Mercedes Moné Reveals Why She Left WWE & Joined NJPW/STARDOM

It’s been several weeks since Mercedes Moné made her wildly anticipated NJPW/STARDOM debut at Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4, with the former Sasha Banks attacking IWGP Women’s Champion KAIRI after her successful title defence against Tam Nakano.

Talking to NJPW’s official website, Moné spoke of her buzz of joining NJPW/STARDOM, and revealed why she made the switch:

“Seeing Manami Toyota and Akira Hokuto, Aja Kong, all these hard hitting matches, and it was like ‘wait, there are matches where women are outperforming and having better matches than the men?’ They were hitting just as hard as the men, having these 30 minute long five star matches. I was so amazed by them that Japan became my number one goal even before WWE. So I managed to achieve what I wanted to achieve in WWE, and now I get to live out this international dream,” said Moné.

Moné continued, talking of her excitement of being part of an all-women’s roster:

“I’ve only gotten to experience WWE Evolution as an all women’s show. I’ve never been part of an all women promotion like STARDOM is, so that will be a first for me,” continued Moné. “I’ve always been mixed with the guys and sharing, what, maybe five minutes of a three hour weekly TV show. So I’m really excited to be a part of STARDOM and be a part of all women’s shows. I’m intrigued to see what it’s like and how it all works, but it’s been working for Japan for a very long time, and being involved with all these potential fresh matchups makes me excited about the future.”