"10 years?" - 61-year-old veteran comments on Mercedes Mone's (fka Sasha Banks) potential struggles after WWE exit

Will Sasha Banks last outside of WWE?
Will Sasha Banks last outside of WWE?

Former WWE Women's Champion Sasha Banks, now going by the name Mercedes Mone, has made her first steps into the non-WWE world of wrestling by debuting for New Japan Pro Wrestling. But one wrestling veteran has pointed out a potential struggle she may face in her new surroundings.

Banks spent nearly 10 years with WWE, working her way through the developmental system all the way to the main event of WrestleMania. However, that part of her career is behind her, as she has now found a new wrestling home.

Mercedes Mone debuted at NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 17 event, where she not only sported a new look but a new attitude as she assaulted the IWGP Women's Champion KAIRI.

But how long will the former Sasha Banks last outside of the WWE bubble? Wrestling veteran Jim Cornette has given his take on the matter on his Jim Cornette Experience podcast, where he foresees Mercedes Mone trialing a lot of different ideas to see what works.

“How long had she’d been with the WWE? 10 years? Some talent that don’t have a strong background in wrestling of any kind, even if it’s the independents but you still get some experience even if not a lot of teaching and psychology, you get experience in doing different s**t and some of it works and some of it doesn’t and you figure things out on your own and you get ideas for yourself. And I know you can have a million ideas for yourself that you’ve never tried, and suddenly you get to try them all and not all of them are going to work, but the people who had the background in the past when they started to try a lot of that s**t and get it out of the way" [13:49-14:46]

Cornette did point out that some talents who spend the majority of their careers in WWE have trouble adapting to different companies, stating that Banks may be one of the people who need producers and writers around her to feel at home.

“It can work both ways, some talent especially the ones that are not strong mentally or physically or psychologically from a wrestling standpoint but more into sports entertainment, they will struggle anywhere but WWE because they get used to that system.” [15:40-16:03]

Jim Cornette recently commented on Mercedes Mone's NJPW debut

One part of Mercedes Mone's NJPW debut that got everybody talking was her new finishing move. More specifically, the fact that she botched her new finishing move.

The former WWE Superstar moved on from not executing her new finisher properly to cutting a promo on her future opponent, current IWGP Women's Champion KAIRI.

One person who wasn't impressed by the segment was Jim Cornette, who not only described her new finishing move as "falling into a crumpled heap" but also questioned why Mone's promo had no emotion in it whatsoever.

Mercedes Mone will challenge KAIRI for the IWGP Women's Championship at NJPW's Battle in the Valley event in San Jose, California, on February 18, 2023.

Do you think Mercedes Mone will be successful in NJPW? Let us know in the comments section down below!

Please credit the "Jim Cornette Experience" and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from this article.

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Edited by UJALA