A long-asked question about IO Shirai’s name change may have gotten answered.
WWE surprised wrestling fans with the return of IYO Sky (FKA IO Shirai) at Summerslam on July 30, 2022. She made her return alongside Bayley and Dakota Kai to confront Becky Lynch and Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair. At the time, the commentators referred to Sky by her former name. However, the next night she had her name changed to what it is today.
The company has yet to share why it wanted Sky to change her name publicly. Name-changing in WWE happens on a case-by-case basis for new talent. However, Sky’s name seems to result in WWE wanting to own her IO Shirai, according to wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer.
Meltzer was asked a question on Twitter about why WWE changed Sky’s name, which he answered, “They wanted to own her WWE name, and she had used the name Io Shirai her entire career, so they couldn’t own it.” Someone also asked why Chelsea Green, who returned at the Royal Rumble on Jan 28; however, Meltzer has yet to respond.
What’s Next For IYO SKY?
(WWE)
It seems that Sky is headed for a big match alongside her tag team partner Kai at WrestleMania 39. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter on Feb. 6 reported that Sky and Kai would defend their Women’s Tag Team Championship against Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler at the event.
While this is the reported plan WWE has, the company hasn’t acknowledged or hinted that the match will happen. Rousey is also not involved in any storylines at the moment. She lost the Smackdown Women’s Championship to Charlotte Flair at the Friday Night Smackdown episode on Dec. 30, 2022. Although WWE could’ve had Rousey challenge Flair in a rematch, it doesn’t seem like it will happen.
If Sky and Kai are defending their titles against Rousey and Baszler, WWE fans should expect a build to the match soon.
At Summerslam 2022, Io Shirai received her call-up to WWE’s main roster, appearing alongside Bayley and Dakota Kai.
Upon her call-up, Shirai was given the name IYO SKY, and has picked up tag-team victories so far on Monday Night Raw.
The Name Change
When WWE changed Io Shirai to IYO SKY, some fans were confused as to why the change took place.
Given that the Raw Superstar’s real name is Masami Odate, it is certain that the change wasn’t due to WWE’s policy of banning real names, which has led to Gunther, Butch and others having their names altered.
“I think that the image of the former ‘Shirai’ is conveyed in kanji to Japanese people, but that’s not the case in the United States. I think it’s a good name because the image is conveyed by adding ‘Sky’ there.”
SKY added that changing Io to IYO also makes things easier for those reading her name.
“Some people misread it because it looked like a lowercase letter L and O (lo), or it looked like a number. I think it became easier to understand with ‘IYO’ in all capital letters.”
What’s next for IYO SKY?
Earlier this year, it was reported that SKY (then Shirai) was expected to leave the company when her contract was set to expire.
Now, not only is that not the case, but she and Dakota Kai will face Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez on next week’s Raw to crown the new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Bayley, SKY, and Kai will face Alexa Bliss, Asuka, and Raw Women’s Championship Bianca Belair at WWE Clash at the Castle next week.
Bayley made her triumphant return at SummerSlam but she wasn’t alone. She shared her moment with Dakota Kai and Io Sky and formed a new faction with both the stars.
The former women’s champion talked about her new group on After The Bell. She explained that it’s something that she had wanted for a while and they had considered different versions of the group. The idea was that it would help evolve her character:
“This is something that I’ve wanted for a while, I would say a couple of years. [It’s] actually something that I’ve talked to Hunter about before. Just wanting something different for the division and using girls that I think were either underutilized or that didn’t get that opportunity or didn’t get that spotlight. Just a way to evolve myself as in like many different variations of this faction or group that I wanted.”
‘Ultimate Goal Of Everybody’: Bayley
Though as she got the time to think more about it during her rehab, Bayley realized that she wanted to help underutilized talents. She wanted to take names that hadn’t been on Raw or SmackDown and get them to WrestleMania level:
“But as I got injured and got to spend more time really thinking about it, I knew that I wanted literally girls who haven’t had the opportunity [to be on] Raw or Smackdown or that haven’t been given an opportunity to feel what WrestleMania is like. Because that’s the ultimate goal of everybody.
I just felt like if I look for girls that haven’t had that yet, just the hunger is gonna be that much stronger. It’s just gonna be fresher for the fans and fresher for the locker room where they’ll get excited to work with different people.” said Bayley, “So once I thought of it like that. [I] thought let me look at NXT. It was so easy. I knew who I wanted and I knew who could benefit from it. I knew who I can benefit from.”
