NEWS: Mercedes Mone to Defend NJPW Strong Women’s Championship Against Momo Watanabe

Following her fourth straight loss of the Stardom 5Star Grand Prix to Mayu Iwatani in Korakuen Hall yesterday, Momo Watanabe vented in her backstage promo that she was sick of the typhoons, earthquakes and the heat in Japan and that she wants to wrestle in America.

Following this, Momo acknowledged Mercedes Mone – the current NJPW Strong Women’s and AEW TBS Champion – mentioning her by name for a potential match-up, shooting her shot by calling out the champion for a match in the USA.

The match has since been made official for the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship – Mone’s first title defence since winning the title from Stephanie Vaquer at Forbidden Door – at New Japan’s Capital Collison Show on August 30th (August 31st Japanese time) at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington D.C. This match will come just a week after Mone is set to defend her AEW TBS Championship against Britt Baker at AEW All In in London, England.

OFFICIAL

August 30 Washington DC #njpwSTRONG Women's Championship@stardom_momo vs @MercedesVarnado https://t.co/x10Knf2rTa

TICKETS: https://t.co/etMc1Ic7X4#njpw #njcapital pic.twitter.com/EP4uENiV5v

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) August 16, 2024

Stardom’s HANAKO will also appear on the card as a part of her mini US excursion, taking on Trish Adora in singles action. Also freshly-announced alongside Mone vs. Watanabe is a singles match between Hiromu Takahashi vs. Mustafa Ali with potentially huge ramifications in the IWGP Junior Heavyweight division.

The Capital Collision show will air as a NJPW World PPV and you can purchase the show here for $19.99. The updated card for NJPW Capital Collision is as follows;

NJPW Capital Collision 2024 (Entertainment & Sports Arena, Washington D.C, USA) Updated Card (Saturday 30th August 2024)

• NJPW Strong Openweight Championship Match: Gabe Kidd (c) vs. Lio Rush
• NJPW Strong Women’s Championship Match: Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Momo Watanabe
• NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships Match: TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste) (c) vs. Hechicero & Virus
• Hiromu Takahashi vs. Lio Rush
• Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Titan
• Dirty Work (Fred Rosser & ‘Filthy’ Tom Lawler) vs. Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson)
• HANAKO vs. Trish Adora