Mercedes Mone was on an unbelievable run in NJPW/STARDOM until she was sidelined with an injury.
The former WWE star made her promotional debut at Wrestle Kingdom by confronting KAIRI and later beat her for the IWGP Women’s Title before dropping it to Mayu Iwatani in late April.
Things went south when Money was wrestling Willow Nightingale in a match to crown the first-ever NJPW Strong Women’s Champion when she suffered an injury in the main event of NJPW Resurgence. Mone was supposed to go over in the bout to become the inaugural champion, but when she suffered a broken ankle when going for code red off the top rope and slipped, plans had to be changed on the fly.
Nightingale went over to win the title only to recently drop it to Giulia. The injury also caused plans for Mone to work AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door to be nixed.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that while there is no timeline for Mone’s return, when she does, she will be going after Giulia for the title.
Meltzer wrote, “Even people who you would think need to know don’t know the exact time line for a Mercedes Mone return. The plan right now is that when she returns, she will face Giulia for the New Japan Strong title.”
As of this writing, there are no specific plans or dates because there is no word on Mone’s return. Meltzer speculated that Mone may win the title since the title was originally created for her.
We wish her a speedy recovery.