It appears that the stable of Bayley, IYO SKY (Io Shirai), and Dakota Kai has a name.
SummerSlam Shakes Up The Women’s Division
Last night, at SummerSlam, Becky Lynch challenged for Bianca Belair’s Raw Women’s Title in the opening match. Belair picked up the win after 15 minutes of back and forth action.
Last night after SummerSlam, WWE posted a post-show interview with Bayley, Dakota Kai, and IYO SKY after their surprise return. However, the trio did not say much about their actions last night.
Bayley’s Stable Name Revealed?
This afternoon, Bayley tweeted out a photo of the group with the caption “CONTROL.” The tweet was retweeted by the official WWE account. The name is not confirmed but we might not have to wait too long to find out more because the trio is scheduled to appear this Monday night on Raw so we should know more in just over 24 hours.
Bayley followed up that tweet by quoting Janet Jackson.
Here is the Janet Jackson quote she included in a follow-up tweet:
"This is a story about control
My control
Control of what I say
Control of what I dp
And this time, I'm gonna do it my way
I hope you enjoy this as much as I do
Are we ready?
I am
'Cause it's all about control
And I've got lots of it” -
@JanetJackson
@WWE"
“This is a story about control My control Control of what I say Control of what I do And this time, I'm gonna do it my way I hope you enjoy this as much as I do Are we ready? I am 'Cause it's all about control And I've got lots of it” – @JanetJackson@WWE
As noted earlier, it looks like Bayley’s faction will feud with Lynch, Belair and possibly one other woman but a possible injury may force WWE to change their plans.
What do you think the faction should be name? Let SEScoops know here!
The SummerSlam PPV started off strong with a big return of Bayley after the opening bout between Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair. She was then joined by Dakota Kai and Io Shirai, to form a new faction.
Fightful Select provided some updates on this big development. They noted how the former women’s champion had been training for weeks in preparation for her return.
Dakota Kai made her surprise return at SummerSlam after being released in April this year. She was a name people within the company thought Triple H would make a priority to bring back.
The former NXT women’s tag champion had gotten several main roster looks. There were writers who were ‘baffled’ when she wasn’t included in the draft last year.
Multiple companies were interested in signing her after her release, including AEW. Though her talks with Tony Khan didn’t move past the introduction stage.
There were people within the company pushing for her signing but it’s unknown why the AEW president didn’t bring her in.
Io Shirai had been in news lately with reports of her contract expiring soon. She had been out of action due to an injury since April, and there had been no creative plans for her in NXT 2.0.
This new women’s stable is a product of the new WWE management. The report says that the idea for it was pitched a while ago before Kai was released. Vince McMahon wasn’t interested in the idea, and he rejected it.
Raquel González and Kay Lee Ray were both also pitched as members of an alternate version of the faction before their respective main roster call-ups.
Becky Lynch was the latest star to step up and challenge WWE Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair for the title. However, the bigger news was Bayley and Dakota Kai also made their return to create a faction with Io Shirai.
The title match at SummerSlam opened the show. Lynch hit a leg drop to Belair while on the barricade. Lynch was favoring her right arm. Belair countered a dive by Lynch from the top rope into a powerbomb. Lynch hit diamond dust for a near fall. Belair hit the KOD on the floor. Lynch pulled her off the middle rope and hit the man handle slam for 2. The finish saw Belair reverse the man handle slam with a Spanish fly and hit the KOD for the win.
Post-match, Bayley walked out to the ring to a great ovation, but was still a heel. Dakota Kai, who was released in April, and Io Shirai, who was believed to be leaving WWE with her contract expiring next month, came out. They all stood together before having a staredown with Lynch and Belair.
Bayley had been on the sidelines with a torn ACL since last July. The injury happened when she was chain wrestling in the ring with another WWE star at the Performance Center. She had to pull out of her scheduled I Quit Match with Belair for the SmackDown Women’s Title at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view.
At last year’s SummerSlam, Lynch returned after maternity leave as a surprise replacement for Sasha Banks in a SmackDown Women’s title match where she beat Belair in under 30 seconds to win the title. They rematched at WrestleMania this year over the Raw Women’s title, where Belair defeated Lynch.
There’s been plenty of rumblings on the future of Io Shirai and a new update has surfaced.
It was recently reported by Dave Meltzer that Shirai was “pretty much gone” from WWE. The Japanese star has been on the NXT brand since Nov. 2018.
Despite being considered one of the premier female talents in the world regardless of promotion, she simply has not been given a chance on the main roster. This is said to have caused frustration with Io.
