Rookie Year: Grading the first year of several stars new to WWE's main roster in 2019

#5 Kairi Sane

Along with Shayna Baszler, Kairi Sane was a big part of the NXT Women's Division once she debuted. She competed in the Women's Royal Rumble this year and was eventually called up to SmackDown to form a team alongside Asuka. As The Kabuki Warriors, Sane and Asuka started out as a face team under the tutelage of Paige.

They competed in matches on SmackDown, but never really received a proper shot at the Women's Tag Team Titles on TV until a July episode of SmackDown. The Warriors were unsuccessful in capturing the titles then and also failed to win the belts against Bliss and Cross, who had previously won the Titles from the IIconics.

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Luck finally favored The Kabuki Warriors, as they captured the titles from Bliss and Cross at the Hell in a Cell PPV in October. During the match, Asuka used green mist to blind Nikki Cross, leading to a title victory. The Japanese duo soon turned heel after they misted and attacked manager Paige.

Sane hasn't had a chance to shine as a singles competitor, but has pinned Becky Lynch since coming to the main roster. None of the Women's Tag Team Champs have had long reigns, so hopefully that changes with The Kabuki Warriors. They are both former NXT Women's Champions and are among the best wrestlers in the company.

Grade: B

About the author

Matt Serocki is a sports journalist from outside of Boston, Massachusetts who has written about sports for a local newspaper, the MetroWest Daily News.

Matt has written about professional wrestling for the past year but has been writing lyrics, short stories and novels in his spare time. He writes around 30-50 articles per month.

During his time on writing for Sportskeeda, Matt has written about a variety of topics including the history of the business as well as about the current stars and product. He follows numerous promotions like the WWE, AEW, ROH, MLW, NJPW, Championship Wrestling from Hollywood and WOW.

Studied Communications with a focus on writing at Framingham State University from 2000-2004.

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Edited by Michael McClead