She’s had an interesting year or so, but now there’s some big news for Mercedes Mone. Plus, is Naomi too expensive for promotions?
Big News For Mercedes Mone
2023 has been good for her so far, and it gets better with some big news for Mercedes Mone.
Mone, the former WWE Superstar Sasha Banks, has been dominating New Japan and Stardom since arriving.
She held the NJPW Women’s title until this past weekend and now she holds something else.
Specifically, she holds a contract extension.
Earlier it was reported that her initial New Japan deal was for a limited amount of dates.
Recently, Mercedes Mone had been campaigning for a short extension to that limited engagement.
According to the Wrestling Observer, while terms and length are not currently clear, Mercedes Mone signed an extension prior to this weekend’s match.
And yes, as alluded to earlier, her match on April 23rd resulted in Mone now being the former women’s champion.
However that freshly inked contract proves she’s going to be back for another shot.
Already, post-match, Mercedes Mone had other big news-that she’d be back in action when NJPW is next in Long Beach.
By all accounts, especially her own, this big news for Mercedes Mone is just the latest in what’s been a banner 2023 so far.
After storming out of WWE and waiting for things to expire, she’s made the most of her free agency thus far.
According to her social media activity, Mone is very happy performing in Japan. So much so that she’s reportedly considering moving to Japan full time in the future.
That new extension she just signed could go a long way toward making any future move easier to swing.
Outside of New Japan, fans still wonder if we will see her land in AEW, or even possibly back with WWE.
Once Triple H took over creative, there were plenty of reports that Sasha Banks (and her partner) were in fact re-signed. We know now that this was false.
And, considering that AEW has an established working relationship with New Japan, fans are expecting its only a matter of time before The CEO shows up in AEW.
Is Naomi Too Expensive?
Speaking of former partners, is Naomi too expensive for Japan?
There was a rumor going around that the reason why the former Naomi, now known as Trinity Fatu (her real name), is that she was too expensive.
The initial report that Fatu was too pricey for New Japan and Stardom came out of the Wrestling Observer.
Fatu took to social media to deny that claim, and this exchange was shared via Wrestling Inc.
Now, I think the language used by the Observer was a bit misleading, in that I am less certain that the former Naomi was too expensive.
More likely, per that initial report, New Japan and Stardom (and parent company Bushiiroad) were looking to be budget-conscious.
Meaning, they likely could have met her price, but opted to not sign her for budgetary reasons.
Now, both could be somewhat true. Perhaps the Japanese promotion felt she was not going to bring in a return commensurate with her asking price?
Or, perhaps the budget at that time was capped at a certain number, and as promoters sometimes need to do…they have to choose from a number of options…and Naomi was the odd star out.
In the grand scheme, we know that Trinity Fatu remains unsigned. We know that Fatu says she isn’t too expensive for New Japan, too.
Perhaps it’s less about who wants too much money, and more about it not being the right time and place and, as I mentioned earlier…budgets are a thing.
But, as long as her friend and former partner Mercedes Mone is in the promotion, fans are just waiting for Fatu to arrive.
