Mercedes Mone has only been in NJPW for a little over a week, but apparently, she has upset some people without even knowing it.
The former Sasha Banks made her NJPW debut by confronting KAIRI at Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4. This set up Mone challenging KAIRI for the IWGP Women’s Championship at the February 18 Battle in the Valley event.
Following her debut, Mone has been active on social media by sharing photos and videos from her training sessions with other Japanese wrestling stars.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that some people in NJPW don’t want Banks posting photos with stars from other companies.
Meltzer wrote: “There were people talking because of the belief Mone has been promoting Sendai Girls and Tokyo Joshi Pro more than Stardom and the IWGP women’s title. She posted photos from the Sendai Girls dojo saying she wanted to wrestle women that work for that promotion and Tokyo Joshi Pro. The feeling is that now that she’s with Bushiroad, she (should) be only promoting Bushiroad companies in Japan.”
Meltzer noted that Mone didn’t go to any Stardom shows or the dojo while in Japan and pointed out that it’s likely nobody has ever explained the mentality in Japan about this to her.
NJPW sold out the Battle in the Valley once Mone vs. KAIRI was announced.
