From armories, to Full Sail to across arenas in the United States such as Madison Square Garden and stadiums such as AT&T Stadium and Raymond James Stadium to most recently Tokyo Dome. No matter what persona you know her as from Mercedes KV, to The Boss Sasha Banks and now, The CEO Mercedes Moné. Her body of work for the better part of over a decade has shifted an entire division that was a mere afterthought for most of the Western hemisphere for decades. Mercedes has done so much in such a short span of time that her body of work goes through at least 4 generations of wrestling fans. From Gen X to Gen A. I would dare say without Mercedes and a few other names from Asuka, Bayley, Becky Lynch and Charlotte. No one would have fought or cared for women’s wrestling the way it does now.
Mercedes has set the bar for women’s wrestling in the western hemisphere that has still not been achieved since her matches with Bayley on numerous occasions — Brooklyn Takeover, Iron Woman match to name a few. These are the two career defining matches that I believe helped put Mercedes on the map and gave notice to women’s wrestling unseen before in the west for decades. Mercedes means a lot to me as a pro wrestling fan because I truly believe without her, I would not have taken the dive on Joshi wrestling and other amazing great women’s wrestling currently and in the past. She has put on an entire generation of wrestling fans whether from 10 years ago or even the last year on different women’s wrestling around the globe.
Now with AEW’s “Big Business” looming and possibly a brand-new chapter in the ever evolving career of Mercedes Moné being All Elite (she has been “All Elite” from day one long before AEW’s existence) I just want to talk about how much she means to me and possibly others in this fandom. I feel the groundwork she set in 2015 and beyond has been brushed aside due to current day tribalism over different wrestling companies. Fans seem to have forgotten it’s about the talent and body of work they leave behind, not the company they work for.
Women’s wrestling in the west, specifically among the mainstream with WWE, was not in the best state of representation for the industry after 1997. In the mid 90s we saw some solid women’s wrestling on WWE and WCW programming featuring names such as — Bull Nakano, Aja Kong, Akira Hokuto, Rhonda Sing, Alundra Blayze, and Leilani Kai. By 1997 WWE had begun moving away from some form of a semi serious women’s division in favor of eye candy valets ushering into the Attitude Era. WCW somewhat kept that spark going but not for long and followed suit as well.
Fast-forwarding into 2010 after the early 2000s featuring talent such as Trish Stratus, Lita and Molly Holly, Gail Kim, Awesome Kong try to establish a strong competent women’s division across the United States. Women’s wrestling at this point in America was relatively not healthy on the big stage. But in the indies it was thriving with companies like SHIMMER which started in 2005 giving so many talented wrestlers from the late 2000s and early 2010s their big break. In comes Mercedes who began training in 2008 and made her debut in August 2010 for NECW World Women’s Wrestling under the name Mercedes KV.
Two years after her initial pro debut, WWE would take interest in Mercedes and offer her a contract. This is it, Mercedes has reached one of her biggest milestones in her profession at that point only two years in which was being signed by WWE. During her arrival WWE was making changes to their developmental system adding a plethora of new younger aspiring talent from the late 2000s and early 2010s. The game show known as NXT was revamped to be a weekly episodic show featuring the developing talent. At the same time the construction on the Performance Center was worked on which opened the year after the revamp NXT debuted. Mercedes had made her debut on the main show yet as she worked NXT house show tour loops still under the name of Mercedes KV. It’s now November 2012 and Mercedes would make her long awaited debut on the NXT brand with her new name Sasha Banks. Going up against the yet crowned first ever NXT Women’s Champion Paige, who we now know as Saraya of All Elite Wrestling currently.
Over the course of three years we see the development of The Boss persona unfold right in front of our eyes. With the pairing of her with Summer Rae and Charlotte Flair known as “The BFFs” and the teachings of the late great Dusty Rhodes, she was able to develop The Boss character that would take NXT fans by storm. Fans loved to hate her due to her conniving, stuck up persona. But the one character that was her greatest foil during these times was the now 2024 Royal Rumble winner Bayley. The two would be almost inseparable and cross paths with each for most of their NXT tenure. Banks and Bayley would truly kick off their journey after Paige had relinquished the NXT Women’s Championship due to moving up to the main roster. A tournament was held to crown a new champion. In the quarterfinals Banks defeated Bayley to move into the semifinals where Banks would fall short to Natalya.
