While Forbidden Door II is still three months away, with another AEW Pay-Per-View, Double or Nothing, scheduled before the cross-promotional, Toronto-based event, fans and wrestling media alike have been racking their brains, attempting to fantasy book the best possible match for Mercedes Moné, the former WWE Four Horsewomen who now calls New Japan Pro Wrestling home.
Could Tony Khan and Gedo book a title versus title match pitting Moné against the people's champ, Jamie Hayter? Or how about Britt Baker, Hayter's right-hand woman and a performer who can afford to land a loss on her resume without it affecting her push, as evidenced by her match against Saraya at Full Gear 2022? Speaking of Saraya, she still has quite a bit of star power and even more history with Moné from their shared time in WWE. Would fans pay up to see Saraya wrestle the woman who nearly ended her career over half a decade ago?
Needless to say, there is a slew of interesting options both promotions need to consider before backing up the “Moné truck” to the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada, but first, someone actually has to reach out to Moné and get her booked for the show, which, according to “The CEO” in a Q&A session with Planet Comic Con, has yet to happen.
“When is it? It's in June?” Moné said via Fightful. “Okay, what day? [Fan is unsure of the date]. I don't know when to show up then. Anybody know the date? June is so far (away). It could be open. July might be open. I gotta get that phone call. I gotta get that phone call from Unc.”
For reference, Forbidden Door II is scheduled for Sunday, June 25, 2023, and outside of maybe one match, Kenny Omega versus Will Ospreay for the IWGP United States Championship, there aren't any matches confirmed for the show one way or another.
Though Moné only has two more dates scheduled with New Japan and Stardom, according to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, with “a 4/8 date at Sumo Hall for New Japan on the Sakura Genesis shows where she’ll defend against AZM” and “4/23 Stardom show at the Yokohama Arena, she right now is scheduled to face Mayu Iwatani, in what presumably will be a title match and part of a double main event” if she doesn't immediately return to WWE in the first week of May, parlaying her prove-it run on the indies into a better spot on the card Cody Rhodes/Drew McIntyre-style, the prospect of bringing her to Toronto for her first match since December of 2019 has to be a priority for both promotions.
Mercedes Moné adds more context to her WWE exit.
Elsewhere in her appearance for Planet Comic Con, Moné was asked the question literally everyone has been wanting to know for the better part of a year: what went down between herself and WWE back in the summer of 2022? Fortunately, Moné sort of responded, giving her most expansive detailing of the situation to date but ultimately noted that the real meat of her story has yet to be told.
“First of all, nobody knows the story,” Moné said. “You don't know the story. You're reading whatever you want to read and believing whatever you want to believe. Nobody knows the story because I haven't said anything, and I'm not going to say anything because that's just the classy boss that I am, and CEO. One thing, it's up to them. It's up to Dakota (Kai) and everyone else that wants to come back. That's great for them and awesome. That's their dream, but I went after mine, which is going to Japan. You have to follow your heart and follow your soul and follow your dreams. This was always, always, always a dream of mine that I never got to accomplish. As I am growing in my career, I had been in WWE for almost ten years, I had to have a change, and I had to feel something different in my heart and my soul. I had to go after a whole new dream, a whole new chapter, and a whole new destiny for me. This is where I want to be and what I want to make happen for me. That's it. This is what I'm going for, and this is my dream.”
Is Moné the female Jon Moxley, a performer who could theoretically return to WWE at will and ride her legacy to a lifetime of paychecks only to instead blaze her trail on the indies as a modern-day wrestling troubadour? Or is Moné more concerned with building up her stock for that aforementioned Rhodes/McIntyre-style return? Either way, a big showing at Forbidden Door II will help her case towards either outcome.
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