You like you know when you hear hers, you're in a fight.

John Kiernan (: 36:22

Yeah, that's pretty quick.

Mercedes (: 36:36

And then that's reflection of her same concept. Even Lisa's music, who I've tagged with, her music is so hard, you go to hearing, like, you know that you're gonna go in for a fight and you just bop to it you're like, all right, we're gonna get some serious kick-ass in this type of music. And then you throw in a willow and you're just like, all right, well, are we gonna have a kick-ass match or are gonna have a dance party?

John Kiernan (: 36:56

But that's totally disarming too. You're just like, she does amazing things in the ring, but she's got this other music which completely flies in the face of that. like you said, it's not really that confidence though, right? It's what do you bring to the music and what does the music bring to you? It's like, there's a lot of synergy there. You you get to have someone like you who has this presence come into the ring, you know you're in for a fight. When you see Willow's, Willow's is about that entrance. She's getting the crowd involved.

Mercedes (: 37:01

I know.

I know.

John Kiernan (: 37:23

He's doing all the clapping, she's going to the crowd. Like you can't think of a better baby face theme or a better baby face than Willow. And you see that happening live, yeah.

Mercedes (: 37:29

You know, I swear, whoever did her music, they got her spot on. Like, that is just her. Like, I'm just like, I can't take it seriously when she wants to make me dance and have a dance party and I'm trying to be all mean. I can't wrestle her. Like, and then I feel bad if I'm going to hurt her because she's just bubbly character. And then she like just changes gears. Another person for music is like, Trick, Trick Williams. Do you hear his music? And you you got, you know, Booker T over here, like just hyping him up. You know what I mean? I'm like, can I?

John Kiernan (: 37:57

Hahaha!

Mercedes (: 37:59

music like that? Like can I get a hype person on the mic just yeah like can I get that? But stuff like that it gets it gets the music in.

John Kiernan (: 38:01

You

Here's the question, if we do that, who's your? So if we do that, who's your hype person?

Mercedes (: 38:12

I don't know. I don't know who would be my hype person for something like that. I always wanted to, if I ever did, if I ever wanted to go big on my music, I'd really want to like have like an old school, OG female rapper, but not like, I love MC Lyla, but like a Hispanic you know, person. And I'm trying to think of who I listen to on my playlist and I can't think of her name at the moment, but she's an OG.

I can only think of like her beats and stuff, I'll get back. It'll click in later in this interview. Watch, it'll click.

John Kiernan (: 38:48

you know what, I know you're saying old school, but you know what, talking about the new school. What about Snow Tha Product? What about XB Valentine? You got some people there that could totally rock that.

Mercedes (: 38:56

I love Snow Tha Product. think when we talked about that when it came to my music too, it like, kind of want that flow and that beat. I love Snow and XB is a new one that I just got into not too long ago, actually. And I started following her on her socials and I'm not on socials a lot, but you know, she's one that's actually coming up on the thing. But I really want to, there's

I really want to dive in and there's a lot of, not to take away from the Mexican rappers or anything, but I really want to delve into and more into the Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has some low down low key and they're really chill, really just low key, but they're not as hard as the Mexicans, unfortunately. But XB was good, Snow Tha Product is good. I just love their lyrics, how fast they can rap and they're females. We need some more female rappers that not talking about drugs and sex and just.

Using, like, not to take away from what's out there now, I don't listen to, you know, Sexy or I don't know what their names nowadays, like all these people. I tend to listen to lyrics. I'm a lyrics person. And if you can hook me with your lyrics and you can hook me with your beats and you can hook me with your flow, that's what I like. That's the music that I will listen to. If I can't understand what you're saying, it doesn't resonate with me. Yeah, you can have a good hook. You can have a good chorus, but

If your words don't mean anything to me and doesn't reflect what I'm going through, then I'm not going to listen to it. Regardless of how good the beat is, just like, nah. I just can't do it for me.

John Kiernan (: 40:23

Yeah, Snow Tha Product's been someone I've wanted to work with for a while. And I know, like you said, we're kind of diving away from that, but just how fast she is and the world of lyrics, that whole no cut album is basically just like, here's me talking about the industry. Here's me just riffing on the industry for 50 minutes you enjoy or you don't enjoy. It's still here for you. Just so you know, but.