Months later Bayley and Sasha Banks would meet once again to decide the number one contender for Charlotte Flair’s NXT Women’s Championship. Bayley this time would get the victory over Banks. Both Bayley and Sasha would go back and forth on challenging for the NXT Women’s title respectively against Charlotte Flair. During this era another staple name among the three I have mentioned that was Becky Lynch who was also in the mix gunning for that NXT Women’s Championship as well. The collective four would run the NXT women’s division for the better part of two years from 2014-2016. The collective would be dubbed “The Four horsewomen”
The Four horsewomen of NXT dominated the scene from singles matches, tag matches with each other for most of 2014. The big culmination for the four horsewomen came in February 2015 during NXT Takeover: Rival; which saw the NXT Women’s Championship up for grabs in NXT’s biggest title match to date at the time. A fatal four way pitting the Champion Charlotte Flair against Bayley, Becky Lynch and The Boss herself Sasha Banks. Sasha Banks would go on to win that championship match ending Charlotte’s 258 day reign. Sasha Banks would have 4 successful title defenses against Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss, holding the belt for 192 days.
During Sasha Banks title reign including the previous reign with Charlotte, the bar was being raised for the women’s division down in Florida for NXT. The bar was so high that WWE main roster could not match that work at all. The biggest angle in the women’s division in 2014 was Brie Bella vs. Stephanie Mchmahon which culminated at Summerslam 2014 which saw Nikki Bella turn on her twin sister Brie giving Stephanie the win. The two sisters would go on to feud for the rest of the fall in segments featuring Jerry Springer and with lines such as “I wish you died in the womb” yes it was bad TV at the time but it was entertaining at the time for all the wrong reasons, but the bar was in hell compared to what the women’s division was doing in NXT. That storyline saw its end come at Hell in The Cell 2014. Brie Bella vs. Nikki Bella with the stipulation that “loser must become personal assistant of the winner” Nikki Bella would go on to win and not long after would capture the WWE Divas Championship in a whopping 34 seconds against AJ Lee at Survivor Series 2014.
The average women’s match on TV for the main roster in 2014-2015 would last about 2-3 minutes. As you can imagine the discrepancy between NXT women’s division vs. main roster women’s division booking was apparent and it slowly festered over time pissing off fans wanting more for the main roster division. Into the late Spring and early Summer of 2015 Sasha Banks and Bayley would cross paths and begin their feud that went into the Fall. Sasha Banks alongside Bayley were the two staple larger than life characters of the women’s division in NXT at the time.
Bayley was a loveable happy-go-lucky infectious bubbly personality who was so in awe and happy to be in the WWE she grew up watching like I and you always hugging wrestlers and just happy 24/7. And then you have her polar opposite in Sasha Banks, who was a no-nonsense bad bitch that was ready to take everything in her path to be the best. The confidence that she exuded was also infectious, and you couldn’t help but find her to be cool and truly “The Boss” of the division and the company as a whole.
I did not think much of women’s wrestling at the time due to how low the standards were in America that watching weekly NXT seeing the women given more time to shine and the difference in in ring work compared to the main roster was night and day. It was exciting watching NXT and being invested in both Bayley and Sasha Banks and their journey that would lead them to their biggest singles match to date that has had the most positive impact on pro wrestling in the west that is still felt to this day.
