Mercedes Moné retains her TBS Championship at AEW Full Gear. WWE WarGames Preview. VertVixen chats with WrestleZone and more! Let’s break it down in this week’s edition of Women’s Wrestling Wrap-Up!
Mercedes Moné Bests Kris Statlander At AEW Full Gear
TBS Champion Mercedes Moné overcame Kris Statlander at AEW Full Gear, and in doing so, also made history.
Over the course of several weeks, “The CEO” and Statlander have traded both physical and verbal jabs, with Statlander most recently landing a piledriver on Moné on AEW Dynamite. Statlander, a former TBS Champion, also neutralized Moné’s enforcer Kamille by slamming her arm into a car door. Frustrated by Kamille’s recent loss to Statlander and now being unable to take her down, Moné ordered “The Brickhouse” to stay backstage during their TBS title match at Full Gear.
With Kamille relegated to the backstage area, Statlander had free range to lay in her best offense on Moné, including a Saturday Night Fever, F5, and Electric Chair facebuster. Still, it wasn’t enough to overcome the bite to the leg and the rollup that followed, thus allowing Moné to gain the pinfall victory.
With her win, Moné extends her TBS Championship reign, while also cementing herself and Statlander as the longest women’s match in AEW history at 19 minutes and 25 seconds. Looking ahead, Moné aims to make even more history for women while collecting more gold and money.
“When I wear my TBS Championship around my waist and I wear my New Japan Strong [Women’s Championship] around my shoulder, my other shoulder is cold. It hurts, it’s wintertime. I need something, I need more gold,” Moné said on the Full Gear post-show media scrum. “So 2025, I’m coming for everything that I deserve. I’m so thankful to AEW for that opportunity because it’s gotten that so far.
“But 2025, I want more gold, I want more opportunity, I want to keep on changing the game of women’s wrestling here in AEW. The women here, I know the slogan is ‘the best is here’, but the women’s wrestling here is the greatest, and I felt like me and Kris Statlander proved that, and I cannot wait for 2025.
RELATED: Mercedes Moné Names Manami Toyota & Rey Mysterio As Her Dream Matches
WWE Women’s WarGames Preview
This Saturday, ten of WWE’s fiercest women will step inside the grueling dual-cage structure known as WarGames. On one side, WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan will lead the likes of Raquel Rodriguez, Women’s Speed Champion Candice LeRae, Miss Money in the Bank Tiffany Stratton, and WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax. The opposing side features WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Bianca Belair, IYO SKY, Naomi, Bayley, and Rhea Ripley.
Bayley comes as a late addition to WarGames, as fellow Women’s Tag Team Champion Jade Cargill found herself on the receiving end of a brutal beating last week. According to WWE, Cargill suffered multiple injuries as a result, including deep lumbar paraspinal muscle contusions, a bruised kidney, and a sprained MCL in her right knee. Thanks to her efforts in helping Belair secure the Women’s WarGames advantage on Raw this week, Bayley was later designated as Cargill’s replacement for WWE Survivor Series.
Per WarGames rules, one wrestler from each team will begin the match in the ring, while the others wait inside a small cage on the entrance stage. After five minutes has passed, a wrestler from one team, in this case Belair’s, will enter the WarGames cage with a two-on-one advantage. From there, teams will alternate entrances every two minutes until all members have joined the match, at which point the first to gain a pinfall or submission wins.
More International Women’s Cup Qualifiers Announced
Recently, New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced its plan to bring an International Women’s Cup to the cross-promotional Wrestle Dynasty event on January 5.
As revealed by AEW President Tony Khan, the path to the International Women’s Cup begins this week, with a pre-qualifying match between Queen Aminata and former AEW Women’s Champion Jamie Hayter on AEW Dynamite. The winner of this then will advance to the qualifying bout, facing the winner of Willow Nightingale vs. Serena Deeb.
Elsewhere, Ring of Honor confirmed its four qualifying match competitors as Billie Starkz, Leyla Hirsch, ROH Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet, and ROH Women’s World Champion Athena. Meanwhile, CMLL announced Zeuxis, Sanely, Persephone, and Reyna Isis as its four qualifying representatives. As of now, the fourth participating promotion, STARDOM, has yet to announce its respective lineup.
The victors of those respective qualifiers will advance to four-way final at Wrestle Dynasty, with one woman from AEW, ROH, STARDOM, and CMLL each. From there, the winner of this four-way will then be awarded with the International Women’s Cup.
INTERVIEWS
“Player One” VertVixen spoke with WrestleZone’s Ella Jay about her reign as the inaugural DEFY Women’s Champion, working with Marina Shafir, challenging Rhio for the PROGRESS Women’s Championship, her recent tag bout against Maki Itoh & Miyu Yamashita, three things she’s grateful for, her impressive placements on the PWI Women’s 250, and more!
“The Hellbent Vixen” Viva Van caught up with WrestleZone‘s Ella Jay to discuss her appearance on Netflix’s “I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson,” making history in Vietnam, vying for the CMLL Women’s Championship, potentially challenging Mercedes Mone for the NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship, wanting a permanent home in pro wrestling, and more.
TBS Champion Mercedes Moné chatted with The Takedown on SI about fans loving to hate her, Saturday’s AEW Full Gear showdown with Kris Statlander, her first ever match 12 years ago, the launch of her new website, and more.
“The Stunner” Emily Jaye joined MuscleManMalcolm to discuss her upcoming matches at Fire Star Pro Wrestling and WrestleCade, Zayda Steel signing with WWE ID, her Waffle House order, and more.
WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan appeared on WWE Die Woche to talk about learning new moves from Natalya and TJ Wilson, the last eight months her of career, her thoughts heading into WarGames, plans for the Liv Morgan world tour, and more.
