NJPW & Stardom are presenting Mercedes Mone as a major star

Fans long wanted to see Mercedes Mone presented as a star which is just what Stardom & NJPW are doing. 

It’s been nearly a year since the former Sasha Banks now Mercedes Mone left WWE and she’s been doing great ever since. Mone’s 2023 started when she made her NJPW debut at Wrestle Kingdom 17 by confronting Kairi.

She beat Kairi for the IWGP women’s championship a month later at Battle in the Valley. Mone held the IWGP women’s title until April. She is currently scheduled to be in a four women’s tournament to crown the inaugural NJPW Strong women’s championship at Resurgence.

Mone is having so much of a fun time that I don’t think she will go back to WWE anytime soon. The reason she’s not going back to WWE anytime soon is that she’s been treated more as a star in NJPW than in WWE.

NJPW treating Mercedes Mone more as a star than WWE ever did

In NJPW, Mone was presented as a big star. She went after the IWGP women’s title on day one and won it a month later. Every time she shows up, she had this star presence that she never had in WWE because they never treated her as a star as they do with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.

In WWE she was used as a role player instead of a star. In NJPW her matches are the focal point of most NJPW shows even though she hasn’t main-event a match in NJPW or Stardom yet. NJPW knows she’s a star while WWE took her for granted.

Yes, Mone has been on TV for over a decade. And yes, she had many big matches during her time in WWE including main eventing WrestleMania 37 Night One. But during most of her career in WWE, she has never been treated as the star that she should be.

She never held the women’s title for more than a month other than her last title run. She also never felt like she was the top woman in any show. And when she was the top woman on Smackdown, she was on top until she lost the women’s title to Bianca Belair.

Then she went back to being second fiddle. Mone was supposed to face Belair at Summerslam 2021 but she could not compete last minute. Beck Lynch replaced her in the match and won the Smackdown women’s title.

I always thought that Mone was the clear favorite for the 2022 Royal Rumble. And I’m sure she would’ve won if Ronda Rousey didn’t come back around that time. Instead, Mone lasted ten minutes in the Royal Rumble and she went on to win the women’s tag team championship at WrestleMania 38.

Mercedes Mone is having the time of her life when she is wrestling in NJPW and Stardom. She has at least one more match in her contract but if I was her I would stay in NJPW and Stardom for a little longer because NJPW knows what they have in her.