Mercedes Mone vs. Stephanie Vaquer

[8.0] "I liked this match more than their more popular clash a year later. It lasted 5 minutes less, and was noticeably easier to watch. A great sprint, every minute of which was used wisely. 8 points."

[8.0] "It was an incredibly entertaining match. Technically, it was excellent--there was never any doubt about that, given the two wrestlers involved. But they managed to draw the crowd in and get them truly invested, giving the match a whole new dimension from the very first moments. Stephanie and Mercedes in a ring together means guaranteed entertainment combined with top-level technique."

[10.0] "The match that introduced me to Stephanie. This was a great showcase match for her & both gave us a great sprint right here. Maybe someday they'll work together again but if not I'll treasure the two great matches they've had with each other"

[9.0] "Very good match Mercedes Mone and Stephanie Vaquer both had amazing chemistry together they had a very charismatic match in possibly Stephanie Vaquer best match"

[9.0] "Great first match between those two. This anounce a lot more. The lucha libre from Stephanie is so good with the skills of Mercedes, i prefer this one that the one from ForbiddenDoor 2024."

[10.0] "Great match, i dont think how much people dont see potencja on this match i think that Stephanie vs cedes should be finale of this tournaments but it was still pretty good, charismatic match, both womens know what they can do in ring, Perfect"

[9.0] "High impact, super charismatic work from both women involved. Vaquer is one of the great worldwide stars in the making and this match is a great example. She brutalizes Mone with incredibly fluid, insanely violent looking work."

[8.0] "Von dem kleinen Mini Turnier fand ich das hier das beste Turnier Match das war sau stark (***3/4). In der NJPW STRONG Folge wo es um das Turnier ging war das hier der Opener."

[9.0] "Rrwatching this a few months later and it's still a great match. I think everyone expected Mone to shine, and she does, but this was a match that instantly made me a fan of Vaquer. She's so smooth in the ring, lays her stuff in hard, and can fly and do solid tekkers work as well. Plus, she has that "it" factor that most never will. I made it a point to watch more of her CMLL stuff and her more recent match against Mayu was great as well. This was a great opening match for this tournament."

[8.0] "This was an exciting sprint that had great looking offense, selling, and an organic build to the creative finish with the Monemaker from the floor. I didn't like the first few minutes focused on the reversals and quick pin attempts, after the arm bar from the top rope the match really got heated quickly. My first impression of Vaquer was fantastic, I love her move-set and how she worked the legs, arms, and face of Mone in this match. Vaquer also hit a tiger driver into a backbreaker that I've never seen before. Definitely worth a watch, the amount of action packed into 12 minutes is a testament to how good these two are"

[7.0] "Ein sehr starkes Match auch mit überraschend guter Chemie zwischen beiden. Habe Vaquer vorher noch nie gesehen, die kann was. Einziger Kritikpunkt ist die fehlende Spannung, aber auch da haben sie sich zumindest bemüht 7/10 Brote"

[8.0] "Great sprint match that put Stephanie over. She got a lot of offence and got to showcase her talent. I want to see these 2 go at it again maybe in Mexico this time who knows. Plus I would love for Stephanie to get more us bookings maybe some ROH or AEW appearances. [8/10]"

[8.0] "I never thought about this match ever happening, but it was more than welcome the moment it was announced. Stephanie Vaquer is easily one of the best female wrestlers in CMLL right now and it was about time she got the chance to show her potential outside of Mexico. The result was obvious since the beginning, but that didn't keep it from being a pretty good match."

[9.0] "Mercedes continues to shine post WWE in any style with any opponent she faces. Simply the greatest NA womens wrestler bar none all time. Stephanie was very good here too. She should get a contract in the US from this if she wants it. side note. LOL at the WWE fan boys voting Mercedes matches low to bring scores down."

[8.0] "Probably the best match by Mercedes post-WWE. Good moves, nice wrestling. Stephanie Vaquer is so cool, like the way she moves in the ring."

[8.0] "A great performance from Moné. Vaquer broke out here, she has been hidden in the CMLL women's division and looked like she belonged opposite Mercedes Moné."

