Report And Hints Conflict With Saraya's Announcement Of Her Mystery Tag Team Partner

Wednesday night has been a roller coaster. Something that was already expected seemingly came into focus, as for the first time, it was definitively reported who will be Saraya's mystery partner against Jamie Hayter and Britt Baker on the January 11 episode of "AEW Dynamite" from the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California. Naturally, that would be the person everyone expected, especially after she debuted for New Japan Pro-Wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom earlier in the day: Mercedes Moné, the former Sasha Banks. But later on "Dynamite," despite hints to that effect in a Britt Baker promo, Saraya explicitly said that her partner is ... Toni Storm.

"Mercedes Varnado will be Saraya's partner next week in #AEWDynamite in LA against Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter." reported DAZN's Steven Muehlhausen, citing "sources," in a tweet minutes before the start of the January 4 edition of "Dynamite," starting a confusing couple hours. "Couldn't announce or make a major hint due to her being still under contract to WWE until the beginning of 2023."

Muehlhausen's report was followed less than 90 minutes later by a backstage interview with Baker and Hayter on "Dynamite" where Baker referred to herself as "the boss" – (Moné's nickname in WWE) while hyping the big tag team match for the Inglewood show. Baker's words weren't even the first overt hints of the day. At the Wrestle Kingdom backstage press conference, Moné indicated that Japan is just the first stop on her "world domination tour."

However, about three-quarters of the way into "Dynamite," in another pre-recorded backstage interview conducted by Renee Paquette, Saraya told Toni Storm and Hikaru Shida that Storm would be her partner next week. Both Shida, and to a lesser extent Paquette, played it as if they were both confused and dismayed by the announcement, suggesting that there's more to the storyline beneath the surface.

As for Moné, she made her debut in NJPW (and, effectively, sister promotion STARDOM) early Wednesday by attacking and challenging IWGP Women's Champion KAIRI (the former Kairi Sane in WWE) after she successfully defended her title against Tam Nakano. With NJPW being a close partner of AEW, the initial reporting of the Moné deal naturally led to speculation that she would be the mystery partner, a match that was already announced before the news broke.