For what it’s worth, Shirai did seemingly respond to Dave’s report with the following Tweet:
In a follow-up, Dave Meltzer took to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter to provide an update on the situation between Io Shirai and WWE.
The report notes that those within NXT were under the impression that Shirai would be leaving WWE to return to STARDOM in Japan. With that said, those close to Shirai are led to believe that she would sign a new WWE contract if she’s brought up to the main roster.
The report also noted that Io has been training at the WWE Performance Center as she’s ready to return to the ring soon following an injury.
It’s been said that WWE has an offer for Io Shirai on the table but whether or not that’s for the main roster is unknown at this time.
We’ll keep you posted on the latest updates involving Io Shirai and WWE.
One WWE superstar is on her way out of the company.
Departures are nothing new in the wrestling industry. Talents come and go all the time.
In some cases, the departure is due to a release or the company wouldn’t renew a contract. In others, the star in question simply wanted to move on.
It appears to be the latter in this situation.
Io Shirai Likely Done With WWE
(via WWE)
There’s been a lot of rumblings about the future of Io Shirai. Reports had claimed that Shirai’s WWE deal is set to expire and she wants to return home to Japan.
In an update, Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio noted that Io is “pretty much gone” from WWE.
It isn’t hard to see what Io would be in store for if she returns to Japan. She had been a top star under the Stardom promotion and would be welcomed back with open arms if that’s the path she chooses.
Shirai addressed this latest report about her future on Tuesday afternoon:
Io Shirai was last seen in action at the NXT Stand & Deliver show back in April. She’s been out due to an injury but is expected to be back in the ring soon.
The question is, can she been written off WWE TV, or was Stand and Deliver her last appearance with the company?
Two WWE superstars who have been on the shelf due to injury are expected to return soon.
Injuries have plagued the wrestling business as of late. WWE has lost two top stars in Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton due to surgeries that will have them out of action for months.
Other promotions such as AEW have also been hit hard. AEW is experiencing an all-time high when it comes to injuries.
There is some good news, however.
Io Shirai & Zoey Stark Returning Soon
(via WWE)
Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Io Shirai and Zoey Stark are expected to be back on NXT TV soon. The two have been out of action due to injuries but are primed for returns any week now.
Shirai and Stark are former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions. The two had been a humorous duo as Io did everything in her power to get rid of Stark but they ended up winning gold together.
Time will tell if they’ll return looking for singles gold or if they will once again go after the tag team titles.
Io Shirai was the top star in the WWE NXT women’s division prior to the last months of the black and gold brand, but she was put into a tag team after the brand was revamped and went to NXT 2.0.
Io hasn’t been seen on WWE television for a while and there’s a good reason for that as the former NXT Women’s Champion is injured.
Fightful Select reports Shirai is out of action with an injury. It’s unclear exactly what the injury is, but she hasn’t wrestled in over two months so it’s serious enough that fans might be waiting even longer to see her return to in-ring action.
One source said that they hope that Shirai is healed up by the summer. With Io being one of the best wrestlers in the whole company and WWE continuing to move forward with younger stars with no wrestling background, WWE could really use a veteran with her skills around.
Shirai hasn’t worked a match since NXT Stand and Deliver where NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose defeated Cora Jade, Shirai, and Kay Lee Ray in a fatal 4-way bout.
Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray are the winners of the second Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
It happened when Wendy Choo and Dakota Kai vs. Io and Lee Ray was booked on Tuesday’s episode of WWE NXT 2.0. It headlined the show. Io hit her moonsault finisher for the win.
As a result of this win, they’ve earned the right to challenge Toxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne) for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships. However, Kay had a different plan, At Stand & Deliver, Lee Ray and Io will join Rose and Cora Jade in a fatal 4-way match for the titles.
In the semi-finals of the tournament, Shrai and Ray defeated Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter while Choo and Kai defeated Raquel Gonzalez and Cora Jade.
Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez beat Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon at the NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day special last year to become the first-ever winners of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
The Dusty Rhodes tag team classic tournament was established in 2015 as a tribute to the legendary pro wrestler.
Many of the NXT stars have reservations about a potential move to the main roster. Though Io Shirai is not one of them and she actually looks forward to the challenges she might face after a call up.
The former NXT women’s champion recently had an interview with Sports Illustrated. She talked about things such as her experience in WWE so far and more.
When asked if she will be open to a move to Raw or SmackDown, Shirai replied positively, saying that the opportunity would present new goals for her:
“Of course, I would be open to a move to SmackDown or Raw. The opportunity would present new goals and encounters different from what I have achieved and experienced in NXT.”
