Mercedes Mone has commented on Stephanie Vaquer’s WWE signing and how their match helped the process along.
Back at AEW Forbidden Door, TBS Champion Mone faced off against NJPW Strong Women’s Champion Vaquer with both titles on the line. While Mone ended up the victor and became a double champion in the process, Vaquer was the one who hit the headlines.
Shortly after the loss, CMLL and New Japan issued a statement that Vaquer would not be fulfilling her remaining dates and that the Women’s World Championship would be vacated. Shortly after this, rumours began to circulate that Vaquer had signed a deal with WWE, which was later made official when Shawn Michaels welcomed her to the team in a post on social media.
Following weeks of anticipation, Vaquer made her onscreen debut for NXT on the September 8th episode by siding with Giulia to take out Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez.
Writing about her rivalry with Vaquer in her Mone Mag, The CEO praised the match and feels that it influenced WWE’s decision to sign the international star:
Another time was with Stephanie Vaquer for AEW’s Forbidden Door. Stephanie flew in that day and got to the building maybe an hour before the doors opened. We just talked about the match a little where she speaks a whole different language (Spanish). That was so hard. I’m like, my God, we don’t get time to walk over our moves, we speak two different languages, and we’re both tired, jet lagged, and hungry, too. Yet, that also turned out to be such a great match. She was signed by the WWE days later. I’d like to think our match had a say in that!
Mercedes Mone Recalls Major Match
Prior to her time in New Japan and AEW, Mone had a number of standout matches in WWE. Also in her Mone Mag, Merdeces Mone gave an insight into one of her most famous matches and admitted there was “zero prep” heading into it.