The growing popularity of the NXT Women’s division that Mercedes and the rest of the horse women were able to grow set in motion a movement that would help usher in a “Women’s Revolution” as it was aptly named. Just a week after Sasha Banks captured the NXT Women’s championship at the time, the second highest rated WWE women’s match in company history by Dave Meltzer giving it a four-star rating. The following Monday Night Raw episode on February 23, 2015, during the only women’s match booked on a 3-hour program that night saw the tag team match of Paige (Saraya) and Emma (Tenille Dashwood) vs. The Bella Twins Nikki and Brie Bella in a 30-second match. Fans at home, disgusted with the match length, took to Twitter that night to show their frustrations with the hashtag #GiveDivasAChance which trended for a few days worldwide. WWE management, aware of the backlash, saw Vince McMahon himself tweet out “We hear you. Keep watching. #GiveDivasAChance”
Fast-forward to July and months of the hashtag sporadically trending every other week. Stephanie McMahon would appear during an in ring segment on Monday Night Raw talking about people’s voices being heard and making a statement about wanting a women’s revolution in the WWE, and it would start with the top names of the NXT division at the time — Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks. Three of the four horsewomen have now been moved up to the main roster for now at this point working both main roster and NXT for the next few months. Sasha Banks was the current NXT Women’s Champion, representing the brand as The Boss of NXT and the WWE. Bayley and Sasha Banks’ story would go on to grow even further during the Summer of 2015. Due to the ever growing popularity of NXT because of the hard work put on by the likes of Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor and the Four Horsewomen, their long rivalry culminated at the first ever touring NXT branded Takeover show named – NXT Takeover: Brooklyn.
This match is very near and dear to my heart due to being in the building to watch it happen live. August 22, 2015, I was very excited to attend the first ever outside of Full Sail show because it was a completely different atmosphere compared to main roster WWE at the time. The show was electric and saw a card of different varieties including a one-off match featuring legend Jushin Thunder Liger to ever happen under the WWE umbrella. In the semi-main event for the NXT Women’s Championship it was Bayley vs. the defending champion Sasha Banks.
Sasha and Bayley have worked so hard for this moment to be in front of over 15,000 people in a packed Barclays Center the night before Summerslam. While in attendance for this match, I will say I had never heard a reaction this loud for women’s wrestling from the several different wrestling events I had attended beforehand. The crowd was on fire from the video package through the entrances up until the end of the bout. The match saw Sasha Banks and what I would say is her peak heel work put on a classic with Bayley who is possibly the best babyface at the time not named Sami Zayn in the company, and fans ate everything up. Bayley came into the match not 100 percent with an injured hand, and Sasha made sure to abuse that to her full advantage.
The crowd was stunned at the in ring work the two had put on. The best part of the match was watching Sasha Banks run the ropes and jump over referee Danilo Anfibio with a topé con hilo on to Bayley. I and the other 15,000-plus all screamed and shouted “holy shit” at the spot that The Boss pulled off. The stuff done in this match was not the normal work that was being done on the main roster women’s division. These two put on something magical that night that was able to captivate an entire generation of wrestling fans into taking women’s wrestling seriously and branching off to watching more indie women’s wrestling and Joshi wrestling.
The finish to the match was unlike anything I had ever seen in a women’s wrestling match at the time. Sasha Banks in total control of the match in the closing stretch places Bayley on the top turnbuckle. Bayley, with the fight still left in her, managed to fend off Banks for a bit with furious elbows, with a dazed and rattled Sasha, she ascended to the top turnbuckle with Bayley by her side. Bayley, still trying to fight off with forearm and elbow shots to Bank’s head, manages to take control when we see Bayley climb the top rope and get into the electric chair position on Sasha’s shoulders. And it was from that moment the perspective of what women’s wrestling can be in the west changed. Bayley hits the Poisonrana on Banks to a massive pop. I got out of my seat and high-fived strangers who were all there just the same, witnessing history. Bayley managed to tighten her hair bow and hit a Bayley-to-Belly to secure the pin-fall and be crowned the new NXT Women’s Champion.
That night Sasha Banks and Bayley did so much for the industry in just 18 minutes. The match was lauded as the match of the weekend over Seth Rollins vs. John Cena. Dave Meltzer gave the match 4.50 stars which was the highest rated women’s match in company history at the time. The match was just very important to me. I started learning by seeking out some SHIMMER matches on YouTube and watching some of the TNA stuff I had ignored with the battles of Gail Kim and Awesome Kong. I started to familiarize myself with Joshi talent and was made aware of Kana now in the WWE as Asuka who was on her way during this time. Just that period from 2014 – 2019 is such a fun time as a pro wrestling fan.
