"Thank you" - AEW stars Mercedes Moné and Ruby Soho acknowledge retirement of veteran star

AEW's Mercedes Moné and Ruby Soho are veteran wrestlers in their own right. The former Sasha Banks and Ruby Riott have both wrestled for just over 14 years and have locked up with great grapplers from all eras. The All Elite stars are now acknowledging the retirement of a certain inaugural champion.

Sumie Sakai began her wrestling journey in 1997 at age 25. The inaugural and longest-reigning ROH Women of Honor Champion practiced judo from a young age but paused for two years in 1995 to work with senior citizens. The MMA fighter hit the United States indies in 2002 for a touring feud with Mercedes Martinez, then had a notable Ring of Honor run. She's worked for countless other promotions, including NWA, CMLL, CZW, GCW, Stardom, PCW, and CHIKARA.

Despite her history before Khan's acquisition, wrestling's Ray of Sunshine has never worked for Tony Khan's AEW or ROH. The 53-year-old Japanese legend suffered a loss in her mixed trios retirement match last night at NJPW's Battle In the Valley as she teamed with EVIL and SHO against Hiromu Takahashi, Mayu Iwatani, and Yuka Sakazaki.

After Hiromu Takahashi pinned Sakai, he helped her up to a "Thank you, Sumie!" chant. The locker room emptied in tribute, and Takahashi gave Sakai his jacket before she stood alone in the ring for a ten-bell salute.

The CEO and The Punk Rock Ragdoll are among the wrestlers honoring Sakai on social media today. Moné and Soho both took to Instagram Stories to share clips from Saturday night, while Soho captioned her post with a brief message.

"Thank you @sumiesakai [red heart emoji]," Ruby Soho wrote below in screenshots with Mercedes Moné.

Screenshots of Ruby Soho and Mercedes Mone's posts to Instagram Stories (Photo Credits: Ruby Soho and Mercedes Mone on Instagram)

Moné and Sakai have never shared the ring. However, Soho and Sakai teamed up on February 13, 2016, in New York City at NYWC-MPUSA Furinkazan III. They were defeated by Kimber Lee, aka Abbey Laith, and Takumi Iroha in the main event.

Top AEW star retains championship at NJPW event

Several AEW stars were featured at NJPW Strong's Battle In the Valley event on Saturday at San Jose Civic Center in California. Stardom and CMLL were also represented on the PPV card.

Konosuke Takeshita retained his NEVER Openweight Championship over veteran star KUSHIDA at Battle In the Valley. The current AEW International Champion retained in just over 15 minutes to continue as a dual champion. The Don Callis Family member won NJPW gold from Shingo Takagi at Wrestle Kingdom 19 earlier this month, then retained over Tomohiro Ishii at Wrestle Dynasty.

Battle In the Valley also saw AEW stars work an Eight-Woman Elimination Tag Team match. Empress Nexus Venus' Mina Shirakawa, Maika, and Hanako defeated Anna Jay, Trish Adora, and Johnnie Robbie. All Elite part-timer Ishii fought Strong Openweight Champion Gabe Kidd to a thirty-minute draw, while Rocky Romero teamed with YOH for a loss to The West Coast Wrecking Crew.