Former NXT star Mercedes Martinez will be challenging for Impact Knockouts Championship in her first booking after being released from WWE.
Indie wrestling promotion WrestlePro has announced that the female star will be challenging Deonna Purrazzo for her title at their show from Rahway, New Jersey on Saturday, October 16.
Martinez won’t be the only former WWE star who will be part of the event. Former 205 Live roster member Tony Nese and former SmackDown star Fandango both are also announced for the show.
Fandango who is now going by the name Dirty Dango will face Impact wrestling star Brian Myers while Tony Nese will be competing against Bobby Wayward.
Mercedes Martinez had made appearances for WWE in 2017-18. She competed in the Inaugural and the second Mae Young Classic tournament and made several NXT appearances during the time period as well.
She returned to the company in 2020 after signing a contract in January. She even made her main roster debut as part of the Retribution faction but decided to withdraw from the group. She was released from her WWE contract on August 6.
The October booking suggests that Martinez was still under a standard NXT contract when she was released. NXT contracts feature a 30 days non-compete clause opposed to 90 days for main roster stars.