Mercedes Mone has revealed details of the training she undertook before her NJPW debut at Wrestle Kingdom 17.
The former Sasha Banks left WWE in May 2022 and wouldn’t be absent from the wrestling ring until her debut as Mercedes Mone in New Japan on January 4.
In an interview with NJPW, Mone revealed the training she’d undertaken in the months leading up to her New Japan appearance, saying:
“I went to Mexico for a month in October and lived there.”
She had previously spoken about her time in Mexico on an Instagram live stream and would continue to heap praise on the country in the NJPW interview, going on to say:
“I went to all different wrestling schools to learn from trainers that I had grown up watching; from Skayde to Ricky Marvin to Bandido, there are so many legends there to learn from.
“To train at that altitude as well, it gets you ready from a conditioning perspective so much faster as well.”
Mone would also reveal that she spent time training in Japan and that this would have gone ahead even if her NJPW hadn’t come to fruition, explaining:
“But yeah, I was ready in October, and I knew coming to Japan was exactly what I wanted.
“I was shooting a movie in between training in Mexico then, but I knew I was going to Japan to train in December whether it was doing something with New Japan or not.
“When it all came together with NJPW though for Wrestle Kingdom it was ‘wow, OK, this is really happening’. This has been a dream literally since I was a teenager.”
In the same interview, Mone would discuss her transition from WWE to Japanese wrestling saying that she will now get “to live out this international dream.”
Kushida recently shared photos after Mone had asked if she could join his training seminar.
Mone’s first NJPW match will be against KAIRI for her IWGP Women’s Championship on February 18 at NJPW Battle of the Valley.
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