The wait is almost over.
It’s basically all but confirmed that Mercedes Varnado is headed to NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 tomorrow morning. From Bayley and Naomi and even Samuray Del Sol traveling over to Japan with her, to Mercedes herself sending out multiple Thank You’s to WWE, it’s pretty evident she’s on the way. But, what she’s doing has been kept very secret and not many people know exactly what she will be doing on the show, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select Reports. Plus, Mercedes is still rumored to show up to AEW Dynamite next week as Saraya’s mystery partner in LA. Though that’s far from confirmed, many AEW talent have been asking around and none have flat out been told no.
We’re hours away from Sasha Banks, aka Mercedes appearing at New Japan’s Pro Wrestling Kingdom… doing what, many don’t know.
We’re told that upon arriving in Japan, Mercedes has been out socializing and in good spirits based on those that we spoke to. There were attempts from media outlets to land interviews, but were told that would be up to Mercedes herself if she wished to do them. In speaking with some names in conjunction with the event, they know that Mercedes will be there, but still have not been told what exactly she’s doing, as it’s being kept very quiet. There are even other talent that spoke to her and she didn’t tell them what she’d be doing.Talent that Fightful speaks to in AEW tell us they’ve been “no sold” when asking about Sasha Banks being Saraya’s partner, but they’re still of the belief it’s her. The fact that it wasn’t shot down either on screen or internally, promoting it a month out, it being a week after her Wrestle Kingdom appearance, and the cast of characters involved in the tag match were all points brought up to us by talent in the company when assuming it was her. However, one talent said they didn’t believe a deal was done or “could have been completed” as of last week because of her contractual ties to WWE.
– Fightful Select
Speaking of WWE, the New Japan news caught at least some writers in the company off guard. Even though we can confirm the NJPW-Mercedes deal was done in principle at least by late November, one writer sent word that they were under the impression that WWE could or would get back Sasha Banks by the Royal Rumble as recently as early January. Since the news breaking of Mercedes to NJPW, they’ve not heard anything else on that front.
The excitement is through the roof for Mercedes post-WWE run.
H/T Fightful Select
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