Kairi Sane Reveals “Indefinite Hiatus” Before WWE Return
An updated report from Kairi Sane herself notes that she won’t be returning to WWE anytime soon.
It was reported on Sunday that Sane, also known as Kairi Hojo or simply KAIRI, was done wrestling in Japan and was reconsidering a return to WWE.
Per the Twitter account Monthly Puroresu Sane had a press conference earlier today and gave new details into her immediate plans.
Sane, who turns 35 in September, noted that she will be taking an “indefinite hiatus” after her final scheduled match which, as of this writing, is a tag team match for All Japan Pro-Wrestling on September 8th in which she will team with Saori Anou against Unagi Sayaka and an unconfirmed partner.
Who is Kairi Sane?
Kairi Sane is one of the most decorated women’s wrestlers active today. She began wrestling in 2012 and has won numerous championships and accolades.
She first burst onto the scene in World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she won the company’s primary and secondary singles and tag titles, as well as many “best of” awards similar to WWE’s Slammy awards.
Sane signed a three-year contract with WWE in 2017 and continued that trend of winning awards and titles. She won the inaugural Mae Young Classic in 2017, beating Shayna Baszler in the finals and soon after that she won the NXT Women’s Championship, also from Baszler.
Sane was promoted to the main roster in 2019 and was put in a tag team with Asuka, and together they became known as “The Kabuki Warriors”. They won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships and held them for almost half a year until they lost them to Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross at WrestleMania 36.
After leaving WWE, Kairi Sane returned to Stardom and found herself working for both that company and its sibling company New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Under the NJPW banner, Sane became the inaugural IWGP Women’s Champion, but only had one successful title defense, which was at Wrestle Kingdom 17, before losing it to Mercedes Mone at Battle in the Valley in February.