For months now the wrestling world has been talking about Mercedes Mone (formerly known as Sasha Banks) and this week she made her big debut with NJPW when she confronted IWGP Women’s Champion Kairi at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Tokyo.
There’s been a lot of speculation that Mercedes will be Saraya’s mystery partner next week on Dynamite, but this week Saraya announced that Toni Storm would be her partner.
Some people believe that the announcement of Toni Storm is just a red herring, but others seem to think Mercedes won’t be wrestling in AEW. Dave Meltzer addressed the situation on Wrestling Observer Radio and he noted that people in WWE are strongly under the impression Mercedes Mone won’t be wrestling for AEW.
“I was told a bunch of stuff and it was very clear on the show tonight, she (Mercedes) is not in Los Angeles, she is not coming to AEW. I don’t think she wants to make that commitment because if she goes to AEW, it’s a long term commitment.”
“Anything’s possible. I also know from WWE that they are very strongly under the impression that she will not wrestle for AEW. They think that she’s coming back at some point, she’ll get this out of her system, she’ll do her New Japan matches, because you know she’s only contracted for a couple matches, and then come back. But if she’s going to AEW she’s got to sign for three years minimum because why even bother if she’s gonna go right back. For AEW, it would really stupid to put her on TV if she’s gonna go back in six months.”
[…] Sasha Banks is expected to wrestle in NJPW and Stardom, but WWE officials don’t believe that she will be competing in AEW and you can get more on that here. […]