According to a new report, Kairi Sane was offered a new contract to stay with WWE but turned it down in favour of remaining in Japan.
On December 6th Kairi Sane removed “WWE” from her Instagram handle, and now lists herself as a “former WWE Superstar” both there and on Twitter. This naturally led to speculation that she was done with the company.
While there has been no official statement from WWE or Sane herself, a new report has offered an update on the situation. Writing in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer notes that Sane was offered a new contract by WWE which would have seen her return to the United States and return to the ring. However, the former NXT Women’s Champion made the decision to stay in Japan where she had been working as an ambassador.
“Kairi Sane’s contract has expired. WWE wanted to renew her deal and have her return and wrestle, but she didn’t want to live in the U.S. And with COVID, the travel back-and-forth isn’t going to work right now,”
Kairi Sane hasn’t wrestled in WWE since July 2020 where she defeated Bayley on an episode of Monday Night Raw. The following week Sane was attacked backstage by Bayley, taking her out of action. It was later revealed that the star was heading back to Japan.
Three months later in October it was confirmed that Sane had begun working as an ambassador for WWE in her homeland.
Kairi Sane signed with WWE in March 2017, initially competing in the first ever Mae Young Classic. The “Pirate Princess” ended up winning the tournament following victories over the likes of Bianca Belair, Dakota Kai, Toni Storm and Shayna Baszler.
Sane made her NXT debut that October, reigniting her feud with Baszler the following year. The highlight of her run on the black and gold brand came against her long-time rival at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV where she defeated Baszler to win the NXT Women’s Championship. Although her run with the gold lasted only 71 days as he lost out to Baszler at Evolution.
Sane moved to the SmackDown roster in 2019 where she joined Asuka to form the Kabuki Warriors tag team with Paige as their manager. The pair were WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions for 171 days.