From that moment on, I saw what women’s wrestling could and should be. I would say Mercedes Moné is possibly the greatest women’s wrestler in the west. From that match forward, the landscape of women’s wrestling changed for the better. The main roster women’s division were able to have longer TV matches. They got to main event Raw and Smackdown shows more frequently. There were not one but two Wrestlemania main events featuring the women’s division. The most recent main event featured Mercedes herself at WrestleMania 37 against Bianca Belair.
Mercedes was also a vital part of the company during the pandemic Thunderdome era of WWE television. Herself alongside her tag team partner Bayley now as heels held both their respective brands Women’s Championships and the Women’s Tag Team Championships. The duo were everywhere on WWE Programming during this era from Raw, Smackdown and NXT. The work that Mercedes had during the pandemic era is where I would firmly believe she cemented herself as the GOAT of the division and women’s wrestling as a whole in the western hemisphere. Everyone shut in due to lock down looked towards escapism in the form of entertainment and there was WWE and AEW right there still providing live entertainment to the masses to the best of their ability.
Sasha and Bayley would go on to break up as a duo after Bayley turned on her best friend after they failed to recapture the Women’s Tag Titles against Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler. Bayley showed a more vicious side to her in the attack that we had not seen before. This time the alignments are different and Banks the full on babyface against the evil Bayley. The two would feud for the next three months which saw the next pivotal match in Mercedes’ chapter. Hell in The Cell 2020. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley for Bayley’s Smackdown Women’s Championship.
This match was awesome. The stuff they got to do in the ring and thinking outside the box that Mercedes is very good at when structuring a match shines bright in this one. This was the best match on the entire card and is such a shame it took place in front of no live fans. I was appreciative of the effort both put in. The match would go on to get a 4.25 star rating from Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer News. This match felt like their magnum opus to their previous bouts in NXT. If you have not watched the match you should go out of your way to see it.
Following that feud Sasha Banks would begin her feud with the rising star Bianca Belair. Belair wins the 2021 Women’s Royal Rumble last eliminating Rhea Ripley. The story started with both women teaming up a bit but completely breaking down towards the build of Mania as Sasha Banks would do anything to keep her championship. The match these two had at WrestleMania 37 is of the utmost importance. As they were the second ever women’s main event of WrestleMania, the first women’s singles match to main event and the first main event with women of color. The match was awesome and is vital to the career of Mercedes including Bianca herself. This is the match that helped cement Belair as a household name just like Mercedes.
Fast-forward a year and a half year later after six WWE Women’s Championship reigns, and three Women’s Tag Team championship reigns, Sasha Banks leaves the WWE. We do not know for certain the reason nor is it any of our business and that is left up to Mercedes herself to disclose that with us. Sasha Banks, now gone from the WWE, would go radio silent for the remainder of 2022. There was news swirling all late 2022 that she would be making her way to Japan via New Japan Pro Wrestling.
During that time NJPW would introduce a new championship to the mix. The IWGP Women’s Championship. A tournament was held to determine who would end up being the two finalists to crown the inaugural champion. In the finals we see The Icon of Starom Mayu Iwatani against the Pirate Princess herself KAIRI. Kairi too left the WWE in the summer of 2020. Her final two matches were Bayley and Sasha Banks. Mayu and KAIRI would go on to have the best match of 2022 for the IWGP Women’s Championship which saw KAIRI capture gold in Japan for the first time in six years.
Rumors are growing larger day by day come the end of December. It was loosely confirmed that Mercedes would make her appearance at Wrestle Kingdom 17. Anticipation and excitement was high. Mercedes would finally become a free agent on January 1st 2023 a mere 3 days before her return to the squared circle but just not any squared circle but the coveted cerulean ring of NJPW. January 4th Wrestle Kingdom 17 saw an historic feat, the inclusion of the first ever women’s singles match on a Wrestle Kingdom card. KAIRI defended her IWGP Women’s Championship against Tam Nakano. The last ever women’s singles title match ever held at the Tokyo Dome, All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling’s Big Egg event that took place on November 20, 1994. The championship match featured Alundra Blayze defending the then WWF Women’s Championship against Bull Nakano.