Io Shirai also named a couple of stars she would like to step into the ring with, including a potential rematch with none other than Sasha Banks:
“I would like a rematch with Sasha Banks as soon as possible. I also heard Bayley say she wanted to have a match with me, and I would definitely relish my first confrontation with her. If it is a title match, even better.”
The team of Io Shirai and Zoey Stark lost the NXT tag team titles at the Halloween Havoc event in September. People have been wondering if it’s an indication of her moving to the main roster soon but the same hasn’t been announced yet.
Io Shirai has commented on the wild ladder match spot from Halloween Havoc.
Shirai and Zoey Stark put the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships on the line against Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne of Toxic Attraction, and the team of Indi Hartwell & Persia Pirotta. In the end, Dolin and Jayne walked out of the ladder match with gold.
What’s next for Shirai remains to be seen. The WWE draft has come and gone and Shirai remains on the NXT brand. It isn’t impossible for WWE to call her up to the main roster anyway but if she sticks around in NXT, it’ll be interesting to see if she remains in the tag team division or returns to singles action.
This week’s episode of NXT saw one-half of the current NXT tag team champion Candice LeRae continuing her rivalry with singing star Poppy.
She occupied the ring during a segment on the show and said that she was tired of the Grammy-nominated singer. LeRae mentioned how Poppy hijacked her interview last week.
The current champion then called Poppy out and demanded an apology for her recent actions. The lights went out and Poppy came out with her entrance music.
Though she didn’t get in the ring and Poppy stayed on the stage instead. She said that she doesn’t wrestle but she knows someone who does. Then the music of Io Shirai surprised the fans.
The Japanese star then made her return and unloaded on LeRae. She took down Candice and Shirai then hit a 619 on her rival as the fans cheered.
The returning star delivered a missile dropkick, forcing Candice LeRae out of the ring. The segment ended with Io Shirai and Poppy standing tall in the ring as LeRae retreated on the stage.
This is Io Shirai’s first appearance for the brand since the NXT Takeover: Stand & Deliver event in early April. She dropped the NXT women’s title to Raquel González on the show, ending her 304 days reign as the champion.
Ricochet got into some hot water with fans and even went viral on Twitter after sharing a message about former NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai while in an exchange with a fan.
It all started when he responded to a tweet sent out by WWE that asked fans to name the best high-flyer in the company right now. This led to the fan responding and later named Shirai.
Uhhhh because there's more than one style of high flying sir.
— The Queen of Crop Tops 👑 (@Gend7296) May 18, 2021
Touche. In that aspect I can agree, but @shirai_io is also a phenomenal high flyer as well. She's the best at what she does 🤷🏻♀️
— The Queen of Crop Tops 👑 (@Gend7296) May 18, 2021
Ricochet then wrote back by stating, “I’m not saying she’s not amazing. She 100% is. But I can do EVERYTHING she can, probably even better. She can’t do what I am capable of, maybe not even half.”
The WWE star deleted the tweet after getting some heated responses from fans.
For the majority of this year, Ricochet has worked WWE Main Event matches. He started appearing back on main WWE programming when he dropped a non-title loss to WWE United States Champion Sheamus on Sunday’s WrestleMania Backlash Kickoff pre-show then followed up with another loss to Sheamus on Monday’s Raw.
On the flip side, Shirai has only been seen once on NXT TV for an interview segment since dropping the NXT Women’s Title to Raquel González at NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver in April.
Io Shirai made her latest defense as WWE NXT Women’s Champion against Raquel Gonzalez at Wednesday’s (April 7, 2021) WWE NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver.
The match featured an early attack by Io. When Dakota Kai attacked Io, she was ejected from ringside, and allowed Raquel to dominate. At one point, Shirai hit a dive off the skull, which was part of the stage. Raquel hit her finisher for the win.
On the March 14th edition of NXT, Shirai retained her NXT Women’s Championship against Toni Storm. Later that night, Shirai confronted Gonzalez and declared that she wanted to face Gonzalez next. The following week, Shirai told Raquel to sign a contract to make it happen, which she did.
This feud goes back to the NXT TakeOver: WarGames event where Gonzalez pinned Shirai to get the win in the women’s WarGames match as Gonzalez was part of Team Candice with Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai & Storm while Shirai was part of Team Shotzi with Shotzi Blackheart, Ember Moon & Rhea Ripley.
Shirai became the NXT Women’s Champion when she beat Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley in a triple threat match at TakeOver: In Your House in June of last year.
