Tony Khan has discussed whether there was any plans for Mercedes Mone pencilled in for Forbidden Door had she not recently suffered an injury.
This past weekend saw New Japan’s ‘Resurgence’ show take place, where the company crowned the first ever NJPW Strong Women’s Champion via a one-night tournament. The final saw Mercedes Mone do battle with Willow Nightingale over the newly established title with Willow getting the win. However, it was later revealed that Mone was set to win the match had she not suffered an ankle injury.
As of writing, it’s unclear how long fans can expect Mercedes to be sidelined for. Though, it’s highly unlikely that the star will have any involvement in AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door at the end of next month, where some fans were hoping to see Mercedes mix it up with some members of the AEW roster.
When asked to comment over whether there may have been plans to feature Mone on June 25, Tony Khan said on the AEW Double or Nothing media call that only he and Mercedes knew what the idea was around Forbidden Door.
“Going forward, it does make things interesting because nobody really knows, besides Mercedes and myself what was going to happen there and what the future would hold for her, whether that was competing exclusively for New Japan or potentially also whether she would be at Forbidden Door. Frankly, now, even going forward, I don’t think anybody but her knows when she’ll be ready to come back to the ring. I have so much respect for Mercedes and I think she’s been a great champion all over the world, including New Japan. She would have been a great first-ever STRONG Women’s Champion, but I think we have a great champion in Willow and we’ll look to utilize Willow in AEW and possibly ROH, and take advantage of that new beautiful belt she’s holding,”
-Tony Khan
Given that we know Willow was never originally planned to win the new NJPW Strong Women’s Title, it will be intriguing for many fans to watch her title reign unfold.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any updates on Mercedes Mone’s injury status and other plans for Forbidden Door as we hear more.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
