Mercedes Mone is no longer the NJPW Strong Women’s Champion.
Mone defended the title last night in a triple threat match against recent AEW signee Mina Shirakawa and Stardom’s AZM in the main event of NJPW Resurgence. In a surprise finish, AZM pinned Shirakawa after a series of roll-up attempts to capture the title.
After the match, an infuriated Mone blamed Shirakawa for the loss, leading her to push her fellow AEW star and be chased to the backstage area by Shirakawa. The show closed with AZM celebrating, declaring it’s now “AZM time.”
The shock result brings an end to Mone’s almost year-long reign as NJPW Strong Women’s Champion. The former Sasha Banks captured the title from now-WWE star Stephanie Vaquer at last year’s AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door – becoming its fourth champion.
She went on to hold the title for 313 days, surpassing Giulia‘s 249-day reign to become the belt’s longest-reigning champion in history. Over her 10-month reign, Mone successfully defended the belt four times, retaining against the likes of Hazuki, Momo Watanabe and Emi Sakura across AEW and NJPW events.
Becky Lynch Roasted Mercedes Mone Over Personal Texting Service
The divisive end to her NJPW Strong Women’s Championship loss isn’t the only controversy Mercedes Mone has been involved in recently. Earlier this month, she announced the launch of a personal texting service, offering one-on-one texting access to Mone directly for $99 a month.
Many mocked the move, including fans who questioned the authenticity of the service and even Mone’s former Four Horsewomen ally Becky Lynch. During an appearance on this week’s Raw Recap, Lynch remarked that her on-screen rival Bayley was “probably paying $100 a month to her best friend to text her!”
AloJapan.com