Category: New Japan Pro Wrestling

Backstage Update On Mercedes Mone’s NJPW Contract

As previously reported, Mercedes Mone suffered an injury, believed to be a broken ankle, in the main event of NJPW Resurgence while she was wrestling Willow Nightingale on Sunday night. 

Mone was supposed to become the first-ever NJPW Strong Women’s Champion, but when she went for a code red off the top rope and slipped, resulting in the injury, plans had to be changed with Willow going over. 

Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the former IWGP Women’s Champion agreed to a long-term deal on April 27th.

“Mone had agreed to a longer-term deal with New Japan when her original deal expired on 4/27. We were told that the New Japan Strong championship and belt were created when she agreed to the longer term deal and both were created for her, after she showed strong drawing power for the San Jose show which sold out the Civic Auditorium,” Meltzer wrote.

Source: eWn

Mercedes Mone Injured At NJPW Resurgence

Mercedes Mone appears to have suffered an injury.

At Sunday night’s NJPW Resurgence pay-per-view event, the former Sasha Banks faced off against AEW wrestler Willow Nightingale in the finals of the one-night NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship tournament.

The end of the match came when Nightingale hit her Doctor Comb finisher on Mercedes for a two-count. She then hit another one immediately after for the pinfall. Following the match, Mone was carried out of the arena.

As of this writing, there is no word on Mone’s current condition.

Pwinsider and Bryan Alvarez report that the word going around is that Mone suffered a broken ankle in a spot where she fell off the top rope, which you can see below:

Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Mone was supposed to win the title, but the decision to put the title on Willow was made on the fly due to the injury.

https://twitter.com/Queenofallerass/status/1660490281370931202
https://twitter.com/THENEXTBlGTHlNG/status/1660488950727983104

Source: eWn

https://twitter.com/MercedesVarnado/status/1660509287335211009

NJPW Resurgence 5/21/2023 (Results)

  • The DKC def. Bateman
  • Alex Coughlin def. Christopher Daniels
  • Virus & Barbaro Cavernario def. Zack Sabre Jr. & Bad Dude Tito
  • Mercedes Moné def. Stephanie Vaquer – NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship Tournament Semi-Final
  • Willow Nightingale def. Momo Kohgo – NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship Tournament Semi-Final
  • Juice Robinson def. Fred Rosser – Street Fight
  • KENTA def. Hikuleo (c) – NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship
  • Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, & Shota Umino def. Rocky Romero, Kazuchika Okada, & Tomohiro Ishii
  • Will Ospreay def. Hiroshi Tanahashi – IWGP United States Heavyweight Title Number One Contender’s Tournament Semi-Final
  • Willow Nightingale def. Mercedes Moné – NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship

NJPW Resurgence 5/21/2023 (Card)

NJPW Resurgence – May 21 at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California. It will air on NJPW World and FITE TV as a pay-per-view event.

CARD

  • NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship Final
  • IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship Number One Contender’s Tournament: Will Ospreay vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • CHAOS (Rocky Romero, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada) vs Wheeler Yuta, Shota Umino & Jon Moxley
  • NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship: Hikuleo (c) vs KENTA
  • Street Fight: Juice Robinson vs Fred Rosser
  • TMDK (Bad Dude Tito & Zack Sabre Jr.) vs Barbaro Cavernario & Virus
  • NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship Tournament: Momo Kohgo vs Willow Nightingale
  • NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship Tournament: Mercedes Moné vs Stephanie Vaquer
  • Alex Coughlin vs Christopher Daniels
  • The DKC vs Bateman

Mercedes Mone Signs Contract Extension With NJPW/STARDOM – UPDATED Information

Mayu Iwatani defeated Mercedes Moné to win the IWGP Women’s Championship in the penultimate match at STARDOM All-Star Grand Queendom.

While Mone isn’t the IWGP Women’s Champion anymore, she will stay with NJPW and STARDOM for the immediate future.

The Wrestling Observer is reporting that Mone signed a contract extension with Bushiroad ahead of her title defense at STARDOM All-Star Grand Queendom. It’s unknown how long the contract extension is.

Following her loss at All-Star Grand Queendom, Mone announced that she will appear at NJPW Resurgence on May 21st in Los Angeles, CA.

