Various: Mercedes Mone Retains BestYa Women’s Title at 11/9 BestYa Event in Rome, Rikishi Provides Update on His Emergency Surgery in October, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada on Their Match for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20

Mercedes Mone Retains BestYa Women’s Title at Sunday’s BestYa Event in Rome

Sunday’s Imperium event for BestYa Wrestling in Rome, Italy featured Mercedes Mone defeating Queen Maya to retain her BestYa Women’s Championship.

This match featured Mone’s life partner The Beast Mortos made a surprise appearance and interfered to help Mone retain the title.

BEAST MORTOS DID A RUN IN DURING MERCEDES MONE’S MATCH IN ROME AND HIT A MASSIVE SPEAR ON HER OPPONENT LMFAOOOO

pic.twitter.com/2IUOMQPK3G

— Self Made AO 💫 (@KXNGAO) November 9, 2025

This was Mone’s first defense of her BestYa Women’s title since winning the title this past July.

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Rikishi Provides Update on His Emergency Surgery in October

As noted before, WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi, real name Solofa Fatu Jr., underwent emergency surgery for an undisclosed health issue this past October.

A recent episode of the Off The Top podcast featured co-host Rikishi providing an update on the emergency surgery he had underwent last month and stated that his health issue was something that was caught just in time.

“It was an emergency type of surgery, and I’m going to leave it at that. It took about six hours to be able to be under the knife. I woke up feeling great… I feel like a new person.

It was just one of those type of things that was caught just in time and with the grace of God and the surgeons that were there that day, I’m here today to be able to sit and talk with you… I woke up feeling a different way when I got wheeled back to the room into the hospital, meaning just grateful.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada Comments on Their Match for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20

As noted before, Saturday’s New Japan Road in Anjo event featured Kazuchika Okada making a surprise return appearance to NJPW and being revealed as the mystery opponent for Hiroshi Tanahashi’s retirement match at Wrestle Kingdom 20.

NJPW held a press conference earlier today in Japan to promote their upcoming Wrestle Kingdom 20. Among the guests included Tanahashi and Okada. One of the topics discussed included Tanahashi and Okada’s thoughts about the process that led to their match being put together for Wrestle Kingdom 20.

Tanahashi thanked Okada for responding to the call, and referenced his long history with the Rainmaker. ‘In the last few years I’ve lost a lot to Okada, I’ve lost our last four or five,’ Tanahashi admitted. The Ace stated ‘there aren’t many who retire with a win,’ but that ‘with an opponent like Okada, I will give my absolute best. I plan on having people saying I can still go, not that I’m broken down,’ and reminded Okada and media of his 2-1 winning record in the Tokyo Dome.

Pressed on the details of how the match came together, both men kept their cards close to the vest, with Tanahashi saying ‘in the end, I wanted someone I had a deep connection to.’ Okada said that ‘when I heard, I knew it had to be me,’ saying that ‘there are a lot of people in NJPW and other companies that wanted to wrestle Tanahashi and won’t get the chance, so I’ll carry those hopes with me,’ but that ‘if you want the full details, ask Gedo’.