APAC Wrestling Founder Responds to Mercedes Mone Vacating APAC Women’s Title Over Budget & Other Issues

As noted before, Mercedes Mone recently vacated her APAC Women’s Championship due to budget and other-related issues involving APAC Wrestling that were not able to be resolved between her team and the promotion. These other issues included APAC not being willing to work with other international promotions in order for her to be able to drop the title in a match and find a solution to the situation.

APAC Wrestling founder Ayez Shaukat issued an official statement on Saturday on Twitter clarifying the situation and giving his side of the story for why his promotion was unable to fly Mone out to Malaysia for her to drop the title at their show. Shaukat also gave his issues with Winnipeg Pro Wrestling and why that was not an option for his company.

“Woke up to a flood of tags, so here’s the truth. We tried. We reached out to other promotions. We did NOT ask anyone to fly our talent in — I have receipts. I even tried to make Malaysia work. End result: Nor Phoenix Diana didn’t get closure. Just truth.”

“I woke up on 3 hours of sleep to a flood of texts, tags, and questions, so let me say this clearly. I have nothing but respect for Mercedes Moné. She is a global star, in high demand, and I understand that her schedule and travel limitations are real.

I do not blame her for this situation, and I appreciate the opportunity we had to work together. But the public narrative being pushed does not fully reflect what actually happened. We did try. We did explore working with other promotions, because that was what was asked of us. I personally reached out, followed up, and tried to make multiple scenarios work.

I also need to correct this clearly: I did not ask other promotions to fly my wrestler in for us. I have the text and email receipts to back that up, and I am prepared to stand on that truth if necessary. I have chosen not to post private communications lightly because I still believe in handling business professionally, but I will protect my name when needed,” he continued.

For more context, I was even willing to go beyond our limits on my side. I openly said I would take on extra work and secure sponsors to try and bring Mercedes to Malaysia. That ultimately was not workable, which I understand, so we were pushed to explore solutions abroad instead.

I would have genuinely loved to make something work with Arek in Poland and Hal in France. Both were respectful, professional, and tried to find real solutions. I appreciate both of them for that. But when we looked at the full picture, it simply did not make business sense financially for us.

I also want to address Winnipeg Pro Wrestling. Our interaction was minimal. I reached, was initially ignored, and only received a single response declining based on budget and their story direction, which I respected. That was the extent of it. So the public version being pushed does not reflect my actual communication with them. Again, I have receipts for that. I am not here to tear anyone down or create more drama.

To Mercedes, I sincerely apologize for any public discomfort this has caused. I still have respect for you, and I understand you are likely speaking from what was communicated to you.”

Woke up to a flood of tags, so here’s the truth.

We tried. We reached out to other promotions.

We did NOT ask anyone to fly our talent in — I have receipts.

I even tried to make Malaysia work.

End result: Nor Phoenix Diana didn’t get closure.

Just truth. pic.twitter.com/FoYAuDDXDM

— Shaukat (@TheShaukat) April 5, 2026