Mercedes (: 40:41

God

She's raw, like she's so raw, she doesn't care. But that's the way music should be. Music should be a form of therapy, should be a form of you just getting your stuff out and just saying what you gotta say. And the good thing about it is that she can flow in Spanish and in English simultaneously and just go like it's nothing. Like I can't even speak Spanish that fast. Matter of I can't speak Spanish very well to begin with.

And that's just a detriment to me just speaking English for most of my life. But I can understand it and I'm just like, man, she could flow so well. And I think that's what makes her different from everybody else. It's just how fast she can flow and how fast she can go from English to Spanish, just like this. And it's just like, all right, you got me, you got me hooked. But the-

It's her lyrics is what she's saying is what makes her different too. And you can understand what she's saying. She has so emotion behind it, whether it's talking about the business and just dragging it through the mud, even though it's her business, but she's dragging through the political versions of it, or she's talking about a breakup and da da da da. Like you can, a lot of people can resonate with that cause she's just going to tell it how it is. She's a no, she's a bad ass man. She don't care. She's just making music the way she wants to make music. And that's how I think music should be.

e some new music come back in: 2025

John Kiernan (: 42:07

Yeah?

I'm always down. And worst case scenario, just get her to throw on "No Paz". Let's do that. Let's make it happen.

Mercedes (: 42:20

Yeah, yeah, we're doing "No Paz" 2.0 the remix

John Kiernan (: 42:26

love. So before we're done with our interview here, what I want to do is I know we touched on it earlier, but three songs, this is four, this is three, three songs that you would put on a playlist that represents Mercedes Martinez the most. What would those three be for your Spotify playlist?

Mercedes (: 42:46

I'm I don't even know, bro. It's just, I'm so eclectic in that music and for my playlist to, it's so hard because it's like Mercedes on a wrestling level is different than a Mercedes on a personal level. So.

John Kiernan (: 43:05

How about that? How about I give you two? So you get six, but it's a three and three.

Mercedes (: 43:08

I get six? great, thanks buddy. I appreciate that.

John Kiernan (: 43:14

it.

Mercedes (: 43:15

Nah, well, we have to still go with Eve. Who's that girl? We can't, we can't knock that. just, something about that jam is just like, here I am. Like, who's that? Like, you gotta go with Eve. You know, and I love Queen Latifah, Unity. That's always on my playlist. Something about Queen Latifah and that throwdown is something that I really, really love. You can't knock down Daddy Yankee.

You can't, you can't, we gotta go with Daddy If I'm gonna go hard hitting with my reggaeton and stuff like that, I gotta go with Daddy Yankee. He's just someone that I listen to in the clubs, someone that I was just like, and Tego Calderon He's also another rapper and hip hop reggaeton artist that I love. Can't Knock My Mariah Carey. I love my Mariah Carey.

John Kiernan (: 44:02

As we're recording this, it's the season.

Mercedes (: 44:06

my God, this is her season. This is where she making bank right now. Like her Christmas album. But I love my Mariah Carey. She's got me like through all her songs in her albums, even especially her first album, Hero was my first one. That's on my playlist and it's more of a sentimental thing. It's something that's gone, that's resonated me since I was young, even before I got into wrestling. That's on my playlist, her first album. And that's just a little dive into the slower versions of my playlist.

John Kiernan (: 44:12

Mm-hmm.

Mercedes (: 44:36

I do listen to some salsa and bachata. Abedora is another one that I listen to. John Rivera and Jerry Rivera is always in my playlist and that's just an ode to my mom and to my dad who supports my career. So I listen to a lot of that stuff. It takes me to my basketball career. It's things that calm me down. There's certain music that will literally level me out and it's just like, it's a bop, but it levels me out. Listening to the words takes me back to times that calms me down. So before I get so tempered and so just rage.

and all that crazy nonsense. These are the musics, it's mostly Spanish music and freestyle. I listen to a lot of Stevie B, a lot of Debbie Gibson. I listen to anything that comes to freestyle, Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam. Freestyle is that type of music that it's gonna get you pumped up. So usually my playlist starts with Mariah Carey, it slows it down.

I'm like, all right, calm my nerves down and then we'll get into, you know, Olga and then we'll get into Aventura to get that hip hop, that swag. Then we'll start getting into some Eve. And then I'm just like, all right, I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. Let's switch it up and then we'll get into, yeah, because sometimes I get there too early and then it's not even time for my mat. It's like, wait, no, no, no, let's get here. So then I'll dip it down. I'll switch over to a different playlist. And then that's where I listen to my freestyle where it gets me right to that point where it's still calming, but it's still dancing, but we're not in that er mode.

