Mercedes Mone is the current IWGP Women’s Champion and will have her next title defense this coming Sunday against Mayu Iwatani at Stardom All Star Grand Queendom. The former WWE star has been redefining NJPW and Stardom’s women’s division ever since she made her presence known at Wrestle Kingdom17 earlier this year. Prior to her arrival in Japan, Mone was primarily known for her work in WWE, which concluded with a WWE Women’s Tag Team title run alongside Trinity Fatu, aka Naomi.
The two women notoriously walked out of WWE during an episode of Raw that reportedly saw them return their titles to the promotion. Words were exchanged and the women have not been seen on WWE TV since. Mone has obviously parted ways with WWE and is now with NJPW, at least for the time being, and Fatu has confirmed that she too is no longer with the company, despite her husband, Jimmy Uso’s, prominent presentation.
In The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was noted that Stardom was told by Bushiroad, the parent company of Stardom and NJPW, that they could bring in Trinity Fatu like they did Mone. However, due to financial restrictions, the promotion was unable to afford to do so. While Stardom has grown greatly, and is getting international attention due to Mone’s involvement, Bushiroad took a significant financial hit during the pandemic with NJPW due to the harsh COVID restrictions that were put in place.
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see what happens with Mone going forward. She reportedly has one more match left on her current NJPW contract, the one this Sunday, but it sounds as if conversations are still progressing on both sides and Mone is hopeful to make Japan her home. Keep in mind, Mone addressed those rumors recently and disputed their accuracy.
Stay with Haus of Wrestling for all the latest on Trinty Fatu and Mercedes Mone.