Mercedes Mone suffered an injury in the main event of NJPW Resurgence on Sunday while wrestling Willow Nightingale to crown the first-ever NJPW Strong Women’s Champion.
Willow went over in the contest. The injury happened when she went for a code red off the top rope and slipped.
The moment where it's feared Mercedes Moné was injured pic.twitter.com/Qu8ApcKVtX
— Covalent TV (@TheCovalentTV) May 22, 2023
Pwinsider reported the word making the rounds was she suffered a broken ankle. She took to Twitter to react to the injury:
WRESTLING!!!!
Phew 😮💨 not how I dreamed for tonight to go.
I’m so sorry and I love you guys so much.
I’m gonna heal and be back better than ever.
Moné
💙@njpwglobal pic.twitter.com/6909ByHdli— Mercedes Moné Varnado (@MercedesVarnado) May 22, 2023
While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that Mone was supposed to win the title, but plans had to be changed due to the injury.
Meltzer: “She basically was going to do a code red off the top rope, right? She just slipped it.”
Bryan Alvarez: “It wasn’t even. It was a slip. But I watched it a bunch of times, and it looked like she just didn’t have her balance. And so, in order to not get hurt, she just kind of jumped off the top because I think she felt she was going to lose it. But when she landed, she broke her ankle.”
Meltzer: “And it wasn’t broken, was it? Broke her ankle?”
Alvarez: “I heard a broken ankle, OK. I mean, I shouldn’t say it. I heard a broken ankle turns out to be something else. It might be something else, but I heard she broke her ankle and got back in the ring.… I shouldn’t presume anything….Mercedes is not the champion right now. Willow is.”
Meltzer: “Yeah, so. Mercedes was obviously supposed to win the championship.
Alvarez: “I guess. I mean, I don’t know. Was she? I presume so. I don’t know how many dates.”
Meltzer: “So she did a new deal, but I don’t know how many dates are in the new deal.”
Alvarez: “So, presumably, she was supposed to win this match.”
Meltzer: “I can’t say 100%, but when I was told about it, which was before it happened, I was told just winning the tournament. And I mean, you could tell the ref was just all freaked out. Well, you know, the ref was freaked out.”
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