Former WWE Superstar KAIRI (Kairi Sane) has opened up about joining and leaving Vince McMahon’s promotion.
KAIRI began wrestling for WWE in 2017 and captured the NXT Women’s Championship and WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, the latter with Asuka.
In an interview with ENTAME Next, KAIRI recalled her reasons for leaving Japan and signing with WWE.
“I decided to go to WWE because I wanted to experience the top level and grow… I often traveled to the United States and Europe with Mayu (Iwatani) and Io (Shirai). When I saw how excited the audience was there, it made me want to compete overseas. I also had a fundamental sense of urgency that I could not just maintain the status quo.”
Speaking about her formative years in NXT, KAIRI said she struggled with promo class which was done entirely in English, but appreciated the language classes given twice a week to her by WWE.
In 2020, KAIRI requested to return to Japan and WWE granted her request, writing her off TV with a backstage attack by Bayley.
The former Superstar explained that a promise made upon her departure from Japan fueled her reason to return.
“When I left Japan in 2017, I promised my fans that I would go on a long journey, but that I would come back grown up. I told that to President Rossy Ogawa (now Executive Producer). In the first place, my goal was to learn first-class professional wrestling, and I didn’t really intend to live permanently in the US.”
The COVID-19 Pandemic also proved to be a pivotal point in KAIRI’s decision.
“[When the Pandemic hit] I thought, “Where am I going to go from here? I had a sense of accomplishment that I had fulfilled my promise to my best friend and that I had done everything I could in my three years with WWE, and after several consultations with WWE, I decided to leave.”
KAIRI remained with WWE, serving as an ambassador for the company in Japan until her contract expired in December 2021.
Thanks to Reddit User DamieN62 for the transcription and translation from Japanese into English.