On January 4th, Mercedes Moné (FKA Sasha Banks in WWE) made her NJPW debut at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in the Tokyo Dome, attacking KAIRI after her successful IWGP Women’s Championship defence against Tam Nakano. The match is now set for February 18th at Battle in the Valley in San Jose, California, in what will be Moné’s first match since walking out of WWE in May of last year.
Speaking on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer provided an update on when fans can expect Mercedes to wrestle her first match in Japan, reporting that she’s currently booked for both NJPW and Stardom’s big shows in April.
“The first Mercedes match is obviously going to be in San Jose. Mercedes will be at the Sumo Hall show, which will be her first match in Japan, and I believe her second match in Japan will be on the STARDOM show at the Yokohama Arena. Those are both in April,”
-Dave Meltzer
The NJPW show in question will be the returning Sakura Genesis show, which is set for April 8th at Ryogoku Kokugikan, whilst Stardom’s Yokohama Arena show will take place on April 23rd, marking the 30th anniversary of AJW’s Dream Slam with ‘All-Star Dream Queendom’, a show that Meltzer has previously reported is expected to feature talent from across the Joshi wrestling scene.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Mercedes Moné’s future with NJPW and Stardom as soon as we hear more.
H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
