Lesbian wrestling icon Mercedes Martinez retiring from the ring in 2026
Wrestler Mercedes Martinez (Tabercil, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Wrestler Mercedes Martinez (Tabercil, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Lesbian wrestler Mercedes Martinez has announced 2026 will be her last year as a full-time professional in the sport.
“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,” she wrote in a statement shared on X, formerly Twitter, on New Year’s Day.
“Wrestling gave me everything. It broke me. Built me. Tested me. Somehow 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 went on to say: “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.”
Martinez, real name Jazmin Benitez, added she does not know what is next for her, as “all I’ve ever known is wrestling, grinding, and hustling”: “And for one more year… that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I trust the universe to meet me where I’m at – like it always has.”
She began her career back in 2001 and during her more than two decades in the ring has held championships in a raft of independent women’s professional wrestling promotions including SHIMMER, SHINE, Women’s Superstars United, RISE and Bellatrix.
In 2017, she reached mainstream audiences in the Mae Young Classic tournament, reaching the semifinals before being eliminated by Shayna Baszler. She returned to the tournament the following year but was subsequently knocked out by Meiko Satomura.
She currently wrestles for Ring of Honor and All Elite Wrestling.
In 2024 she was inducted into the Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame, becoming the first out LGBTQ wrestler in the Hall of Fame and joined LuFisto and Cheerleader Melissa as the third woman.
