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A multiple time champion with STARDOM back in her native Japan, Kairi Sane found immediate success in WWE by winning the inaugural Mae Young Classic tournament. Beating out a field of 32 competitors from all over the world, Kairi is now in line for a shot at the NXT Women’s Championship vacated by Asuka.
Kairi is widely considered to be one of the best wrestlers in the world today and Shinsuke Nakamura himself, reportedly convinced her to sign for the WWE. Even though she’s made a name for herself in the West, a lot of WWE fans may have no idea about Kairi’s work back in her native Japan or how she got to where she is. With that being said, let’s look at some things fans need to know about Kairi Sane, the “Pirate Princess”.
5: Concussion issues
According to the Wrestling Observer, WWE pursued Kairi’s signature for a while. The first offer from WWE came in 2016 but Hojo did not accept it immediately because she feared that her past concussion issues would be a big hurdle for her, especially with the hoopla over Daniel Bryan’s concussion issues.
However, Kairi’s fears proved to be unfounded as she passed WWE’s strict medical without much of an issue and soon won the inaugural Mae Young Classic tournament and she’s now getting ready to challenge for her first NXT Women’s championship. Needless to say, if Kairi had failed her medical, she wouldn't have been signed by WWE/
4: An athlete
WWE have always signed athletes from various sports like football, power lifting and mixed martial arts. The likes of The Rock and Goldberg have transitioned to pro wrestling to become icons in the industry.
Similar to Kairi started off her athletic career yachting and playing volleyball. In yachting, she competed at the national level while in college and dreamt of competing at the Olympics. Although she never quite made it that far, she did come close the competing at the world championships.
Even though she transitioned to professional wrestling, her love of sailing never left her and even works in her “Pirate Princess” persona.
3: The gimmick
Sane isn’t the first pirate we will see in the WWE with Paul Burchill swinging onto out screens in 2007 and then swinging out of them just as quickly.
Kairi was first given her pirate gimmick soon after her debut loss in STARDOM after which she joined the Zenryoku Joshi stable, thanks to her love of sailing and yachting. Over the years, Kairi has made the gimmick her own and countless titles later, the Mae Young Classic Winner, is getting ready to challenge for her first NXT Women’s Championship.
2: She appeared in Lucha Underground
A lot of fans may not know this but Kairi Sane appeared in Lucha Underground along with fellow STARDOM wrestlers Mayu Iwatani and Io Shirai (who reportedly came close to signing with WWE).
Brought in as part of the Pentagon Dark storyline, Sane and her fellow STARDOM stars were a part of Black Lotus’ stable, the very creative Black Lotus Triad. The four of them faced Pentagon dark in a handicap elimination match. Even though the Black Lotus triad won, Kairi, who faced Pentagon first was easily beaten, with Pentagon destroying her arm in the process.
1: Discovered as an actress
Unlike a lot of her peers like Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka, Kairi’s dream was never to be a professional wrestler. After leaving university, Kairi left her other athletic interests behind to pursure a career as an actress which actually gave her her big break in pro wrestling.
One of her roles in the theatre, had Sane playing the part of a wrestling heel and it caught the eye of STARDOM promoter Fuka who just happened to be in the audience. Fuka approached Kairi and invited her to a STARDOM show and Kairi immediately fell in love with pro wrestling’s unique mixture of acting and athleticism.
After starting her training in 2011, Kairi made her pro debut in 2012. Although she got her big break because of her acting skills, Kairi’s in-ring skills have caught up and she’s considered one of the best on the planet right now, regardless of gender.