Source: eWrestlingNews

UPDATE

New information suggests that Moné’s extension may be short-term instead of long-term.

Fightful Select has learned from people in Mone’s camp that the former IWGP Women’s Champion has no more dates with Stardom, and only one more date with NJPW, scheduled to be the Resurgence event in Long Beach, California on May 21. While future dates for NJPW in Japan weren’t dismissed, it was noted that none were planned as of now, which would effectively make Moné a free agent following her Resurgence appearance.

Despite that, things appear to be rosy between Moné and the Bushiroad promotions, with both sides being open to doing business again in the future. Those in Stardom, in particular, appear to be thrilled with Moné’s recent work with Mayu Iwatani in the promotion and believe Mone helped boost Stardom’s business. Due to that, however, it’s expected that a “bigger renegotiation” would be required to obtain Moné’s services for her to appear in Stardom again.

As has been the case after previous reports of Moné’s contract status with Bushiroad, speculation will now turn to where she could wind up following her Resurgence appearance, with WWE (where she worked as Sasha Banks for over a decade) and AEW serving as the leading candidates. Whether Moné would entertain joining either promotion is unknown, as it was noted she is currently working on TV and film projects, in addition to her wrestling commitments.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

STARDOM Turned Down Signing Trinity Fatu Due To Financial Reasons

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to ripple to various degrees throughout the professional wrestling industry. While promotions in the United States have largely returned to business as usual, those in Japan have seen things move along a bit more slowly. There were still a number of restrictions in place in recent months, and, as a result, Bushiroad — the parent company of both New Japan Pro-Wrestling and STARDOM — has had to navigate a tough road in recovering from the financial hits taken by the wrestling arm of the company, even as both promotions have grown. Because of the financial strain, both NJPW and STARDOM have been under pressure to keep costs down. That’s led to each passing on some opportunities that may have brought more eyes to the Japanese wrestling product. 

Per the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Trinity Fatu — formerly known during her time in WWE as Naomi — was there for the getting. With her former tag team partner Sasha Banks, who now goes by the moniker Mercedes Mone, carving her path to Japan, there was a chance for Fatu to join her. It appears as if feelers were put out to indicate her willingness to head overseas to re-enter the squared circle. However, Bushiroad felt it’d cost too much and, because of their money situation, ultimately passed on making such a deal — at least thus far.

Fatu has been out of action since she and Banks walked out of WWE over creative differences and were indefinitely suspended, never to return to this point. Fatu did make the trip to Wrestle Kingdom 17 in January to support her former partner as she made her NJPW debut and recently she was backstage at Ring of Honor’s Supercard of Honor over WrestleMania weekend. While doing other things, she has remained within reach of the wrestling business if the right situation presented itself for her to make a return. However, that has yet to materialize yet since she has become a free agent.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Impact Wrestling x NJPW Multiverse United: Only the STRONG Survive 3/30/2023 (Results)

#1. [X Division Championship] Trey Miguel (c) vs. Rich Swann vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Kevin Knight vs. Clark Connors vs. Rocky Romero — Winner: Trey Miguel retains

#2. Alex Coughlin, Sami Callihan, Fred Rosser, and PCO vs. Eddie Edwards, Joe Hendry and Team Filthy (Tom Lawlor and J. R. Kratos) — Winners: Couglin, Callihan, Rosser & PCO

#3. Jeff Cobb vs. Moose — Winner: Jeff Cobb

#4. [Winner Gets Knockouts Championship Match at Rebellion] Masha Slamovich vs. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Gisele Shaw vs. Miyu Yamashita:  — Winner: Deonna Purrazzo

#5. [Impact World Tag Team Championship] Bullet Club’s Ace Austin & Chris Bey (c) vs. TMDK (Bad Dude Tito & Shane Haste) vs. Aussie Open vs. The Motor City Machine Guns — Winners: Bullet Club retains

#6. Kushida vs. Lio Rush — Winner: Kushida via submission

#7. [NJPW Strong Openweight Championship] KENTA (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki — Winner: KENTA retains

#8. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey — Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi

Impact Wrestling x NJPW Multiverse United: Only the STRONG Survive 3/30/2023 (Card)

IMPACT Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling present Multiverse United: Only the STRONG Survive LIVE TONIGHT at 11pm ET streaming exclusively on FITE.

