Following her rapid rise to success, Mercedes Mone has decided to remain with NJPW.
At Wrestle Kingdom in January, Mone faced KAIRI in her promotional debut before defeating her to win the IWGP Women’s Title. Prior to losing the IWGP Women’s Championship to Mayu Iwatani on April 23, the former WWE superstar successfully defended it against Hazuki & AZM at a recent STARDOM event.
Due to the fact that her prior contract was set to expire following the match, Mone agreed to an extension with NJPW/STARDOM hours before the match started. The specifics of the contract weren’t known at the time.
In the main match of NJPW Resurgence last Sunday, Mone was hurt while competing against Willow Nightingale to become the first-ever NJPW Strong Women’s Champion. Mone went for a code red off the top rope during the match but slipped, resulting in what is thought to be a broken ankle. Plans had to be altered on the fly, resulting in Nightingale’s victory.
In the most recent issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that Mone signed a long-term contract last month after previously only committing to a few dates at a time.
Meltzer wrote, “Mone had agreed to a longer-term deal with New Japan when her original deal expired on 4/27. We were told that the New Japan Strong championship and belt were created when she agreed to the longer-term deal and both were created for her, after she showed strong drawing power for the San Jose show which sold out the Civic Auditorium.”
It’s still unclear what exactly injured Mone, nor when she’ll be able to wrestle again.
We hope she recovers quickly.
