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One of the most surprising moments of the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-Up came when Paige introduced Kairi Sane & Asuka as her new secret tag team on SmackDown Live.
The Japanese duo immediately made an impression by joining forces with Bayley and Ember Moon to defeat Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville in an eight-woman tag match, with Sane pinning Royce to pick up the win for her team.
Over the last 18 months, Sane has been one of the most prominent female Superstars in NXT, having followed up her 2017 Mae Young Classic triumph by winning the NXT Women’s Championship from Shayna Baszler in August 2018.
After losing the title back to Baszler at WWE Evolution in October 2018, “The Pirate Princess” joined forces with her Sky Pirate tag partner, Io Shirai, and it looked as though the duo would be called up to the main roster together during the recent Shake-Up. However, Paige only recruited Sane, which means Shirai will remain in NXT for the foreseeable future.
In this article, let’s take a look at five theories why WWE decided to split up the popular Sky Pirates.
#5 Kairi Sane had achieved everything in NXT
Although she had the shortest reign of any NXT Women’s champion in the brand’s history (71 days), Kairi Sane is still one of the most accomplished female Superstars to come through WWE’s developmental system.
Why? Because not only did she win the inaugural Mae Young Classic tournament, but she is also one of the few Superstars who has made multiple main-roster appearances (Royal Rumble x2, WrestleMania x2, Evolution x1) at the same time that she has been climbing the ranks in NXT.
From a storyline perspective, Sane had reached the end of the line in her pursuit to reclaim the NXT Women’s Championship from Shayna Baszler. She was unable to win the Fatal 4-Way, also involving Bianca Belair and Io Shirai, at TakeOver: New York and she was defeated by Baszler in a one-on-one title match on the latest episode of NXT.
The next natural progression for the Sane character is for her to join the main roster.
#4 Io Shirai can replace Shayna Baszler
Like Kairi Sane, Shayna Baszler made a name for herself in the NXT system after making it to the final of the 2017 Mae Young Classic. The two women went on to feud sporadically over the next 20 months, with Baszler ultimately coming out on top after defeating her rival at WWE Evolution to become the first two-time NXT Women’s champion.
Moving forward, there is a serious lack of female Superstars in NXT who have been built up enough to be seen as a credible threat to Baszler. A title reign for Belair certainly cannot be ruled out, but it is difficult to imagine “The EST of NXT” defeating “The Queen of Spades” in a one-on-one match.
Other than Belair, Io Shirai is the only current NXT Superstar who can realistically take the NXT Women’s Championship from Baszler and become the next person to spearhead a women’s division that has previously been run by high-profile stars including the Four Horsewomen, Ember Moon and Asuka.
Perhaps that is one of the key reasons why WWE allowed Sane to move to the main roster but decided to keep Shirai in NXT.
#3 Revitalise Asuka’s main-roster career
Towards the end of 2018, it felt as though WWE had done a good job of recreating the aura surrounding Asuka following the end of her 914-day undefeated streak at the hands of Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34.
However, after she defeated Flair and Becky Lynch in the main event of TLC to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship, her only impressive moment came at the 2019 Royal Rumble when she made Lynch tap out in a one-on-one match. From then on, she was largely forgotten about on WWE television and she ended up taking part in the Women’s Battle Royal on the WrestleMania 35 kickoff show.
Somebody with Asuka’s charisma and ability cannot stay out of storylines for too long, and it is safe to assume that she would not have been one of the first few challengers for Lynch’s Raw or SmackDown Women’s Championship due to the fact that their previous rivalry only ended three months ago.
Moving forward, perhaps WWE has decided to pair Asuka up with Kairi Sane to give her a new storyline in the Women’s Tag Team division before she returns to the SmackDown Women’s Championship picture later this year.
#2 Avoid a Sky Pirates match in NXT
There has been a lot of talk amongst the WWE Universe lately about how the career paths of NXT Superstars are essentially forgotten about as soon as they make their way to the main roster.
The War Raiders’ Hanson and Rowe, for example, have been renamed The Viking Experience’s Ivar and Erik after joining the Raw roster during the Superstar Shake-Up, while the NXT history of current WWE personnel often goes unmentioned when their accomplishments are listed by WWE’s commentary team.
In the case of Kairi Sane and Io Shirai, many fans were expecting them to have a dream match somewhere down the line at an NXT TakeOver event. However, now that Sane has departed for SmackDown Live, it looks as though that encounter will have to wait until Shirai is called up to the main roster.
Perhaps the decision to call up Sane was partly done to avoid a match with Shirai in NXT. That way it will mean a bigger deal when they inevitably go head-to-head one day at a WWE pay-per-view.
#1 Planning ahead for WrestleMania 36
The pirate-themed WrestleMania 36 logo is based on the logo of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who play their home games at the same stadium where next year’s ‘Mania will take place (the Raymond James Stadium).
Given that the stadium also has a giant pirate ship located at the back of one of the stands, it would only make sense for WWE to feature their very own pirate-inspired Superstar, Kairi Sane (aka “The Pirate Princess”), in a prominent position on the match card.
Many fans are predicting that Sane will be involved in a one-on-one match against fellow Japanese star Asuka on the show, which could mean that the duo’s new tag partnership is unlikely to last a lengthy amount of time.
Granted, there is still a long way to go before WrestleMania 36, but it would make perfect sense from a storyline perspective if Sane and Asuka’s new-found partnership resulted in a rivalry by the time the next ‘Mania comes around.
