Mercedes Mone has one of the busiest and most challenging days of her career ahead of herself. Later today (going by Eastern Standard Time), she will challenge KAIRI for the IWGP Women’s Championship at NJPW Battle in the Valley.
This is certainly a high-stress situation for Mone, but it looks like she has found a supporter in Kenny Omega.
Mercedes Mone & Kenny Omega chat ahead of NJPW Battle in the Valley
Several hours ago, the Twitter Account Dark Puroresu Flowsion shared a 34-second video showing Mercedes Mone getting ready for her match. As she finished up her hair, she turned to find Kenny Omega in the doorway.
The two had a short conversation and Mone admitted she was nervous about her upcoming match. Omega reassured her and told her he was happy she was there and then they spoke years ago about how she (Mone) wanted to be in Japan.
Mercedes Mone “Omg Kenny Omega! What’s up bud” Love this interaction! pic.twitter.com/3Vn0MhqQBD
— Dark Puroresu Flowsion (@PuroresuFlow) February 18, 2023
NJPW Battle in the Valley emanates from San Jose, California and has a start time of 9:20PM EST/6:20PM PST/2:20AM GMT.
The show can be watched on NJPW’s streaming service, New Japan World. HOWEVER, an important note for any NJWorld subscribers: Battle in the Valley is considered a Pay-Per-View event and therefore isn’t covered by the standard monthly subscription.
The show can still be watched on the NJPW streaming service, but only after paying a separate fee to order the event itself. As of this writing, the going rate for the show is ¥2,990, which converts to about $22.70 US.
Kenny Omega hasn’t been announced for anything related to the show and may just be there as a guest. Mone, however, will be in the penultimate match of the evening.
The main-event of the show will see Kazuchika Okada defend his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi. This will be the fifteenth singles match between Rainmaker Okada and Tanahashi since 2012, and their first singles match since the 2021 G1 Climax.