Mercedes Mone remains out of action and it doesn’t appear that she’ll be back in the ring any time soon.
At NJPW STRONG Resurgence in May, Mercedes Mone took part in a tournament to decide the first-ever NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion. The star got past Stephanie Vaquer in her first match of the night before taking on Willow Nightingale in the final.
However, during the match, the former WWE star suffered an ankle injury and struggled badly in the closing stages. It was reported after the match that the ankle was broken, although this hasn’t been officially confirmed. It’s also been stated that Mone underwent surgery to repair the break.
Mone has mainly kept out of the spotlight since suffering her injury but was recently backstage at IMPACT Slammiversary as her friend Trinity won the Knockouts Championship.
During an update on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer confirmed that Mone is still on crutches and in a walking boot, furthermore, there remains no timetable for her return.
“She’s been very quiet about everything. She was at the IMPACT Slammiversary show yesterday (July 15th) and I know she was on crutches still and she had a walking boot on. So, I don’t Know — the presumption is that she had surgery, but she is still on crutches. We haven’t heard anything about a timetable.
Obviously, the plan is for when she’s ready is for her to wrestle Giulia who won the New Japan STRONG Championship from Willow Nightingale on the 5th of July and Giluia will be on the New Japan show on August 19th I believe in Philadelphia — one of the New Japan shows in Philadelphia.
So that will be her first defence of the New Japan STRONG Championship.
If Mercedes is ready by then it’ll be her. But I don’t have any kind of a timeframe and I know people who should know, who also don’t have a timeframe. She’s kept it very quiet. But just to mention that, yes, she still is on crutches.”
Bayley “Begging” Mercedes Mone To Make WWE Return
After finding incredible success with WWE, Mercedes Mone — known as Sasha Banks at the time — walked out of a Monday Night Raw taping along with Trinity in May 2022. Neither woman has appeared for the company since.
Although Mone has now relaunched her career in Japan and is firmly established as one of the biggest non-WWE stars on the planet, her close friend Bayley is still hoping she’ll return to the sports entertainment giant. Speaking earlier in July, Bayley said that she’s “begging” Mone almost daily to return.
With a return to NJPW still unknown, Rocky Romero has provided an update on Mercedes Mone’s future.
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