Mercedes Mone: It Was An Easy Decision To Join NJPW And Help Kickstart The Women’s Division

Mercedes Mone made an easy decision according to her. 

Mone made her NJPW debut at Wrestle Kingdom 17, confronting IWGP Women’s Champion KAIRI and leaving her laying. Mone’s arrival set up an IWGP Women’s Title bout at NJPW Battle in the Valley. 

Mone became a free agent on January 1, officially leaving WWE. She had not wrestled for WWE since May 2022, walking out on the company alongside Naomi due to creative differences with Vince McMahon. 

Speaking on Under The Ring, Mone discussed he decision to join NJPW. 

“This is such a huge honor for me. It made it a really easy decision to go to New Japan to help kickstart this women’s division for this company. With New Japan being the biggest pro wrestling  company in Japan, it was just an easy, easy decision to be like, ‘This is the place that I want to be.’ I grew up watching New Japan, I grew up watching Pro-Wrestling NOAH and all these Japanese women’s wrestling [companies] growing up. So this was such an easy decision. It’s a dream come true for me. I think [NJPW Battle in the Valley] is just going to create so much magic and so much history for women’s wrestling that I just want everyone around the world to be like, ‘This is the company that I want to be in,'” she said.

NJPW is a partnership with STARDOM as both companies are owned by Bushiroad. 

When asked about competing in STARDOM, Mercedes said, “Oh my god, I see it as one of the greatest potential companies in the world right now. I just keep seeing it growing and growing and getting bigger. I’ve been hearing about STARDOM for years. Just knowing that it’s an all-women’s promotion with the greatest women’s wrestlers all over the world, [moreso] now that you have Mercedes Mone in the game, as well. I think just watching, I’ve been watching it for the past couple of months, really fine-tuning up, ‘Who do I want to face? Who is the best out there?’ They have some of the top wrestlers I have ever seen. I’m just so excited to introduce the American audience to the style of STARDOM women. I think just giving them the opportunity to show what they can do to a global-scale audience is just going to open up the doors for women’s women’s wrestling all over the world. I think they have the greatest wrestling, so I’m excited to be a part of it and just to expand this broadened audience to something so different that they’ve never seen before.”

Elsewhere during the interview, Mone confirmed she would be competing in Tokyo at some point in April. You can learn more by clicking here. 

Fightful will have coverage of NJPW Battle in the Valley beginning at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday. Fans can check out the lineup by clicking here. 

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