Mercedes Mone, formerly known as Sasha Banks, bet on herself after being at odds with WWE and got her release from the company, where she became a household name.
Once free of her non-compete in January, she made her NJPW debut on January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom. She showed up after IWGP Women’s Champion KAIRI retained her title and attacked the former fellow WWE star.
Mone will challenge KAIRI for the title at NJPW Battle in the Valley in San Jose on February 18.
In December, a report suggested that Mone would make more money from her NJPW deal than Chris Jericho made when he worked there from 2018-2020 and featured at Wrestle Kingdom events.At the time, Jericho ruled this out in a post on Twitter:
For the record, the money I reportedly made during my run with @njpw1972 from 2018-2020 online currently is completely wrong. I never had a flat per appearance deal, I was paid according to the event. And I made more per event than I did for MOST of my Wrestlemania matches.
— Chris Jericho (@IAmJericho) December 16, 2022
The rumor was going around again this week. In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that Money is not making more money than Jericho did.
Meltzer wrote, “The story that was going around that Mercedes Mone was making more than Chris Jericho made here is incorrect. It’s not even close. The money is not at the level she could get with WWE or AEW. It’s certainly very good money on a per appearance basis, but that would tell you she’s doing it for the experience and “bucket list” idea of wanting to at one point in her prime work against the top Japanese women wrestlers in Japan.”
NJPW does have Mone’s next two matches lined up. For more on that, click here.