KAIRI was successful in her defense at the Tokyo Dome, raising her IWGP Women’s championship in the air when the lights went out. We hear the sound of a car revving up and the sound of ‘cha-ching’ that a mechanical cash register makes. When we see on the entrance video the words flash “Mercedes Moné” Mercedes emerges from the entrance way dawning an entire new look. She makes her way down the famous long ramp of Wrestle Kingdom, now referring to herself as “The CEO” called her shot on taking over the women’s division in NJPW and claiming the IWGP Women’s Championship as she hits a shocked and battered KAIRI with her new finisher the Moné Maker. Watching this live as it unfolded on my screen was surreal, and I didn’t think something of this magnitude would happen. The woman that had made a change to women’s wrestling in the west was here about to embark on a journey that could also alter the future of the sport for women and others to bet on themselves and not settle for less. It had been nine months at this point since Mercedes had been in a wrestling ring, and she was here to prove herself and fulfill her lifelong dream of wrestling in Japan.
Mercedes was able to finally begin her longest goal of wrestling in Japan like the likes of Alundra Blayze, Rhonda Sing, Bull Nakano, Manami Toyota, Akira Hokuto, Aja Kong, and The Crush Gals — Lioness Asuka and Chigusa Nagayo — and many more. Mercedes would be able to step foot into the ring once again the following month after Wrestle Kingdom in her home away from home California for NJPW’s Battle in The Valley where her first match was against KAIRI for the IWGP Women’s Championship. Ten months away from the ring Mercedes makes her way to the cerulean ring flanked by an entourage of dancers that had inspirations of STARDOM’s faction Oedo Tai’s dance routine from 2018 – 2019 and her gear that was in tribute to the late Hana Kimura. It was beautifully done, and “The CEO” looked and felt different from her counterpart, Sasha Banks.
The bell sounded as both women stared each other down and took in the adulation of the crowd. This match felt like a spiritual successor to Bayley vs. Sasha Banks from NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. Both women showed how hard-hitting and dangerous Joshi wrestling can be. Mercedes didn’t miss a step with her ten months away from in-ring action. During her time away, she was able to train in Mexico to hone the Lucha Libre style that she had implemented during her time in WWE. KAIRI also gave her best to Mercedes, and this is possibly KAIRI’s second-best match since her return to STARDOM/Japan. Mercedes was channeling her childhood hero Eddie Guerrero throughout the match. Moné was taking just insane drops on her neck that we haven’t seen since in such a long time. Mercedes Moné at one point even hit the Bayley-to-Belly in tribute to her best friend Bayley.
The match was about 20 minutes in and saw both women fight up the ramp, which saw KAIRI jump off the stage and then be caught in midair by Mercedes who then applied the cross face. We then see Mercedes pull a table out from under the ramp, where she attempts to hit KAIRI with a suplex onto the table off stage equipment. KAIRI blocks the attempt and hits Mercedes with the nastiest looking powerbomb into the table. Now 25 minutes in, both wrestlers back in the ring where we see KAIRI deliver her Insane Elbow, which was then blocked by Moné’s legs. KAIRI was down holding her arm in agony as we saw Mercedes climb up to the top rope for an attempted Frog Splash that was also blocked by KAIRI which had KAIRI transition into a Crossface. Mercedes has made it this far into the match, it was past 25 minutes, and she was not going to give up.
Moné fought off the submission as we saw both competitors on the floor back to back struggling to get up as both of them locked arms and began to roll around the ring fighting for the first one to get the advantage to close out the match. While both are still locked arm and arm together, Mercedes was able to find the strength to overtake KAIRI and lift her up on her back, and hit her ‘Moné Maker’ as she did at the Tokyo Dome during her debut. Mercedes earned the victory to become the second-ever IWGP Women’s Champion and was able to successfully prove why she is “The CEO” of the Women’s Division of NJPW and beyond.
Mercedes would go on to have her first defense be held in Japan for Sakura Genesis. AZM had challenged the new champion to match and then it was announced that Hazuki would also partake in the bout making it a triple threat. The build up to this match was great as Mercedes would purposely mispronounce the names of some talent such as AZM and referred to her as A Z M instead of pronouncing her name as Azumi. AZM at the moment was the record setting High Speed Champion and was sought as the future of STARDOM from her debut. Hazuki and AZM during the 2023 Cinderella tournament ended their match in a draw that saw AZM hit La Mistica off the apron on to the floor outside the ring eliminating both competitors from the tournament. Hazuki at the time did not have a great track record for big title matches, she was 0-5 in singles titles matches heading into the triple threat.
