Mercedes Moné won’t stop slapping Mayu Iwatani in the face

It’s been an exciting past few weeks for Mercedes Moné (real name Mercedes Varnado, formerly known as WWE’s Sasha Banks).

She’s back on Disney+, with appearances by her Koska Reeves character in the past two episodes of The Mandalorian — including with some dialogue and a kick-ass fight scene on the one that premiered on April 12. And over the weekend she made her first successful defense of New Japan’s IWGP Women’s title at Sakura Genesis, in a Triple Threat that should silence anyone doubting whether she can hang with the joshis.

Moné is also pivoting toward her next match as a New Japan titleholder, one that reportedly could be her last since she’s not contracted for any more dates after the April 23 All Star Grand Queendom Stardom event in Yokohama (Stardom and New Japan are both owned by Bushiroad).

She’ll face Mayu Iwatani on that card, and the two wrestlers faced off at a press conference yesterday. And just like she did when Iwatani challenged her at Sakura Genesis, Mercedes dropped Mayu with a slap. This time, she also dropped her on a chair with her finisher.

Seems like a good way to celebrate an eventful stretch of her career.

Will next week be even bigger, with The Mandalorian season finale coming out on the 19th and All Star Queendom a few days later?