[6.0] "Vaquer had by far the superior performance & presence here - Mone was pretty sluggish & awkward **3/4"

[7.0] "This was a pretty good match and a nice introduction of Vaquer to a wider audience. There wasn't that much storytelling, but the counters toward the end were really neat. The biggest downside was that the sequences in the beginning of the match looked too slow and rehearsed. ***1/4"

[1.0] "Just a mid match, but I should put 1/10 because of the reason how some of the users are putting 10 and 9 of no reason. Just because of Sasha's match or any ex-WWE, WWE, AEW talant. On the same show there has been another semi final, that deserves more appreciation. I can't believe that this match is even higher graded than a great Ospreay-Tanahashi match from the show just because of fanbase. STOP OVERRATING MATCHES"

[9.0] "First time watching Stephanie and very impressed by her. I had expected a quick squash match due to the double headers but great full length match and Mercedes seems to have improved from her Stardom match. Lot of quick spots and close pin-falls with excellent finish, expecting 4.5 WON rating."

[9.0] "Absolutely impressive work from both women. Stephanie Vaquer is going to do big things after this I hope. Mercedes is one of the greatest to ever do it. I would rank this among my favorite Mercedes matches if I am quite honest"

[10.0] "MAN. What a match. I didn't have any high expectations because i wasn't familiar with Stephanie. But that was awesome. The crowd was amazing."

[9.0] "Incredible fast-paced and brutally hard hitting match from these two. More than set the standard for the Strong women's title division. High Speed sequences, technical exchanges and just hitting each other in the god damn face punctuated the best possible start for this tournament. Women's divisions in the west are gonna have to look to this one for inspiration."

[7.0] "Not the fault of either performer but this one suffered ever so slightly from a sense of inevitability with Mercedes being the surefire winner. Nonetheless, it was clear that Moné knew that and went out there with the intention of making Vaquer look like a million bucks and Stephanie took advantage with a wonderful display. Match built excellently to the finish and they had great chemistry with smooth transitions and technical wizardry."

[9.0] "Unsurprisingly, this was an excellent match. Stephanie showed anyone unfamiliar with her just how great she is with her clean, fast, precise, vicious, technical offense and worked the crowd with smart heel tactics and mannerisms. Mercedes was also great, doing well to keep up with Stephanie's pace and played a great babyface, whipping the crowd into a frenzy with her comeback on the outside. In the end, after a slick back and forth, Mercedes picked up the expected win with the Moné Maker, but Stephanie looked awesome in defeat. Now I've seen people online demanding Stephanie go to WWE or AEW, but I would selfishly say absolutely not, I very much enjoy her in CMLL and history tells me she'd be wasted in either company. Staying in CMLL and taking these kind of bookings, plus maybe another tour of Japan, would be perfect, for me at least. Anyway, this definitely overtakes Stephanie's match with Lluvia from a couple of months ago and is right up there with her match with Saori Anou last year, while it might be my favourite Mercedes match, at the very least it's above anything I've seen from her that wasn't against Bayley, but I haven't rewatched those 2015 classics in years. ****3/4."

[9.0] "Vaquer was fantastic and deserves a larger platform. Shes a star and the match was great. I hope they run this back for the NJPW STRONG Womens Championship (or the IWGP Womens) at some point once Mercedes is healed."

[10.0] "Stephanie did a great performance, and Mercedes was also great, I thought that Stephanie most likely got new fans here, I hope after Mercedes recover we can have a rematch"

[8.0] "Great way to make Stephanie Vaquer look like a big potential star outside Mexico, especially with a dance partner like Mercedes Moné. Vaquer put in just as much work to make this good as Moné did, and she'll have opened a lot of eyes in defeat here."

[8.0] "If you haven't seen Stephanie Vaquer this match is a perfect way two start. Both Mercedes and Stephanie got their time to shine with Stephanie still looking great in defeat. Incredible match 8/10, SOTM(Spot of the Match): Mercedes meteora to the outside"