Booker T Weighs In On Mercedes Mone’s NJPW Debut, What Could Have Improved It

Booker T shared his thoughts on Mercedes Mone’s NJPW debut at Wrestle Kingdom and how it could have been the moment of the night with one change. Mone made her debut after KAIRI’s win over Tam Nakano, taking KAIRI out and then cutting a promo. Booker talked about the debut on the latest episode of his Hall of Fame pdocast, and you can check out some highlights below, per Fightful:

On Mone’s debut and promo: “It had a good look… nothing bad about it or anything like that, but just one thing, the crowd, man. It’s just hard to navigate that Japanese crowd because it was quiet, it was silent. You know they don’t understand what you’re saying [laughs]. I don’t mean the language barrier. That part sucks right there. Normally, going to Japan, it’s a wrestling company. They just want to see some action. Then, when you can talk and speak the language, that helps a whole hell of a lot. If she just would have knew a few Japanese words, if she just would have studied in Japanese what she wanted to say, or maybe not what she wanted to say. Say the first part in English, but just the outline in Japanese.”

On how adding some Japanese could have made it the moment of the night: “My thing is, that outline could have been very important, just to be able to relate with the Japanese people for a second. Even if it was just one line, you know what I mean? I’m serious. That’s what I’m talking about from the entertainment perspective, being able to switch gears and go there. It’s tricky, and for her, when I talk about those moments, that would have been a moment. That could have been the moment of the night.”

On Mone’s upcoming matches: “What she does in the ring is gonna be the icing on the cake for what she does over in STARDOM and in Japan because I feel like Sasha Banks has all the tools to work with [anybody]. I mean come on, you think she can’t go over and tap out Kairi Sane? So yeah, she’s definitely top dollar.”