John Kiernan (: 45:41

you

Mercedes (: 45:58

Once we get to that GRR mode, that's where go into DMX and the Rough Riders and then that's a hit.

John Kiernan (: 46:04

It's so cool too that you also said like there's all these different things from different points in life too, from your basketball time, from like earlier all the way up to like now in present time. And it's like, it shows how much of a time capsule music can be, right? It's one of those things where time you are able to go back and kind of in a way.

Mercedes (: 46:07

you

my god, I know.

John Kiernan (: 46:23

be in that head space that you were in in that moment. And for me, like on my workout playlist and everything like that, I've got newer stuff and a lot of my background is rock metal, all that kind of stuff. But there's stuff on there from when I was 13, 14, same thing, man. And I'm just like, man, 35 year old me as of this recording, probably gonna be 36 by the time you're listening, you know, it's cause it's November 30th is my birthday. But it's just crazy to consider that like music can do that. And even for the themes that you hear, if there's elements and things from people that...

Mercedes (: 46:38

Thanks.

John Kiernan (: 46:52

know, helped raise you in the music side, they're gonna get brought back to those times too. And it works in that way where it's not just for you, it's also like the crowd can get into it all, like the people can just be brought back to a time and that's what's so special about it, yeah.

Mercedes (: 47:07

Yeah, yeah, my playlist, like I said, it's really eclectic, but I try to keep what I can for certain parts of my music when it's my playlist. Because like I said, I have to chill, get in wrestling mode. So there's just certain music that has to get there. Then I have to hype myself up. And then sometimes it's too early. So I got to be like, right, fast forward, fast forward to then we do the dips. I'm like, all right, cool. This is where I got to be for a little while. And then when it's time for like for me to get in that headspace, I'm in a little corner and I'm like thinking about my music and listening to my music.

Now let's go because there's something that needs to hype me up before I listen to my own music. I gotta get in that headspace and it's just the way that I do it and throughout the whole day it's like that. It's listening to music to calm me down. Maybe something pissed me off. I gotta listen to this music just to level my space out. And it is a time capsule because there's certain musics. You know, I still listen to my first theme. I still listen to Live at Jimmy's from Angie Martinez.

because that's such a doo doo doo doo doo. It's like just the beat, it's the dancing. It's just, takes me back to a time to help me remember from what I came from and how my music transpired to where I am now.

So my playlist is literally a time capsule of things and emotions that I have to go through to get into the headspace to be that Mercedes that people see when I walk through that curtain. It's such a weird vibe. It's such a weird ritual. It's such a weird routine, but it's my routine. And it's what gets me through my matches and what gets me in that headspace to go out there and do what I do best.

John Kiernan (: 48:32

And everyone's got their own routines too. And that's what's really cool about it is everyone's got the music that resonates with them, the things that get them there. Well, Mercedes, thank you so much for spending the time with me today. It's always awesome talking to you. We're gonna talk way more coming up, but just getting the chance to chat with you about music, wrestling, all those things and this amazing career, 24 years and a birthday, all those things. Come

Mercedes (: 48:34

Yeah.

I know, know. Celebration still continues. I head over to Australia to do a mini tour and we're gonna kick some ass and have some fun there before the year ends out. And I'm just, blessed, I'm humbled. I'm very grateful to still be doing this 24 years later and still looking like I'm 25. Probably better than I was at 25. Like, I'm 44 and I don't look a day over 44, right?

John Kiernan (: 49:11

You

The longest be 45.

I'm telling you I'm 35, 36 going into November 30th. You're like, I'm 25. Next year you'll be 25. Last year you were 25. You're always going to be 25.

Mercedes (: 49:24

You know 25 is a good age. I tell people yeah, I'm just 25 You want to know why because you're legal to do everything you legal to rent a car you're legal to do a hotel you're like you're legal to do everything at 25 like they don't they're like your credit scores getting there maybe hopefully like 25 is a good number I always say that but I definitely look a lot younger when I was 25 than I am now

John Kiernan (: 49:30

You

Well thank you so much for your time, always awesome speaking to you.

Mercedes (: 49:49

Thank you, John. I appreciate it.