This was the most exciting match on the card just to see how Mercedes would fare in front of the New Japan faithfuls in Japan going against the amazing talent AZM and Hazuki. The match was great and was able to showcase all three women to the best of their ability. Mercedes was able to seamlessly adapt to the breakneck high speed pacing that Hazuki and AZM are known for. Mercedes showed extra stuff in her bag and AZM and Hazuki did their thing to the highest degree. The match was able to deliver the two encounters fans wanted to see. We were able to see Mercedes and Hazuki throw huge blows on each other and stiff the ever loving crap out of each other. AZM and Mercedes would be able to show their aerial offense between each other mixed in with the high speed that AZM has been known for. The finish saw Mercedes catch AZM in the midst of her high speed rollup spots on Hazuki with the Money Maker, Mercedes drops AZM onto Hazuk with the Money Maker, retaining her championship in her first successful defense.
After the match comes the biggest moment in modern day women’s wrestling. Mayu Iwatani was ringside to watch the match, she hops into the ring, congratulated Mercedes on a successful defense. Mayu then issued her challenge for the IWGP Women’s Championship that has eluded her since she lost to KAIRI to crown the inaugural champion. The challenge was set for the Stardom All Star Grand Queendom show on April 23rd. Mercedes would grab the mic after Iwatani and just before she was going to say something she ended up slapping Mayu and walking away.
The stage was set for the biggest match in modern day for women’s wrestling. The two biggest stars in pro wrestling at the moment. “The Icon” Mayu Iwatani vs. “The CEO” Mercedes Moné for the IWGP Women’s Championship. The buildup to this match was great which saw Mercedes do two press conferences for the match where she gets it and understands how ridiculous these press conferences can get. Mercedes would show up to the first press conference with a guitar shaped handbag. Where she begins to sing her hit single “Mayu Sucks!” Mercedes looks like she was just having the time of her life doing these.
On the final leg of the build to All Star Queendom, during the Cinderella Tournament final night show on April 15th, Mayu Iwatani had just competed in a six-person tag when the IWGP Women’s Champion entered the ring. Moné was heavily disguised, wearing a hooded coat, dark wig and mask. She snuck into the ring and delivered a Backstabber before revealing her identity. She then grabbed the mic and declared, “There is a price to pay when you mess with Mercedes Moné.”
April 23, 2023, the biggest night in Stardom’s history, all eyes on the company with a brand new wave of foreign fans watching around the globe in anticipation for Mercedes’ first match in a Stardom ring. The card was stacked featuring Wonder of Stardom Championship match of Mina Shirakawa vs. the second longest reigning Wonder of Stardom Champion Saya Kamitani and the World of Stardom Championship match of defending champion Giulia vs. Tam Nakano. In the semi main event it was the IWGP Women’s Championship match, Mercedes Moné vs. Mayu Iwatani. Mayu makes her entrance as always in her big match in robe and mask. Mercedes’ entrance followed suit and she too dawned a robe and mask in style of the Black Tiger that was dawned by the late great Eddie Guerrero.
The two in the ring now face to face, The Icon and The CEO. Bell sounds Mercedes talks her shit and pushes around Mayu a bit. When Mayu snaps, tackles down the champion and starts laying stiff forearms to the face. Mercedes hit with a running PK to the back and then tossed out the ring. Mayu hits the ropes like the best she does and hits her signature topé suicida. Mayu begins to bully around Mercedes for a bit. During Mayu’s bullying Mercedes gets hit so hard in the head on the outside that a big lump swells on her forehead that is visible for the rest of the match.
