Twenty-six years in the ring ended in a single match.
Mercedes Martinez tore the ACL in her right knee facing Allie Katch on 15 August, and with no health insurance, she has to pay for the operation in full before a surgeon will schedule it.
The 45-year-old has launched a $25,000 (£18,400) GoFundMe to cover surgery, rehab and the bills stacking up while she cannot work, as reported by Creatorzine.
READ MORE: Famous men asked me for ‘favours’ to land jobs – now I’m done SMILING
The farewell tour that stopped early
Martinez had already told fans that 2026 would be her last year.
She was midway through a retirement tour, the kind designed to send a veteran out on her own terms, when her knee gave way.
She is retiring months ahead of schedule instead.
“Definitely not the way I envisioned ending my in-ring wrestling career,” she said.
“But… such is life.
“After almost 26 years in this business, I’ve learned that you can plan, prepare, and give everything you have… and sometimes life throws you a curveball you never saw coming.”
From a WWE contract to a self-pay bill
Martinez, from Waterbury, Connecticut, started wrestling professionally in 2000 and spent most of that time working other jobs alongside it.
She only went full-time six years ago. WWE signed her in 2020.
AEW signed her in 2021. She has also worked for Ring of Honor.
Those contracts came with money towards health benefits.
When the AEW deal expired, the benefits went with it, and returning to the independent circuit cut her income sharply.
“Since then, I’ve been paying for my healthcare completely out of pocket,” she said.
“And now, this injury has created a situation I never expected to be in.
“Because I currently don’t have health insurance, I am considered self-pay, which means the surgery has to be paid for outright before it can be scheduled.
“The same goes for rehab. Each session has to be paid for at the time of the appointment.”
The injury also wiped out the earnings she had banked on for the rest of her farewell run.
“I honestly didn’t expect to have no income through the end of December,” she said.
Surgery booked for 15 October
More than $10,200 (£7,500) has come in so far.
That covered the deposit and got a date on the calendar, but not the full cost of the procedure, never mind the physical therapy afterwards.
“Good news! ACL surgery is 10/15,” Martinez posted in an update.
“Enough to cover deposit, but not quite at full surgery cost. TY for every donation/share. Truly humbled & grateful.
“Goal 1: Surgery. Goal 2: Rehab.”
She got through nearly the whole career on two shoulder operations.
Both happened while she was insured.
“I never expected my in-ring career to potentially end this way,” she said.
“But I also know that wrestling has given me so much more than the ability to step between those ropes.
“It gave me a life. It gave me incredible experiences. It gave me people I love.
And it gave me a community that has supported me through some of the highest and lowest moments of my life.
“So now, I’m asking that community for a little help getting through this one.”
Why It Matters
Martinez spent a quarter of a century building an audience, and that audience is now the closest thing she has to a benefits package.
Wrestlers, like most creators, are independent contractors dressed up as employees, paid per appearance with nothing underneath them when the body stops cooperating.
The fanbase becomes the insurance policy.
That works until it doesn’t, and $10,200 against a $25,000 target is what “until it doesn’t” looks like.
Crowdfunding medical bills has been routine on the US independent circuit for years, and the same pattern now runs through the wider creator economy, where a direct line to an audience functions as both income and emergency fund.
Surgery is on 15 October. Martinez still needs the rest of the money, and she is not planning to disappear once the knee heals.
“I hope that once I’m healed, I can continue to be part of this business in a non-in-ring capacity,” she said.
“Because I’m not ready to walk away from wrestling completely.”
READ MORE: I met my husband on celebrity dating app Raya – then fans worked out he was a TOWIE STAR
