Mercedes Martinez has announced that this year is her last year of in-ring competition.
“2026. Different mindset. Different fire. This is my last year as a full-time ACTIVE professional wrestler. No contracts. No agents. No creative. Just me – and everything I’ve earned over 25 damn years in this business. Wrestling gave me everything. It broke me. Built me. Tested me. Somehow, it still made me fall in love with it again. 2025 wasn’t about being showcased. It was about going back to the indies, back to the grind, back to the reason I started and remembering exactly who the hell I am,” she wrote on X.
Martinez, a 25-year veteran, wants to pass on what she has learned in and out of the ring to others.
“Giving back. Teaching. Helping the next generation. Passing on what was given to me the hard way. That part means everything. So 2026 gets one more year of my body, my heart, and my fight. One more year of scars, sweat, pain, and pride. One more year of showing up and giving everything I’ve got because that’s the only way I’ve ever done this. The last few years flew by. I don’t know what’s next. All I’ve ever known is wrestling, grinding, and hustling. And for one more year…that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” she wrote.
Goodbye 2025.
One last run. ✌️ pic.twitter.com/2PYWIbGQsd— Mercedes Martinez 🏳️🌈🇵🇷 (@RealMMartinez) January 1, 2026
In her career, Martinez has wrestled from everyone from AEW, WWE to TNA to RoH. Last year she was inducted into the Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame. Recently, she held the ROH Women’s World Championship for 220 days.