Mercedes is then able to swing the momentum with a throw from the top rope. Mercedes begins to slap around Mayu and hits her with Moné Maker goes for the cover and is stopped due to rope break. Both continue to go back and forth with Mayu hitting German Suplexes and Mercedes hitting backstabbers. The finish saw Mayu hit her moonsault on Mercedes to a near fall which lead to Mayu hitting her finisher of the Dragon Suplex finishing off Mercedes and ending her IWGP Women’s Championship reign at 64 days. Mercedes after the match got on the microphone and thanked the crowd and Mayu Iwatani for the opportunity to work in the Stardom ring and that she would hope to be back later.
Before the match rumors were yet again rampant that Mercedes would be finishing up in Japan as her contract was ending. Following her match with Mayu Iwatani, Dave Meltzer would reiterate that Mercedes had re-signed for more dates and that she is far from done for now. Four days after All Star Queendom, NJPW would announce the creation of another title for their women’s division – Strong Women’s Championship. The title is exclusively featured on NJPW’s American internet television program NJPW Strong Live, which features a distinct roster of American and other foreign wrestlers. All signs at this point pointed to Mercedes winning the belt as the news broke of her signing up for an unspecified amount of dates following All Star Queendom.
NJPW would announce a four-woman single-elimination style tournament to determine the inaugural champion to be held at Resurgence on May 21, in Long Beach, California. The tournament featured representatives from NJPW’s partners – AEW, CMLL, and Stardom. The participants would be former IWGP Women’s Champion Mercedes Moné, Momo Kohgo, Stephanie Vaquer, and Willow Nightingale. Vaquer and Mercedes would go on to open the tournament with a bang. Having a hard hitting match was awesome. Lots of new eyes got to see the great in-ring work of Stephanie Vaquer and become familiarized with her, which has worked a year later. Mercedes would go on to win and move to the finals for later that night. In the second semi-finals that night Willow Nightingale went up against STARS’ own Momo Kohgo. That match over delivered that night and was an awesome showing for Kohgo on a bigger stage for her in the west. But ultimately Kohgo’s fast Lucha libre-esque style was no match for Willow who would overpower Kohgo towards the end and secure the win to head to the finals.
The finals now set for the Strong Women’s Championship – Mercedes Moné vs. Willow Nightingale would go on to close the show which would be the first time a women’s match in NJPW brand history would close a show and it featured women of color as well. Willow enters the ring with her infectious happy attitude followed by The CEO making her grand entrance in the best way possible. Mercedes would enter the ring in a Snow White inspired gear set that was different from her gear from earlier in the evening. Bell sounds and both women staring across the ring from each other would be met with one of the loudest ovations heard in 2023. The crowd begins to pour their love out for the talent in the ring. Clapping and stammering their feet and starting a “this is awesome” chant before even locking up. Both Mercedes and Willow were caught up in all the love that it was hard not to get emotionally caught up in it all. This went about for 3-5 minutes.
Willow would extend her hand out for a friendly handshake before getting things going. Mercedes would shake Willow’s hand only to find out first hand why Willow is “the babe with the power” Nightingale would out power Mercedes but not for long as Willow gets hit with a slap for her efforts. Willow now mad runs at Mercedes who is then put into a side-headlock and Willow overpowers it sending Moné to the ropes only for Moné to counter back into another side-headlock and the two begin to exchange holds at a quick pace with Willow showing her power and Mercedes showing speed and technical prowess to combat Willow’s power.
The action begins to go back and forth with no one really having a distinct advantage just yet until the moment Willow hits the BIGGEST pounce in her career sending Mercedes flying across the ring and out of it. Willow at this point begins to control the match. The match itself I would say felt very reminiscent of a modern day version of Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong. Towards the end of the match Willow would hit a big stalling suplex off the top rope for only a two count. Willow still in control would toss Mercedes intp the the turnbuckles charging full speed at her and missing. At this point Mercedes would start to mount a comeback. During Mercedes’ comeback Willow begins to ascend to the top rope stopped by Moné as she now climbs to the top rope positions herself in what looks to be a sunset flip loses her balance and falls to the outside.
