Mercedes Moné and Stephanie Vaquer made history at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door in a title for title match. Both champions looked to write their names in the history books as the first-ever woman to hold both the TBS and NJPW STRONG Women’s Championships at the same time. Moné was originally supposed to become the inaugural NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion last year but she suffered an unfortunate injury that would keep her out of action for several months. During that tournament, she defeated Vaquer to advance to the finals. Originally thought to be career-ending, Moné returned to the ring at Double or Nothing in May.
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The match was hard fought by both women, but as the match wound down Vaquer went for a Dragon Screw and high knees in the corner however Moné refuses to give in. She tries to flatten the NJPW STRONG champion, locking in the crossface but Vaquer is able to counter. She reverses Moné who reverses her, but it just lines her up perfectly for the Mone Maker. Vaquer counters, but Moné locks it in again, straight into the crossface which Vaquer taps out of. Before Moné can celebrate, Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. returns to stare down the champion.
Baker has been absent for AEW for quite a few months while she battled an undisclosed injury. AEW President Tony Khan recently spoke about Baker’s possible return in the near future, and it seemed like only a matter of time before she made her way back to the squared circle. Her last match was in September of 2023 against Kris Statlander for the TBS Championship. She has been a mainstay of AEW since its inception in 2019 as she was the first woman signed to the company. She has been involved in many top storylines since, including as a former AEW Women’s World Champion. With Moné signing to AEW earlier this year they have yet to cross paths but before Baker had left, she was part of an “AEW Originals” type storyline, so it’ll be interesting to see if this storyline is much of the same between them.
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024 Card
AEW World Championship: Swerve Strickland (c) vs. Will Ospreay
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Jon Moxley (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
Winner Takes All: AEW TBS Champion Mercedes Moné vs. NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer
AEW Women’s Championship: “Timeless” Toni Storm (c) vs. Mina Shirakawa
Owen Hart Cup Tournament: Bryan Danielson vs. Shingo Takagi
AEW TNT Championship – Ladder Match: Jack Perry vs. Lio Rush vs. El Phantasmo vs. Dante Martin vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Konosuke Takeshita
The Elite vs. The Acclaimed and Hiroshi Tanahashi
MJF vs. Hechicero
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Orange Cassidy
Chris Jericho, Big Bill, and Jeff Cobb vs. Samoa Joe, Hook, and Katsuyori Shibata
Zero Hour: Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. Lucha Brothers and Místico
Zero Hour – Owen Hart Cup Tournament: Mariah May vs. Saraya
Zero Hour: Kris Statlander and Momo Watanabe vs. Willow Nightingale and Tam Nakano
Zero Hour: Kyle Fletcher vs. Serpentico
Stay tuned to Comicbook for updates on AEW, Britt Baker and Mercedes Moné.
