What’s the story?
According to F4WOnline.com, top Stardom superstar Io Shirai has not signed with WWE yet.
In case you didn’t know...
Shirai’s fellow Stardom superstar Kairi Hojo recently announced her departure from the company, signing a 3-year deal with WWE in March. Io Shirai had a WWE tryout in March as well. It was not supposed to be known to the public that she had a tryout, but due to some miscommunication, a couple of photos of her in the tryout were posted on WWE.com. The photos were removed not long after.
Io Shirai is currently the World Of Stardom Champion in her second reign, having been champion since the end of 2015. She’s considered as the top star of the 6-year old promotion. Io, Kairi Hojo, and Mayu Iwatani are considered by many to be the top female wrestlers on the entire planet.
The heart of the matter
F4WOnline reported that Shirai hasn’t followed Kairi Hojo to the WWE, but no mention has been made whether she has turned down the deal or not. As mentioned, she is considered the top star of Stardom. Shirai and Hojo were rumoured to come to WWE all the way back in November of 2016.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter had reported not long after that Shirai and Hojo changed their minds and were staying with Stardom. However, the decision to stay in Japan seemed to have been reverted very shortly
If Shirai does leave for WWE, it will undoubtedly be a major blow for Stardom, as they’ll have then lost their two biggest stars.
What’s next?
Kairi Hojo will be preparing in the Performance Center getting ready for her debut, while Shirai will continue as World Of Stardom champion, being the ace of the promotion.
Author’s Take
As big a blow as it would be to lose Shirai, there is no question that Stardom will be able to cultivate new stars. They still have stars such as Mayu Iwatani, Kris Wolf, and more. It should be noted that Stardom is hardly 6 years old, and have already established themselves as the top female wrestling promotion in the world. Stardom will be fine, even if they suffer for a little while without Shirai.
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