Kairi Sane Brings 20-Month In-Ring Hiatus To A Triumphant End
Former WWE Superstar KAIRI (Kairi Sane) has worked a match for the first time since July 2020 ... and she did it in style, leading her team to victory with one of her flawless elbow drops.
It all went down at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, March 26. For her first match in 20 months, KAIRI teamed up with Mayu Iwatani to take on The Cosimic Angels (Tam Nakano & Unagi Sayaka) in tag team action. The former NXT Women's Champion showed very few signs of ring rust and will no doubt be eager to compete in singles competition as soon as possible.
KAIRI's return to Stardom was announced during a press conference on Friday, February 18. KAIRI was interrupted by Nakano and Sayaka. It was later confirmed that KAIRI would team with Iwatani at the World Climax event. KAIRI worked for Stardom for 6 years before joining WWE in 2017.
Kairi bid farewell to the WWE Universe in July 2020 when she decided to step away from in-ring activities and move back to her native Japan. Sane later confirmed that, although she was no longer a WWE Superstar, she would remain on the company payroll in a new position as a WWE brand ambassador in Japan.
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Back in September, Gamebiz reported that WWE had pulled the plug on its endeavors in Japan and had subsequently closed its offices there. On Monday, December 6, fans noticed that Sane changed her Instagram handle from “kairi_wwe” to “official_kairi". Later, Sane seemingly teased a return to in-ring action when she replied with a winky face emoji to a fan who said they hope to see Sane wrestle again.
Back in July 2021, KAIRI revealed that she had recently earned a qualification that certifies her as a 'Sports Mental Trainer' and took to Twitter to share an image of her certificate.
"In the wake of a sad incident of an important junior, I started studying if there was anything I could do or learn ... I passed the exam safely and obtained [Sports Mental Trainer Qualification]. I was able to do it," KAIRI captioned the image, per Google Translate.
KAIRI did not mention her late friend by name, but her use of a pink flower emoji seems to suggest that she was referring to her former Stardom colleague Hana Kimura, the up-and-coming Joshi who tragically took her own life at the age of 22 in 2020.
