The CEO's STRONG Thread Path (NJPW STRONG Files #3)
[ZERO & ACID Sponsored Production]
This time, we will be talking another title reign she had from New Japan. This time, it is the second tier which is her home base and that's the NJPW STRONG Women's Title. The title is currently held by Alex Windsor and Moné is actually the longest reigning champion of the title's short history at 313 days.
Being champion for this amount of time doesn't mean a reign was good. Syuri's 1st reign as IWGP Women's Champion was really good even though it was shortest reign of the belt's history. Basically, quantity doesn't equal quality.
Mercedes Moné had been given the ball and did what she can with it by All Elite Wrestling with her run as AEW TBS Champion. This reign with the New Japan Secondary Branch could've been better, but there were lot of factors from a personal and structural perspective at the time. With that out of the way, let's roll with it.
Mercedes Moné's NJPW STRONG Women's Championship Reign:
- Mercedes Moné (c) [TBS] vs Stephanie Vaquer (c) [STRONG] (16:51)
- 30/06/2024
- All Elite Wrestling & New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- AEW TBS & NJPW STRONG Women's Double Title Match
- AEW X NJPW Forbidden Door III
- ZERO: ★★3/4
 |
| Credit: AEW & NJPW |
Okay. Even I'll admit, this rating is really harsh because these are two great wrestlers. I didn't like this match to begin with. I thought this match wasn't really kicking into second gear until Mercedes Moné got booed by the Long Island crowd. And the ladder match prior didn't do this any favours. I forgot it was for, but it was probably sports related given she is from Boston.
The real problem came afterwards when Stephanie Vaquer would leave CMLL to join WWE. Usually that isn't problem especially since that was Vaquer's dream, but the problem was how she departed. She was the CMLL World Women's Champion and CMLL World Women's Tag Team Champion at the time and still had some dates when she was signed.
It led to changes and also fueled one thing, Tribalistic Nonsense. I didn't like this match already, but this pushes that dislike up to the Two Nine. At least you can view the Devil's Kiss before Booker T's worst commentary bit he always did.
- Mercedes Moné (c) vs Momo Watanabe (19:56) - V1
- 30/08/2024
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- NJPW STRONG Women's Championship Match
- NJPW Capital Collision 2024
- ZERO: ★★★1/2
This match is praised by loads of people in some spaces. I have a different take on this when I say the fights these two had were the weakest bouts of both women's careers. The reason is simply because of the match itself.
Momo Watanabe really seemed to be holding back and just toying with Mercedes Moné instead of taking her seriously. I didn't see the Momo at the strength I saw in her fight against Mayu Iwatani. Obviously, Moné saw the opportunity and eventually got the win with the Statement Maker (FKA Banks Statement).
These Moné and Momo matches really are weird to think about since I have seen both of their work at that point. Honestly, the TBS Title bout at AEW Revolution 2025 really shows glimpses of Momo's full power, which makes this feeling weirder.
- Mercedes Moné (c) vs Emi Sakura (10:10) - V2
- 08/10/2024
- All Elite Wrestling
- AEW TBS & NJPW STRONG Women's Double Title Match
- AEW Dynamite - Title Tuesday 2024
- ZERO: ★★★1/2
 |
| Credit: All Elite Wrestling |
It's crazy that Emi Sakura has been with AEW since the founding year in 2019 and hasn't won a title in either AEW or Ring Of Honor. Anyway, this match was really fun for what it was. Emi Sakura being the ChocoPro Queen she was and using her offence to counteract Moné and "The Brickhouse" Kamille.
Moné would be to get the win following another Statement Maker submission. Her and Kamille jump Emi Sakura until Kris Statlander saves her. This would lead to the first of three major matches Moné and Statlander had for the AEW TBS Title in 2024 to 2025.
- Mercedes Moné (c) vs Hazuki (26:36) - V3
- 15/12/2024
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- NJPW STRONG Women's Championship Match
- NJPW Strong Style Evolved 2024
- ZERO: ★★★★★
Finally! Now we're talking. This fight she had against Hazuki was one of the best NJPW STRONG Women's Title matches, and one of the best matches New Japan has had on American Soil. What makes this better was the arc that Hazuki had before the match started.
Hazuki had a major Depression Arc following her failed challenge at the Wonder Of Stardom Championship. This led to her being silent a lot of time, sometimes she wouldn't even fight back on certain exchanges and it led to an emotional ending with her tag partner, Koguma.
I recommend it out of Moné's STRONG Title bouts.
- Mercedes Moné (c) [STRONG] vs Mina Shirakawa (c) [RevPro] (14:06) - V4
- 05/01/2025
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling, All Elite Wrestling, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, Ring Of Honor & World Wonder Ring
- NJPW STRONG Women's & RevPro Undisputed British Women's Double Title Match
- NJPW, AEW, CMLL, ROH & STARDOM: Wrestle Dynasty In Tokyo Dome
- ZERO: ★★★★1/4
Wrestle Dynasty is really weird fever dream. Like a really weird dream to even think about. This match was made following Moné & Hazuki and it was good for the time it received. The main worry I had heading into this was the match length, but at the same, these two are really good wrestlers.
The night prior at Wrestle Kingdom, Mayu Iwatani and AZM for the IWGP Women's Title was 9 minutes. Obviously, this isn't surprising to see from New Japan's Main shows in Japan since KAIRI and Tam Nakano from 2023 was 5 and a half minutes.
Do I recommend it? Kinda. It was good for the spot on the card and it achieved its goal.
- Mercedes Moné (c) vs Mina Shirakawa vs AZM (17:43)
- 09/05/2025
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- NJPW STRONG Women's Championship Three Way Match
- NJPW Resurgence 2025
- ZERO: ★★★★1/2
Now we end this title reign on a high note. Firstly (and I pointed this out in my AZM blog), that lady had to make sure to get her money's worth for the amount of screaming. I understand, but that doesn't mean it isn't annoying. Mercedes Moné is always a delight to watch in multi-women fights especially in this one.
AZM would end up pinning Mina Shirakawa to become the 5th NJPW STRONG Women's Champion. I find it really lame that Mina Shirakawa got pinned and you have to look at my AZM blog to understand why I think that. So that's it for the CEO.
POST TIME:
This title reign was the pure definition of a rock and a hard place. I thought that she would more defences than she actually got even though they have to run it by New Japan Pro-Wrestling for it. The problem is that New Japan Pro-Wrestling introduced their 10 Point Plan which includes the STRONG Titles being defended on STRONG shows.
This really affected the title reign until we got to AZM and everything got dropped very quickly. Then it was just being defended in STARDOM like it was nothing. So yeah. That's it for the Money Train. I hope you all have good day and I'll see you next time. CEO, CEO, CEO.
Kind Regards,
ZERO (or Archer)
Comments
Post a Comment