The CEO Seals Deal: Mercedes Moné New IWGP Women’s Champion

At NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4th, we officially said goodbye to “Sasha Banks” and hello to Mercedes Moné, as Mercedes Varnado made her return to professional wrestling in a very big way – and by making a very big statement. After a successful title defense of her IWGP Women’s Championship against Tam Nakano, KAIRI was confronted (and quickly dropped) by “The CEO” before Moné made it crystal clear that she had her sights set on KAIRI at NJPW’s “Battle in the Valley” on February 18th at the San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, California. But did the challenger live up to her words, or did the champion survive to fight another day?

And we have a new IWGP Women’s Champion, folks! After intense back-and-forths that saw KAIRI taking to the skies as well as showing brute force with a vicious powerbomb of Moné through a table, with Moné offering an impressive array of moves (including a Bayley-to-Belly, which we especially loved) before executing a “Moné Maker” that would win her the title. Now, here’s a look back at Moné’s & KAIRI’s respective entrances:

And here’s a look back at some of the action inside (and outside) of the ring:

And here’s the show of respect between the two competitors after the match:

And here’s a look back to the match promo video that was released heading into this weekend, followed by an official press conference for the match focusing on the competitors:

And here’s a look back to last month, when Moné addressed KAIRI directly regarding their match and her intentions in NJPW:

How could we end this look back at Moné’s return to wrestling without revisting that moment from NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 17 that got everyone talking, including the press conference featuring Moné and KAIRI following Moné’s statement attack on the champ:

Back on May 16th, Banks & Naomi reportedly walked out during an episode of WWE RAW over creative differences and the overall feeling that the WWE’s Women’s Tag-Team Division wasn’t being respected. The match in question would’ve seen the tag-team champions having to compete against one another in a “Six-Pack Challenge” against Asuka, Becky Lynch, Doudrop, and Nikki A.S.H., with the winner facing Bianca Belair at the upcoming “Hell in a Cell” PPV event. The WWE would go on to indefinitely suspend both wrestlers without pay, issuing a public statement on-air condemning their conduct.