Io Shirai has a new challenger for her NXT title. On tonight’s episode of NXT, we saw the introduction of the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships, and the first-ever winners of the title were also crowned on the same night — Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai who came out on top after going through the gauntlet of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and winning the tournament.
The reign wouldn’t last much long however, as they got challenged for their first-ever title defense by Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart and ended up losing the titles to them on the same night. Not all is lost however as Gonzalez was offered something much bigger later.
Io Shirai retained her NXT Women’s Championship over Toni Storm with a Crossface submission to pick up the win. After the match, Shirai approached Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai in the locker room in a backstage segment where they were expressing their frustration over their loss in an interview.
Gonzalez said that it didn’t matter how long they held the titles, what matters is that they were the first ever competitors to win it. An interrupting Shirai approached Gonzales declared that she wants Gonzales to be her next challenger. “I want you next,” she said to the former NXT Tag Team Champion.
A Raquel Gonzalez vs. Io Shirai title match was teased a few months back, but it never took place. Now that it’s finally happening, it would be interesting to see if Gonzalez would be able to defeat Shirai, as the champion has taken down every challenger that’s come her way so far.
At the same time, her challenger has put out some great matches over the past year. Gonzalez defeating Shirai will usher in a new era in NXT’s women’s division, so this feud would definitely be worth investing in.
Io Shirai was successful in her latest title defense of the NXT Women’s Title.
She did so at Sunday’s WWE NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day event when she beat Mercedes Martinez and Toni Storm in a Triple Threat Match.
The match saw a brawling style with everyone trying to get their spots in. A typical three-way. At one point, Storm was going to do a spot with the announce table, but it broke by itself as she was clearing it. After Storm hit a headbutt off the top rope to Martinez, Io hit a moonsault onto them and pinned Martinez for the win.
On the January 27th edition of NXT, Shirai, Storm, and Martinez took part in a three-way brawl with it ending seeing Storm standing tall and holding up the title. Last month, Martinez made her return to NXT by attacking Shirai, who had been challenged by Storm and went to the ring to call her out. However, Martinez took her out by throwing her into the announce table.
Although Storm & Martinez teamed together in the women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, they were quickly eliminated by Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter in the first round. This was done thanks to Shirai attacking Martinez during the match.
What are your thoughts on Io Shirai retaining the NXT Women’s Title? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
Io Shirai was successful in her latest title defense of the NXT Women’s Title.
She did so at Sunday’s WWE NXT TakeOver 31 event when she pinned Candice LeRae.
The match was dominated by LeRae in the early going. Shirai managed to fight back and then they went right into the near fall spots. Shirai hit a moonsault off the top rope that saw LeRae put her knees up sending Shirai into the referee.
Johnny Gargano ran out to the ring with a referee t-shirt but the referee told him to get lost. LeRae hit Shirai with the title, but Shirai kicked out at 2. The finish saw Shirai hit a moonsault off the top rope.
After the match, Toni Storm appeared on the big screen to tell her that it’s Toni’s Time.
Then, the mystery person that had been featured in various video packages was revealed to be Ember Moon. She had a staredown with Shirai to end the segment.
There was a belief that the videos have been building towards the return of someone who was part of NXT several years ago such as a former NXT Champion.
Moon has been out of action since November 2019 with an achilles injury.
WWE set up this contest back on the September 23rd episode of NXT when they held a match that would determine who is next in line for a title shot.
A Battle Royal took place Shotzi Blackheart, Kacy Catanzaro, Indi Hartwell, Aliyah, Dakota Kai, LeRae, Rhea Ripley, Tegan Nox, Raquel Gonzalez, Kayden Carter, and Xia Li were the competitors. Obviously, LeRae won the match and earned this title opportunity.
The next challenger to WWE NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai will be Candice LeRae and it’s the second match to be added to the card of the upcoming NXT TakeOver event.
During Wednesday’s episode of NXT from Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University on the USA Network, WWE held a Battle Royal to determine the #1 contender.
Shotzi Blackheart, Kacy Catanzaro, Indi Hartwell, Aliyah, Dakota Kai, Candice LeRae, Rhea Ripley, Tegan Nox, Raquel Gonzalez, Kayden Carter, and Xia Li were the competitors. It was a typical battle royal and the final four were Kacey, Blackheart, LeRae, and Nox.
The finish saw LeRae toss Blackheart off the steel steps and she landed on her back. The match went about 20 minutes.
