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Mercedes Moné Overcome With Emotion, Weeks Out From Achieving Lifelong Dream

NJPW Strong Women's Champion Mercedes Mone will defend her title against Mina Shirakawa inside the Tokyo Dome on January 5.
Rick Ucchino|
Mercedes Moné & Mina Shirakawa to face each other at Wrestle Dynasty
Mercedes Moné & Mina Shirakawa to face each other at Wrestle Dynasty | NJPW

Mercedes Moné successfully defended her NJPW Strong Women's Championship Sunday night at Strong Style Evolved in a 26-minute classic against Hazuki, and put herself in position to achieve a lifelong dream in the process.

For the first time in her illustrious career, Moné is now set to compete inside of the historic Tokyo Dome when she meets Mina Shirakawa in a double title match at NJPW Wrestle Dynasty on January 5.

Mercedes took to Instagram Live after the show Sunday night and was overcome with emotion when discussing her upcoming title defense.

"One of my biggest goals, my biggest dreams. I get to perform, I get to wrestle at the Tokyo Dome January 5th," Mercedes said as the realization set in and huge smile came over her face. "I'm so freaking happy."

Her smile quickly turned to tears of joy as she expressed the utmost gratitude that she's still able to chase and achieve her biggest dreams at this stage in her career.

Mercedes' opponent for Wrestle Dynasty will only make the moment all the more special, as Shirakawa was one of the first people Moné met when she first went to Japan years ago.


"[Masahiro Hayashi], the guy who makes Rey Mysterio's gear, contacted me and said, 'Hey. I want you to meet Mina. She speaks pretty good English and she will show you around Japan," Mercedes recounted fondly. "She was just so sweet and showed me around Japan and took me to so many cool places. And now we get to wrestle each other in the new year."

Mercedes admitted she was nervous ahead of her match Sunday night at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California. It was at that same venue that Moné suffered a severe ankle injury against Willow Nightingale that kept her out of action for a year. No concerns coming out the show this time around.

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Rick Ucchino
RICK UCCHINO

Rick Ucchino is the Assistant Editor & Content Coordinator for The Takedown on SI. He also works full-time for 700WLW Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio as a local news and sports anchor, in addition to his time covering the Cincinnati Bengals for Sirius XM. Rick has been on the professional wrestling beat since 2019, having provided coverage for a number of outlets, including Fightful, SB Nation’s Cageside Seats and the Bleav Podcast Network. With an educational background in theater, creative writing and journalism, Rick focuses primarily on the storytelling aspect of pro wrestling, but he’s no stranger to the squared circle himself. He had the privilege of training with former WWE & WCW cruiserweight Jimmy Wang Yang for nearly two years and retired early due to back issues with a perfect 1-0 record in singles competition. Rick is a married father of two incredibly adorable children, who are budding pro wrestling fans themselves. Much to the chagrin of their mother. You can reach Rick at rwucchino@gmail.com

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