Mercedes Monè (formerly WWE’s Sasha Banks) will battle KAIRI for the IWGP Women’s Championship at tonight’s NJPW ‘Battle In The Valley’ event in San Jose, CA.
Ahead of her NJPW in-ring debut, Monè spoke with Under The Ring where she stated that she feels honored to be part of the Japanese promotion.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On how this title match is a huge honor for her: “This is such a huge honor for me. It made it a really easy decision to go to New Japan to help kickstart this women’s division for this company. With New Japan being the biggest pro wrestling company in Japan, it was just an easy, easy decision to be like, ‘This is the place that I want to be.’ I grew up watching New Japan, I grew up watching Pro-Wrestling NOAH and all these Japanese women’s wrestling [companies] growing up. So this was such an easy decision. It’s a dream come true for me. I think [NJPW Battle in the Valley] is just going to create so much magic and so much history for women’s wrestling that I just want everyone around the world to be like, ‘This is the company that I want to be in.’”
Mercedes Mone on possibly competing in STARDOM: “Oh my God, I see it as one of the greatest potential companies in the world right now. I just keep seeing it growing and growing and getting bigger. I’ve been hearing about STARDOM for years. Just knowing that it’s an all-women’s promotion with the greatest women’s wrestlers all over the world, [moreso] now that you have Mercedes Mone in the game, as well. I think just watching, I’ve been watching it for the past couple of months, really fine-tuning up, ‘Who do I want to face? Who is the best out there?’”
Mone on the STARDOM roster: “They have some of the top wrestlers I have ever seen. I’m just so excited to introduce the American audience to the style of STARDOM women. I think just giving them the opportunity to show what they can do to a global-scale audience is just going to open up the doors for women’s women’s wrestling all over the world. I think they have the greatest wrestling, so I’m excited to be a part of it and just to expand this broadened audience to something so different that they’ve never seen before.”
It’s been a busy week for Monè as she also sat down for an interview with Inside the Ropes to discuss her passion for the wrestling business. She said,
“First of all, if I was going to talk about it for the first time, it wouldn’t be with you. When it comes to anything in wrestling, you have to go with your heart, your passion, and your soul. When it comes to me, that’s all I have for the business is my passion and love for this. I love wrestling. Until the day that I die, I’ll have a passion for this. I want to fight for this. I want to create magic for people all over the world to be able to do this. I feel like I have, and I just can’t stop and let that dream die. So for me, I just have to keep on showing the world my love for this, my passion for this, and to show them that women’s wrestling is where it’s at and needs to be at the top and the headline. It needs to be respected and needs to be given the same opportunity, just like the men.“
