Kairi Sane has been reportedly rumored to be leaving WWE soon.
Kairi Sane, a pirate in WWE NXT and a Kabuki Warrior on the WWE main roster, has procured many championships over the course of her career, especially in Stardom where she became a three-time “Goddess of Stardom” and four-time “Artist of Stardom.” However, her success did not cease once she stepped foot on WWE’s proving grounds, exerting her influence on all three brands of NXT, SmackDown, and Raw consecutively throughout 2017-2020.
On NXT, Kairi Sane won the 2017’s Mae Young Classic by defeating Shayna Baszler in the finals and coincidentally won the NXT Women’s Championship by defeating Shayna Baszler in 2018’s NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV. Her insurmountable success in NXT as a singles performer and natural babyface persona assumedly cemented a promising future for her on the main roster. However, she debuted on the main roster as a tag wrestler and never left that spot up to now.
On SmackDown, Kairi Sane debuted on the main roster as a babyface Kabuki Warrior alongside Asuka with Paige as a manager. Since IIconics just won the Women’s Tag Team Championships at the time, the Kabuki Warriors’ momentum did not pick up as well as it should have. Nonetheless, they were consistently considered for championship opportunities due to being one of the most technically sound tag teams in the division.
On Raw, Kairi Sane won her first main roster tag team championship alongside Asuka. As the Kabuki Warriors, they won the Women’s Tag Team Championships at WWE Hell in a Cell 2019, where they defeated Bliss Cross Applesauce (i.e. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross) nefariously with green mist. This nefarious victory as well as their abandonment of their then-manager, Paige, signified their heel run as Women’s Tag Team Champions for six months.
After losing the Women’s Tag Team Championships back to Bliss Cross Applesauce at WrestleMania 36 in 2020, only one member of the Kabuki Warriors has been basking in the prominence of the main event scene while the other disintegrated into obscurity. Unfortunately, the latter description applies to Kairi Sane, who has been persistently booked as Asuka’s sidekick or ‘lackey’ rather than her equal.
While the WWE’s underutilization of Sane’s untapped potential and/or the injuries she sustained in her matches with Nia Jax recently could be perceived as reasons she is leaving the WWE, it has been reported rumored by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Sane wanted to move back to Japan to be with her husband once her contract expires with WWE. Nonetheless, the following will focus on three farewell matches for Sane.
3.) Shayna Baszler
As mentioned earlier, Kairi Sane won the 2017’s Mae Young Classic by defeating Shayna Baszler in the finals and coincidentally won the NXT Women’s Championship by defeating Shayna Baszler in 2018’s NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV. She also lost her first NXT Women’s Championship, which she cherished in her pirate-gimmicked treasure chest, to Shayna Baszler, at WWE’s first ever all-women’s PPV, WWE Evolution 2018.
On the main roster, Shayna Baszler, a fellow NXT-call up, has been off WWE television for over a month. Like Kairi Sane, she is also on Raw but not involved in any major storylines. Booking Baszler in a farewell match against Sane would be solid booking, thanks to their profound history. In fact, plans were initially in play for Baszler to end Sane’s career, but plans may have changed with Paul Heyman’s removal from the Executive Director’s role on RAW.
Hopefully, WWE still goes with this plan, especially since both superstars would benefit from this match. Their superb matches from the past have already proved that they can produce a neat sendoff for Sane while pushing Baszler as one of the most dangerous superstars in the WWE to date. Furthermore, defeating Sane would give Baszler the momentum she needs to battle Sane’s tag partner, Asuka, for the Raw Women’s Championship in the near future.
2.) Nia Jax
As mentioned earlier, Kairi Sane sustained injuries in her matches with Nia Jax. On both the April 20, 2020, and June 1, 2020, episodes of Monday Night Raw, Sane was injured due to Nia Jax’s buckle bombs on the turnbuckle as well as the steel steps. The right and moral thing for WWE to do would be to write Jax off television to give her ample time to prepare and become a safer worker in the ring, but controversy does create cash.
Albeit controversial, it would be very characteristic of WWE to book this as Sane’s farewell match. It would leave a sour taste in everyone’s mouths, if Jax, out of all possible options, were to retire Sane. It would be redeeming if these two superstars could actually produce a show-stealing match without any botches, giving Jax heel heat rather than go-away heat as an end result. There’s only hope that that scenario would be the case.
Since Sane has never defeated Jax during her time in the WWE, it might be more favorable if WWE booked a David-Goliath victory, where Sane actually defeated Jax before retiring from WWE. This victory would prove that Sane belonged in the main event scene but just did not have a long enough career to do the transition. This victory would leave the thought in the WWE Universe’s minds that Sane had the potential to make it to the next level, which WWE failed to capitalize on.
1.) Asuka
As mentioned earlier, Kairi Sane’s main roster success was defined by her tag team accomplishments with Asuka. However, she took the back seat in 2020 while Asuka moved on to win the MITB contract and immediately the Raw Women’s Championship, which Becky Lynch bestowed upon her in an honorable fashion before leaving to fulfill her duties as a mother. The most ideal farewell match for Sane would be against Asuka for the Raw Women’s Championship.
Since Asuka is already occupied with Sasha Banks at WWE Extreme Rules 2020, WWE SummerSlam 2020 would be a good stage for this championship match. There’s no need to turn either superstar heel because they are two babyface superstars who have the utmost respect from each other due to their tag team history. This would also be a dream match in the making since the Kabuki Warriors have never battled one-on-one in the WWE.
Just like babyface and then-WWE Champion John Cena did for fellow babyface Daniel Bryan at WWE SummerSlam 2013, Asuka should select Kairi Sane as her opponent at WWE SummerSlam 2020. Although some naysayers may want Sane to win a number one contender’s match to earn her championship opportunity, this farewell storyline would be more emotionally investing if Asuka selected Sane out of respect for their past work together as a tag team for two years.