Because LeRae was victorious, she earned the right to challenge Shirai for the NXT Women’s Title.
Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE officials have considered holding this event outside of Full Sail University in favor of holding it at the ThunderDome, which is hosted in Orlando, Florida at the Amway Center. There’s still no word yet on the actual location.
Io Shirai was successful in her latest title defense of the NXT Women’s Title.
She did so at Saturday’s WWE NXT TakeOver: XXX event in Winter Park, Florida when she pinned Dakota Kai.
The match was back and forth. With Kai being the heel, she was able to get the majority of the offense while Io battled back from adversity. They did some near falls towards the end including a referee bump. Io won with a moonsault.
Post-match, Raquel Gonzalez came out and attacked Io until Rhea Ripley walked out to scare off Raquel. Ripley and Io had a staredown.
WWE set up this contest back on the August 5th episode of NXT when they held a match that would determine who is next in line for a title shot. A singles match between Ripley and Kai took place with the winner becoming the next challenger to the title. Kai was victorious, earning the right to challenge Shirai for the NXT Women’s Title.
The next special for NXT comes on October 4th at a location that has yet to be announced before holding another event during Survivor Series weekend in November.
The next challenger to WWE NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai will be Dakota Kai and it’s the latest match to be added to the card the upcoming WWE NXT TakeOver: 30
During Wednesday’s episode of NXT on the USA Network in Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University, WWE held a match that would determine who is next in line for a title shot.
A singles match between Rhea Ripley and Kai took place with the winner becoming the next challenger to the title. It was a lengthy match that featured a finish where Mercedes Martinez hit Ripley with a big boot that allowed Kai to capitalize on it.
Kai was victorious, earning the right to challenge Shirai for the NXT Women’s Title.
Following last night’s NXT: In Your House event, Triple H spoke with media. During the discussion, he talked about Io Shirai’s NXT Women’s Championship victory and the fact that she pinned Rhea Ripley and not the then-champion, Charlotte Flair.
“That finish was done tonight the way it was done for a very specific reason,” Triple H said. “Some people will read into that and go ‘oh, Charlotte can’t even get beat.’ I don’t buy into that, first of all. To me, the whole rhetoric of Charlotte Flair and her dad and her name and all that stuff is garbage. She works as hard as anybody I’ve ever seen. She’s a great performer, deserves everything she’s ever gotten and has.”
“This was done for a very specific reason for storytelling purposes,” he continued to say. “Hopefully, if we get to tell the story the way we want to over the coming months, I think 3 or 4 months from now you’ll go ‘I know exactly why they did the finish that they did.'”
Earlier on the call, Triple H was asked if Charlotte will continue on the NXT brand.
“We shall see,” Triple H responded when asked if Charlotte was done with NXT. “Charlotte’s always been a RAW talent, that is where she signed and her home. She had the NXT Championship. In essence, she’s been working all 3 brands lately, which has been awesome. We’ll see, I’m not 100% sure.”
Triple H On Io Shirai
Triple H also spent some time talking about the new NXT Women’s Champion, Io Shirai on the call.
“Io coming here from Japan, I always considered Io to be one of those game-changing talents, much like I did Asuka when she came here,” Triple H said. “There’s been bits and pieces of moments and injuries and setbacks and things. It’s amazing to see here where she is right now. She’s one of the greatest in-ring performers in the women’s division anywhere. I’m really excited for her. This is a new era for the NXT Women’s division with Io Shirai in that position.”
Charlotte Flair didn’t survive the Triple Threat Match as NXT Women’s Champion against two of the best stars that NXT has to offer as Io Shiri dethroned her.
Shirai won the NXT Women’s Championship by beating Rhea Ripley and Flair in the main event of the NXT TakeOver: In Your House special on Sunday night.
It was a wild match that saw them brawl over ringside. At one point, Flair used a kendo stick on her challengers. Flair sent Io through the window part of the set while Ripley threw a plant at Flair. Io did a dive off the roof of the house set onto Flair and Ripley.
The finish saw Io hit a moonsault to Rhea’s head off the top rope for the win.
This feud all started when Flair defeated Ripley by submission to win the NXT Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 36 – Night 2. Fast forward to the April 8th episode of NXT, Shirai won a ladder match to earn a championship match against Flair.
Moving along to the May 6th episode, Io won the match against Flair but failed to win the championship due to the DQ victory.
After the contest, Rhea made her return to NXT television in order to make the save for Io. Then, a match between Shirai and Ripley ended in a no-contest on the May 20th episode when Flair attacked them leading to this title match.