Mercedes seemingly gets up and rolls back into the ring as normal goes for a near fall. Mercedes is now seen limbing a bit and seemingly on one leg. Mercedes tries to continue her comeback hits a her signature backstabber into the crossface combo only to be overpowered by “the babe with power” and hits her gutwrench powerbomb finisher going for the pinfall, Mercedes does not go for the kick out which confuses the referee which causes the crowd to begin to boo. Willow gets up and works the crowd a bit while the referee converses with Mercedes about changing the finish and going with Willow due to Moné being unable to stand and walk on her foot due to an injury. Willow picks up Moné for one final gutwrench powerbomb for the victory becoming the inaugural Strong Women’s Champion.
During the post match we can see Mercedes being helped out to the back unable to walk on her own. She sustained an ankle injury that has put her out of action since May 2023. Mercedes gives us one final update for the night on Twitter and goes radio silent from that point forward. Fast Forward to August and Mercedes begins to resurface to the public eye. It was at AEW’s All In PPV live from Wembley Stadium in London where Mercedes makes her first public appearance since her NJPW Resurgence match. Mercedes was shown sitting with the audience watching the show, mentioned by the commentary team. Mercedes would not make any further appearances after this.
Rumors begin to swirl once again about the possibility of Moné being All Elite for AEW or returning to the WWE. According to news at the time of December 2023 both companies had made an offer to her but she was still undecided. As we entered 2024 with the Royal Rumble on the horizon the rumors began about Mercedes possibly returning for the Women’s Royal Rumble match. The Rumble came and went and Mercedes was nowhere there. It is then reported that AEW had given Mercedes an offer she could not pass up on that was worth more than what the WWE had allegedly offered her.
Anticipation grew more than ever now that Mercedes was sharing footage of her being back in the ring training getting ready for her return. AEW was making some positive changes for the last five months to their women’s division, fleshing out stories and giving them more matches on TV. That is the effect and power of Moné. She is an industry standard that Tony Khan who has not treated the women’s division to the best of his abilities was finally making changes that they sorely needed since 2022. During the February 7th edition of AEW Dynamite, Tony Khan had a big announcement to make. That announcement was a special Dynamite that would take place at the TD Garden in Boston, on March 13, that was aptly named “Big Business” with the logo for the show resembling the stylized font of one Mercedes Moné
Tickets for the show had gone on sale a month in advance moving close to 8k tickets as of this writing. Moving 8k tickets off a rumor and tongue and cheek announcement is nothing to scoff at as that is how much of a draw Moné is. She is, as I keep saying, the greatest women’s wrestler in all of the western hemisphere. This is going to be a special night for AEW and for Mercedes herself as she embarks on another chapter being given the title All Elite even though she has been elite since 2014. This return feels more important than her Tokyo Dome debut due to the fact that she has opened up saying that she was told her ankle injury was career ending – “I’ve been working so hard to get back to this place that I love. Little do people know, I was told this is a career ending injury. I screamed at my doctor and surgeon and said, ‘No, it’s not.’ I’m going to come back really soon and I’m going to have the greatest time, the greatest matches, the greatest career that I’ve had yet. I see it. I feel it. I know it.”
Big business is upon us and Mercedes has barely scratched the surface on what she can do outside the WWE system. Mercedes has a real chance to change the game again in another company turning their women’s division upside down for the better. Mercedes Moné’s name in 10 years will go down with among the greats that have stepped foot in the ring in the western hemisphere like Bull Nakano, Aja Kong, Rhonda Sing, Alundra Blayze and Akira Hokuto and many more. She is on my Mount Rushmore of women’s wrestling in the west and no one has truly caught up to her standard. I truly hope she is the game changer that AEW sorely needs for their women’s division. It’s time for The CEO to kick the door down once and for all and usher in the “Big Business” era.
Without Mercedes Moné, me and an entire generation of wrestling fans in the last decade or so would not take women’s wrestling seriously. Without that NXT Takeover:Brooklyn match the wrestling landscape would not be where it is currently for women’s wrestling. As I said before Being live and in person in that building witnessing that match was, I know it’s corny to say, but it was life changing. People woke up that night at the Barclays Center. I don’t care where she goes, but she should be paid the amount she is worth and more. She alongside Bayley started a trend that is still seen today. Without that match I would not dabble into STARDOM, Shimmer, TJPW, Sendai Girls, 90s Joshi, list goes on. I hope she remains healthy and goes on a run of a lifetime.
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