Kairi Sane: What Could've Been
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer was the first to report that Kairi Sane is reportedly desiring to return back to Japan and her departure from WWE is inevitable at this point.
With widespread speculation that she will soon return home, I wanted to take a moment to highlight one of my favourite female performers, but also point out several missed opportunities.
Upon leaving Stardom to compete in the inaugural May Young Classic in 2017, I was incredibly excited that Kairi Hojo, renamed Kairi Sane, would be competing on American soil since she was regularly cited as one of the best female talents in the world along with Io Shirai.
Sane ultimately won the tournament after defeating an impressive line up of Bianca Belair, Dakota Kai, Toni Storm along with Shayna Baszler in the finals. It seemed quite evident that WWE had high hopes for the Pirate Princess, who embodied the role of underdog.
Based on her undeniably warm and likeable personality, ability to genuinely connect with the fans along with her work ethic and skill, Kairi Sane's popularity began to skyrocket with the NXT faithful.
First, she defeated the intimating and nearly unstoppable Shayna Baszler at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV to become the NXT Women's Champion and to the conclude the year, The Pirate Princess claimed two very important NXT Year-End Awards:
Female Competitor of the Year (2018)
Overall Competitor of the Year (2018)
At this point, a legitimate argument could have been made that Kairi Sane was one of the most popular female talents under the entire WWE Umbrella.
Unfortunately, Sane’s reign would only last 71 days as she dropped the belt back to Shayna failed to re-capture it after multiple attempts in a two out of three falls match along with a fatal-four way at NXT TakeOver: New York. During this period, Sane formed a brief partnership with her long-time friend Io Shirai, known as the Sky Pirates.
Given the lack of depth in the Women’s Tag-Team Division, the Sky Pirates offered plenty of potential to shake things up but was drastically cut short. I guess all good things come to an end, right?
With her grand entrance and theme, babyface underdog status, strong connection with the fans and awe-inspiring finisher, Sane literally had it all, but upon getting ready for what seemed like greener pastures, the majority of her momentum was seemingly lost.
The lingering fear regarding any successful NXT talent joining Raw or Smackdown is the risk of losing their identity and watching the elements that made them successful at Full Sail get stripped away. Why? Perhaps Vince or others just simply don’t understand the appeal, but it’s at the detriment of the talent and the viewers. Some of the fortunate ones remain unchanged, but Kairi was not so fortunate.
In April of 2019, Paige announced she would be managing a tag-team which saw Asuka and Kairi Sane become the Kabuki Warriors. At the time, it was somewhat puzzling that WWE decided to pair two strong singles competitors together only to see them fail to capture the WWE Women’s Tag-Team Titles twice over the span of a few months.
While Asuka is undoubtedly one of the best talents in the world, why not attempt to establish Kairi Sane as a solo act first? A big missed opportunity and “what if?” question that will never be answered. Raw and Smackdown could always use another underdog performer for fans to rally behind and Sane fit that role perfectly. Besides, she was also highly marketable too, so as a babyface, she could have pushed some solid merch with the pirate theme.
Fans were starting to becoming restless and demanded more for the Kabuki Warriors.
Etsuo Hara/Getty Images
After disappearing for what felt like months, the Kabuki Warriors made their illustrious return which led to capturing the Women’s Tag Team Championship from Bliss and Cross at Hell in a Cell. By now, Asuka was utilizing the green mist gimmick that was made famous by the likes of the Great Muta, an effective yet highly disciple tactic for a heel to leverage.
In October, The Kabuki Warriors were drafted to Raw and prompted dismissed Paige from her role as manager after spraying her with green mist. Truthfully, the pairing with Paige never really took off and this was ultimately a better decision.
Despite her incredible efforts, Sane as a heel just felt so unnatural given what we saw during her remarkable babyface run in NXT. She was far too likeable.
Becky Lynch soon started to focus on Asuka, a challenge that always eluded her. Lynch would pair with Charlotte to face the Kakubi Warriors at TLC in a match where Sane suffered a legitimate concession and struggled to continue.
During the beginning of 2020, Sane was relegated to the background as her tag-team partner Asuka became the focus on Becky Lynch. Much of this was due to the concession along with the ongoing storyline, so Kairi transitioned her into more of a managerial role.
Despite rarely defending their titles throughout their 181-day reign, the Kabuki Warriors would eventually lose their Women’s Tag Tea Champion back to Cross and Bliss at Night 1 of Wrestlemania 36.
By this point, the Kabuki Warriors were fan favourites again, which is a true testament to their entertaining personalities.
Also in April, Sane was on the wrong end of a botched buckle bomb courtesy of Nia Jax. Following the nearly disastrous outcome, the move was wisely banned by WWE.
Note: The Buckle Bomb was the same move that ultimately ended Sting’s career during a match with Seth Rollins
With the focus primarily on Asuka, who soon claimed the Raw Women’s Championship after Becky Lynch forfeited the championship due to a real-life pregnancy, Sane continued to play more of the role of supporter and manager.
Naturally, this could have offered an opportunity for Asuka to potentially turn heel on Kairi Sane at some point down the line, setting up a championship feud between the two.
More recently, Kairi was once again injured by Nia Jax after being thrown into the ring steps and suffering a cut on her head in a Raw match that aired on June 1. Little was mentioned about her on television, but there were rumblings it would lead to a career-ending injury angle with Nia Jax that would write her out of WWE.
While Kairi Sane will not receive her storybook ending, it’s clear that a move to Japan will be far more beneficial both personally and professionally.
Unfortunately, I’m still left perplexed and asking myself several questions:
Given the incredible momentum achieved in 2018, how could WWE simply allow it to fade away?
Couldn’t WWE think of a better idea than to throw Kairi into a tag-team upon her main roster debut?
With such a strong connection to the audience as a believable underdog babyface, why turn Kairi heel? It just never stuck. Plus, it threw away merch possibilities.
Why wasn’t Nia Jax reprimanded for her unsafe behaviour that has resulted in multiple injuries and incidents over the years?
What if Kairi Sane returned to NXT with their move to the USA Network? Perhaps a chance to reclaim past glory.
You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone and Kairi Sane was undoubtedly one of the best female talents under the WWE umbrella, it’s just a shame they never truly recognized it outside of NXT.
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