CARD

  • IMPACT WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP 4-WAY MATCH: Bullet Club (Chris Bey & Ace Austin) (c) vs. Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs. Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) vs. TMDK (Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito)
  • IMPACT X DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP 6-WAY SCRAMBLE MATCH: Trey Miguel (c) vs. Rich Swann vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Rocky Romero vs. Kevin Knight vs. Clark Connor
  • “Winner is added to Impact Knockouts World Championship match at Rebellion”4-WAY MATCH: Deonna Purrazzo vs. Masha Slamovich vs. Gisele Shaw vs. Miyu Yamashita
  • NJPW STRONG OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: KENTA (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi [NJPW] vs. Mike Bailey [Impact]
  • Jeff Cobb [NJPW] vs. Moose [Impact]
  • Fred Rosser, Callihan, PCO & Alex Coughlin vs. Team Filthy (Tom Lawlor & JR Kratos), Eddie Edwards & Joe Hendry
  • [Countdown to Multiverse Pre-show]
    Yuya Uemura vs. Gabriel Kidd

Jay White Officially A Free Agent, No Confirmation Of Upcoming Jump To WWE, AEW Possibility

Jay White is officially on the move, but where to seems to still be up in the air.

In the latest edition of the weekly Wrestling Observer Newsletter, veteran pro wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer confirmed that the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion is officially a free agent after his NJPW contract expired at the end of last month. 

Meltzer reported that all indications point toward White heading to WWE but “there has still been no confirmation of that.” He added, “If he is going to WWE, it’s not something well known within the company by many because multiple people who normally know haven’t heard his name mentioned.”

White’s tenure with NJPW has been seemingly wrapping up over the past two months. In January, the former Bullet Club leader dropped the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship to Kazuchika Okada in the main event at Wrestle Kingdom 17. 

Then last month, he lost two apparent farewell matches, first losing to his former stablemate Hikuleo in a “loser leaves Japan” match at The New Beginning in Osaka and then losing to Eddie Kingston in a “loser leaves NJPW” match at Battle in the Valley. After White’s loss to Hikuleo, the wrestler posted photos of his time in Japan on social media with the caption, “Peace. #SwitchbladeEra.” And after his loss to Kingston, his opponent bowed to him after leaving the ring and joined the crowd in applauding him.

Several reports have since indicated WWE has heavy interest in bringing White into the fold and that officials there are “confident” he’s coming, though a jump to AEW or the broader independent scene also remains possible.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

NJPW Battle In The Valley 2/18/2023 (Results)

Alex Coughlin defeated JR Kratos

David Finlay defeated Bobby Fish

Kushida, Volador Jr., Kevin Knight and The DKC defeated Máscara Dorada, Josh Alexander, Adrian Quest and Rocky Romero

Strong Openweight Championship
KENTA defeated Fred Rosser (c) to WIN the Strong Openweight Championship

KENTA picked up the win with the Go To Sleep as CM Punk watched on from the stands after Juice Robinson returned to NJPW and decked Fred Rosser with a fistful of coins. 

Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship
The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) (c) defeated West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson and Royce Issacs)

Loser Leaves NJPW 
Eddie Kingston defeated Jay White

Jay White lost his Loser Leaves NJPW Match to Eddie Kingston following four Urakens and two Northern Lights suplexes. White was set to cut a post-match promo but he was suddenly attacked from behind by David Finlay, who cut a long promo about being a foreigner everywhere he wrestles.

Filthy Rules Fight
Tom Lawlor defeated Homicide

NJPW World Television Championship
Zack Sabre Jr. (c) defeated Clark Connors

IWGP Women’s Championship
Mercedes Monè defeated Kairi (c) to WIN the IWGP Women’s Championship

 Moné became the second-ever IWGP Women’s Champion after defeating fellow former WWE talent KAIRI in the semi-main event of Battle in the Valley. Moné hit a Bayley-To-Belly and was put through a table in her NJPW in-ring debut before she picked up the win with her Moné Maker finisher. Moné and KAIRI then hugged after the match as Bayley watched on from the crowd.

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Kazuchika Okada (c) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi