Photo: WWE.com
Now that Io Shirai, one of the best female wrestlers on the planet, has joined WWE, these are five women that standout as potential opponents for her.
Earlier this year, WWE added yet another world-class wrestler to their already impressive collection of talent when the company signed Joshi star Io Shirai to a developmental deal. Of course, the former Stardom standout doesn’t have much to develop in terms of her workrate, as she is one of the smoothest female grapplers in the industry. If you don’t believe me, watch these matches. You will be swayed.
The company has already announced her as one of the participants in the second annual Mae Young Classic — where she is considered one of the favorites in what looks like a much stronger field than last year’s tournament. Once that wraps up, she’ll head down to NXT, where she will likely oscillate between having standout matches with the more seasoned ladies and carrying the greener talent to watchable bouts. Either way, everyone will benefit from working with the former two-time World of Stardom Champion.
When fans caught wind of the Shirai signing, I would guess that most of them weren’t thinking to themselves “Gee, I can’t wait to see her carry Alexa Bliss/Carmella/Lana/Vanessa Bourne to a passable match”. Many of them were probably losing their minds fathoming the possible dream bouts she could have in NXT and eventually the main roster.
With easily the most talented women’s roster in company history, there is no shortage of quality opponents for Shirai. For the purposes of this article, however, I will pare it down to these five women.
Honorable Mentions: Bayley, Mickie James, Natalya, Deonna Purrazzo, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch
5. Ember Moon
During Asuka’s run of dominance last year (boy, does that feel like it happened a lifetime ago), she had a couple of stellar matches with Ember Moon. At that time, the NXT women’s division wasn’t filled with a bevy of credible opponents; the creative team often booked Asuka in multi-person matches just to make fans think she had a legitimate chance of losing. With Moon, the writers didn’t have this issue.
Though Moon fell short in both title bouts, she showed that she could hang with “The Empress of Tomorrow”, as Moon matched her in striking and wrestling. The two had great chemistry, and their efforts allowed them to concoct two of the more memorable NXT Women’s Title matches in the developmental promotion’s brief history.
At some point in the future, I could envision Moon having similar matches with Shirai. Shirai and Asuka share many of the same in-ring traits: a domineering physical style, great chain wrestling skills, and strong psychology. Even if Moon and Shirai have a third of the chemistry that Moon and Asuka had, the matches would still be really good.
With Shirai starting out in NXT, this one won’t happen for a while. Whenever it does, the fans will be in for a treat.
4. Ronda Rousey
This one depends on how well WWE pushes Shirai once she reaches the main roster (a strong push in NXT is all but guaranteed). If the main roster creative team portrays Shirai as the world-beater that she is, then a match between her and Ronda Rousey is inevitable.
Despite having only three matches to her name, Rousey has acclimated to pro wrestling far quicker than anyone anticipated. The in-ring skills of her first two opponents make Rousey’s efforts look even more impressive; Nia Jax and Stephanie McMahon are far from the best workers, so the fact that Rousey turned in two memorable performances with both women says a lot, no matter how much planning went into it.
If Rousey could do that with a couple of unheralded wrestlers, imagine the matches she could have with a talent the caliber of Shirai.
Rousey still has to improve on the microphone, but she is a legitimate star and I’m past the point of worrying about how good or bad her matches will be (feel free to make me eat crow if she and Alexa Bliss have a stinker at SummerSlam). She’s still green, but I can count on one hand the number of ho-hum workers WWE has on their women’s roster. Rousey will work with a quality wrestler more often than not, and if she continues at her current trajectory, she won’t be too far behind her contemporaries in terms of wrestling acumen.
As it stands, Rousey is a box office attraction, so a properly booked Shirai could have a memorable showdown match with her.
3. Charlotte Flair
Speaking of quick studies in the ring, Charlotte Flair has become of the most complete workers in the company over the past couple of years. It’s amazing to see how good she is now compared to how awkward she looked between the ropes during her NXT days.
Since her exceptional NXT Women’s Championship Tournament finals match with Natalya back in 2014, Flair has had outstanding matches with the likes of Asuka, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch. Though some fans feel that she gets overpushed at times, Flair has shown time and time again that she can hold up her end in big matches.
Flair will probably tangle with Shirai somewhere down the line, but as I mentioned with Rousey, the magnitude of this match will depend on the type of push Shirai gets. If she gets something similar to the Asuka push, then this match could main event a pay-per-view. If they book her like post-undefeated streak Asuka, the match would still be intriguing, but it won’t mean as much.
If these two got the proper creative support — and that’s a big if — I think Flair and Shirai could have a stellar match that fans talk about long after these two have retired. Hopefully, this one happens soon.
2. Kairi Sane
Did you look at the Kairi Sane (known then as Kairi Hojo)/Io Shirai match that I linked to? Pretty good stuff right? Now, imagine those two getting a chance to tell a similar in-ring story at an NXT TakeOver show or on a WWE PPV?
WWE wouldn’t have to scramble to put together a compelling story for these two. Prior to joining WWE, Sane and Shirai battled over the World of Stardom Championship on several occasions. Each of their matches was rife with great back and forth action and strong storytelling. They also teamed together in Stardom, as they won the Artist of Stardom Championships with Mayu Iwatani.
Through their many battles as opponents and as a team, Sane and Shirai have developed great chemistry. They could probably sleepwalk their way through an awesome match. Take a look at that match again if you don’t believe me.
Since Shirai will start in NXT, this match will probably happen sooner than the other ones on this list. Depending on what happens over the next couple of months, these could square off for the NXT Women’s Title. Even if it doesn’t happen right away, a dream match between Sane and Shirai seems like a foregone conclusion.
1. Asuka
I am seldom surprised at the dumb booking decisions that WWE makes, but the way they have mishandled Asuka since WrestleMania 34 still mystifies me. I knew there was a non-zero chance of it happening, but I figured that WWE would know better than to mess up a sure thing. Clearly, I was mistaken.
Over the past couple of months, WWE managed to throw away Asuka’s mystique — as well as Flair’s momentum — for the express purpose of getting Carmella over as a top heel. CARMELLA! A wrestler that has never had a one-on-one match above two stars. That’s who WWE tried to prop up with Asuka’s streak. Shockingly, it hasn’t helped either woman: Carmella still comes across as a fluke champion while Asuka has become another cog in the WWE machine.
Asuka isn’t a lost cause, but the creative team will have to work hard to repair the damage done to her character and no, one win over Billie Kay isn’t going to cut it. A feud with Shirai would do the trick.
As with Sane, WWE would have plenty of history between Asuka and Shirai at their disposal; the two were allies in Japan as part of the Triple Tails faction with Shirai’s sister Mio. Asuka and Shirai could start off as partners at first — especially if WWE introduces Women’s Tag Team Championships — before they eventually feud. This would allow WWE to play off their past to craft a compelling storyline.
If WWE gave them the chance, Asuka and Shirai could have some outstanding matches.