What’s the story?
According to Dave Meltzer of F4Wonline.com, Stardom superstar Io Shirai has accepted the offer to join WWE.
In case you didn’t know...
Io Shirai is the current World Of Stardom champion in Japan. She is considered one of the top stars of the company along with Mayu Iwatani(Kairi Hojo was in the same conversation but has since departed Stardom to join WWE).
Shirai had taken part in a WWE tryout at the Performance Center two months ago, and her photo in the tryout was even posted on WWE.com but was quickly removed. As mentioned, her fellow Stardom superstar Kairi Hojo signed with WWE on a 3-year contract.
Shirai and Hojo were both linked with Stardom towards the end of last year but had apparently changed their minds and decided to stay at Stardom. However, from the look of things, both had a change of mind.
The heart of the matter
F4Wonline reported that there is no start date for Shirai as yet, but she is expected to join. It will undoubtedly be a huge blow for Stardom, as they will have lost 2 of their 3 biggest stars. While it will be harder, it’s not impossible for Stardom to cultivate new stars and push them.
Stardom is the top women’s wrestling promotion in the entire world, and they should be fine. However, in the immediate future, it may hit them quite a bit.
What’s next?
If the report is indeed true, then WWE will be getting one of the best female wrestlers on the entire planet. It is a huge acquisition by them.
Author’s Take
WWE is lucky to be getting Io Shirai and Kairi Hojo around the same time frame. With the NXT Women’s division being dominated by Asuka for a full year, the addition of these two supremely gifted athletes will help boost the women’s division of NXT and WWE down the line.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Hojo and Shirai sitting in the side at NXT Takeover: Chicago this coming Saturday. Together, the women of Stardom can create magic. However, Shirai still has to complete her work at Stardom and drop the title before departing.
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