Mercedes Varando will appear at NJPW (New Japan Pro Wrestling) annual premiere PPV, Wrestle Kingdom, on January 4, 2023. It will be her first appearance at a wrestling event since May this year. Though she will not be competing, her presence alone has the potential to send shock waves throughout the wrestling industry. The announcement has given the already-stacked show another boost of interest. But what exactly is NJPW getting in the former Sasha Banks?
Mercedes Varnado can legitimately claim to be part of the revolution that has us enjoying a new golden age of women in professional wrestling. We are far removed from the sad days of lingerie matches and three-minute poorly produced stinkers that led fans to restroom stalls and the merch stands mid-show. Instead, women's wrestling today IS main-event-worthy television. We can look back at the most recent episode of AEW Dynamite for absolute proof. Jamie Hayter defended her AEW Women’s Championship for the first time in a banger against a former champion in Hikaru Shida. The efforts of women like Mercedes paved the road to TV moments like this.
NXT TAKEOVER RESPECT - 30-MINUTE IRON WOMAN MATCH
Starting in WWE's developmental NXT brand in 2014, many early evaluations had her listed as one to watch. We did, and we couldn’t get enough. At NXT Brooklyn 2015, her match with Bayley stole the show on a card headlined by Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens for the NXT Championship in a Ladder Match. While the main event was fantastic, the wrestling world buzzed about Sasha Banks vs. Bayley. The buzz was so great that they were allowed to raise the bar they set even higher. The next time Sasha took on Bayley at the NXT Takeover Respect PPV for the NXT Women’s Championship, the decision was made to have a 30 Minute Iron Woman Match. The event would make history as the first NXT Main Event headlined by women. This time they didn’t steal the show; they were the show, Earning the highest-rated match of the night by famed/infamous wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer. Brighter lights began to call her name.
While at NXT, she became friends with Charlotte Flair, daughter of wrestling legend Ric Flair, alongside Becky Lynch and Bayley. They dubbed themselves the Four Horsewoman. Charlotte, Becky, and Bayley would get called to the main WWE roster first. But fans wanted Sasha, often chanting, “We want Sasha,” during matches and whenever the other horsewomen were on TV. It wouldn’t be long until she joined her stable mates, and the four kickstarted the women’s revolution on the main roster culminating at WrestleMania 32.
The decision was made to end the Diva's Championship and rebrand it to the Women's Championship to much fanfare at WrestleMania. Charlotte would win the match, but it would only be a matter of time until the former Sasha Banks would collect hardware for her trophy collection. She collected seven singles titles on NXT, Raw, and Smackdown.
WWE WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH WRESTLEMANIA 32
You can’t be a trailblazer without blazing trails. Mercedes and her best friend Bayley lobbied hard for a long time behind closed doors for a Women's Tag Team Championship to be created. They eventually won their bid and were crowned as the company’s first-ever Women’s Tag Team Champions surviving an Elimination Chamber match at the event of the same name in 2019. But a more acclaimed distinction she holds came about just over a year ago when her battle with Bianca Bel Air at WrestleMania 2021 for the Raw Women’s Championship became the first and only POC main event in company history to close the show. Taking place just a year after Becky Lynch, Rhonda Rousey, and Charlotte Flair became the first all-women main event at WrestleMania 2020 to close the show. However, there are reasons why we are talking about Mercedes and not Sasha Banks anymore.
Her character wasn’t nicknamed The Boss just because it sounded good as a promotional tool. In wrestling circles, it is common to hear that a wrestler’s gimmick is a piece of the wrestler’s real personality cranked up as high as it can go to the point of absurdity. Mercedes was every bit The Boss behind the curtains as she was on stage. That mentality pushed her to excel in becoming the star she aimed to be. But it has not come without its share of controversies. Some of the rumored stories, with a few confirmed, include not wanting to work with specific talents, a fallout with former friends Charlotte and Becky, being unsafe in the ring, and walking out after a show. Coupled with growing frustrations creatively, a parting of ways in hindsight was a foregone conclusion.
The second and final time she walked out was with her Women’s Tag Team title partner Naomi. The duo was publicly ridiculed on air for walking out before the start of RAW. You would be hard-pressed to find another high-profile walkout like this happening with the stars treated like that on air. The pair received a great deal of public sympathy as what details emerged showed WWE at fault for not acting in good faith as promised. Recent history shows that WWE is still learning how to deal with female talents, with the release of Mandy Rose just a few months shy of her becoming the longest NXT Women’s Champion in history. Public sympathy aside, concerns about her in-ring ability and backstage ego exist.
Photo Credit: wwe.comShe has not worked with Charlotte or Becky since their fallout, and besides Bayley, her most notable feud was with Bianca Bel Air. She has had solid matches, but you would have to do some digging to find a credible high-profile program with someone else since her last feud with Bayley in 2020 at Hell in a Cell. Her reluctance to work with specific talents had pigeonholed her into creative limbo. Creative has let down her and other ladies in the past in their decisions. But in the imperfect WWE booking atmosphere, refusing to work can be worse than not having anything to work with. Mercedes refuses to settle for less than what she believes is owed to her, in the ring and out.
She has never been shy about wanting to be paid like top talents such as Becky, Charlotte, and Rhonda Rousey. Not getting paid like those ladies certainly played its part in her departure from WWE. She boasts an impressive resume that certainly demands that her bank account be compensated. But years of diminishing returns from injuries, lackluster feuds, and backstage drama have hurt her bottom line, whether warranted or not. Nevertheless, it is foolish to say she lost her star power. Her signing is big news. How big did NJPW open their checkbook still needs to be discovered. However, it is entirely within reason to believe she will be the most expensive female wrestler, not from Japan. And with that, expectations are going to be sky-high.
What the official announcement at Wrestle Kingdom 17 will be is unknown, but it is a safe bet that a challenge to the winner of the IWGP Women's Match between Kairi Sane and Tam Nakano is likely. And with more appearances confirmed, her time in Japan will not be a one-shot deal. Fans in Japan have every right to be salivating over the idea of her competing against Starlight Kid, Utami Hayashishita, Saya Kamitani, and Syuri, who is ranked the #1 female wrestler in the world. But fans here in the states should be kept from wanting.
NJPW’s partnership with AEW allows Mercedes to perform a less heavy schedule but make a more significant impact. FTR is the perfect example of talent working with various companies to great success. A legit argument could be made that no one had a better year than FTR, but that is for another post. FTR are huge fans of Mercedes and always speak highly of her. They are cut from the same cloth of believing they are the main event on any show they are on from their time together back in NXT. Mercedes has an opportunity to have an FTR-like year and silence all critics once and for all.
Assuming her new deal will allow her to work with AEW and IMPACT Wrestling. Then we will likely see her share the ring with stars like Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Hikaru Shida, Toni Storm, Deonna Purrazzo, Taya Valkyrie, Taylor Wilde, Jordynne Grace, and Jade Cargill. It creates the potential to take away eyes from WWE as that company's division is in a bit of a funk lately. Additionally, January 11 could be a significant turning point for AEW. There is a real possibility that Mercedes will appear as Saraya’s mystery tag team partner (a botch with Mercedes led to Saraya’s initial retirement) against Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter on AEW Dynamite, making for exciting television.
The stage is set for Mercedes to have her former employer eat the most expensive piece of crow or become one of the most costly busts in pro wrestling history. If her history is anything to go by, I will not bet against The Boss.
What are your expectations of Mercedes Varnado for 2023?
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