Mercedes Mone has been carrying around the Queen of Southside Championship since beating Mina Shirakawa at the Tokyo Dome – but what is it?
The belt has baffled many fans who may not have been fans of RevPro and Southside Wrestling. It is clear what she won when Mercedes Mone took home the Undisputed British Women’s Championship, although the addition of the second belt has seemed rather confusing.
I’m not sure she minds. Mercedes Mone currently carries around four distinct title belts, adding the TBS Championship and NJPW Strong Women’s belts to her collection. The only mystery for some is what the Queen of Southside belt is, which Andy Quildan happily explained.
The RevPro boss appeared on the Cultaholic Podcast today and spoke about the controversy that has become apparent following Mercedes Mone’s victory over Mina Shirakawa at the Tokyo.
Seeing her with the Queen of Southside Championship has confused some fans, so he has set the record straight.
“I’ve never seen a championship belt cause so much confusion and controversy. Essentially, the Queen of Southside belt is a legacy title from Southside Wrestling,” Andy Quildan explained. “RevPro took over the venues that Southside ran and their video library in 2019.”
“It was looking to be a shrewd move until COVID-19 knocked us back. We’ve continued to work very closely with Southside’s former owner, Benji Reynolds, who still works alongside us on many of the shows we run in historic Southside venues. The goal was to continue delivering high-quality wrestling in venues that were accustomed to it, ensuring the spirit of Southside didn’t die out.”
Andy Quilda went on to explain how Southside was going bust, and RevPro took on their title belts as they ran the venues that used to be used by the promotion.
“Southside was an independent promotion that faced many of the challenges other indies encounter. It’s very difficult to run something sustainably and at a high level. That’s where we stepped in to help and took over the operations of Southside.“
“As part of that, we inherited all the Southside championships, which were unified with RevPro titles. The Queen of Southside Championship was no exception—it was unified with the British Undisputed Women’s Championship.”
However, he explained that he did not make Mercedes Mone carry around the Queen of Southside belt. It is entirely the champion’s choice and the AEW star has decided to honour Southside’s legacy.
“With the tag team and heavyweight championships, the champions chose to carry only the Undisputed Championship belts to symbolize the unification. However, for the women’s championships, the champions opted to continue carrying the legacy belt as well, which is absolutely their prerogative. It’s a unified championship; it’s an undisputed championship.”
“It’s similar to boxing, where unified undisputed champions often carry all their belts. The key difference is that in wrestling, we don’t have separate commissions governing each belt, so there’s no risk of those titles being split.
“If Mercedes [Moné] decides she only wants to carry the RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championship, she can. Or, she can choose to be covered in gold. It’s entirely her call. There’s no controversy—it’s not an individual championship that’s going to be defended separately. There’s one Undisputed British Women’s Champion, and that’s Mercedes Moné.”
If you use any quotes from this article, please give a H/T to BritWrestling for the transcription
