KAIRI SANE

On May 15, Hojo defeated Santana Garrett for the Wonder of Stardom Championship, winning the title in her fourth attempt. Hojo defeated Io Shirai in September to take over the leadership of the Red Stars block in the 2016 5★Star GP. During the match though she suffered a concussion, which forced her to pull out of her remaining tournament.

Sane’s Success in Stardom

Threedom lost the Artist of Stardom Championship to Hana Kimura, Kagetsu and Kyoko Kimura in their third defense in October. A month later, Hojo and Yoko Bito defeated Io Shirai and Mayu Iwatani in the finals to win the 2016 Goddesses of Stardom Tag League. Following the match, Shirai turned on Iwatani and disbanded Threedom. In December, Hojo and Bito defeated Kagetsu and Kyoko Kimura to become the new Goddess of Stardom Champions. They lost the title to Hiroyo Matsumoto and Jungle Kyona in their second defense the following March.

Also that month, it was reported that Hojo had told Stardom’s office that she was leaving the promotion for WWE in April. On March 20, Hojo unsuccessfully challenged Io Shirai for the World of Stardom Championship. Hojo, Hiromi Mimura and Konami defeated AZM, HZK and Io Shirai to win the Artist of Stardom Championship on May 6.  Following the match, Hojo confirmed her departure from Stardom. The following day, Threedom reunited for one final match together. They defeated Hiromi Mimura, HZK and Jungle Kyona in a six-woman tag team match.

Hojo’s one-year reign as the Wonder of Stardom Champion ended on May 14, when she lost the title to Mayu Iwatani in her ninth title defense. She wrestled her final match for Stardom on June 4. After Hojo, Mimura and Konami lost the Artist of Stardom Championship back to AZM, HZK and Shirai in their second defense. Hojo wrestled an unadvertised ten-match one-minute time limit series against members of the Stardom roster that ended in three wins, six draws and one loss.

Kairi Sane Joins WWE

In October 2016, Housako was contacted and offered a WWE contract, starting in 2017. Housako had stated that she was interested in going to WWE, but had not made a final decision yet. There were also questions over whether she could pass the company’s physical examination due to her two concussions during the past two years.  In March 2017, Housako signed a three-year contract with WWE. Her contract was reportedly for $60,000 per year, which was less than she was making in Japan.

On June 30th, a video at a WWE house show in Tokyo, introduced Housako as “Kairi Sane” to WWE’s developmental brand, NXT. Sane also began competing in the Mae Young Classic tournament. On July 13th, she defeated Tessa Blanchard in the tournament’s first round in her WWE debut match. The following day, she first defeated Bianca Belair in the second round, then Dakota Kai in quarterfinals. Finally, she beat Toni Storm in the semifinals to advance to the finals of the tournament. However, Sane suffered both a concussion and a neck injury during the tapings. On September 12, Sane defeated Shayna Baszler in the tournament finals. As a result, she earned a shot at the vacant NXT Women’s Championship at the next NXT TakeOver show.

Kairi Makes Her NXT TV Debut

In October 2017, Kairi Sane made her NXT television show defeating Aliyah. In November, at NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Sane competed in a fatal four–way match for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship. She was not successful as Ember Moon won the match. At the 2018  Royal Rumble, Sane participated in the first women’s Royal Rumble match. She entered at number 6 and lasting approximately five minutes before being eliminated by Dana Brooke.

A few months later, Kairi also participated in the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34, alongside other NXT superstars. Sane was eliminated from the match by Sasha Banks. Shortly after, Sane started a feud with Lacey Evans as the two exchanged victories and attacked each other throughout the next few weeks. Eventually, Sane was able to defeat Evans on the June 6 episode of NXT, in a final match between the two, to end their feud.

Kairi Sane Wins NXT Gold

Kairi defeated both Candice LeRae and Nikki Cross in July in a triple-threat match to become the number one contender. As a result, she also reignited her rivalry with Shayne Baszler, exchanging victories in the Mae Young Classic Finals and at NXT. On August 18th, she defeated Baszler at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV to win the NXT Women’s Championship. At the WWE Evolution pay–per–view, Sane lost the championship back to Baszler. Her reign lasted 71 days.

Three weeks later, at NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Sane received her rematch against Baszler in a two out of three falls match. Unfortunately, she failed to regain the title after interference from Duke and Shafir again. Shortly after, Kai was sidelined with an injury and Sane continued to team with Shirai, forming a tag team known as “The Sky Pirates” while continuing to defeat various teams.

At NXT TakeOver: New York, Sane competed in a fatal–four-way match for the NXT Women’s Championship. She was unsuccessful in capturing the title as Baszler submitted Bianca Belair to retain. Six days later, on April 11th, Sane lost a rematch to Baszler after Io Shirai attacked Baszler who was looking to injure Sane. Because of her loss, Kairi was not allowed to challenge for the NXT Women’s Championship again.

The Kabuki Warriors

In 2019, the team of Kairi Sane and Asuka, later dubbed “The Kabuki Warriors” was formed and immediately entered into a feud with The IIconics over the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. The Kabuki Warriors failed to capture the titles from then-champions Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross in August. At the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in October, the Kabuki Warriors beat Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. As part of the 2019 Draft in mid-October, Asuka and Sane were both drafted to the RAW brand. 

The Kabuki Warriors successfully defended their titles against various teams until WrestleMania 36 when they lost to Alexa Bliss and Nikki cross. Their reign lasted 181 days. In July 2020, Kairi Sane left WWE and returned to Japan to be with her husband. She officially left WWE as her contract expired in December 2021.

Return to World Wonder Ring Stardom & NJPW

Kairi returned to World Wonder Ring Stardom with the ring name, Kairi, in February 2022. She teamed with various superstars and wrestled for the promotion throughout 2022. In November 2022, Kairi defeated Mayu Iwatani in the main event of Historic X-Over, a professional wrestling event co-promoted by Stardom and its sister promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), to become the inaugural IWGP Women’s Champion.

She defended her title against Tam Nakano at Wrestle Kingdom 17. After the match, she was confronted and attacked by Mercedes Moné (formerly known as Sasha Banks). Moné then challenged Kairi to a title match at Battle in the Valley. At the event, Kairi was defeated by Moné. Her reign lasted 90 days.

Kairi Sane Returns to WWE

On August 5th 2023, it was reported Kairi has come to terms with WWE and would return to the company. She made her return at Crown Jewel using her WWE ring name, Kairi Sane. At her return she assisted Iyo Sky in retaining the WWE Women’s Championship against Bianca Belair and joined the SmackDown brand.

On the following episode of SmackDown, Sane confronted Bayley and forgave her for her actions in 2020 and joined Damage CTRL. Later that night, during a six-woman tag team match pitting Asuka with Belair and Charlotte Flair against Damage CTRL, Asuka turned on her teammates to reunite with Sane while joining Damage CTRL at the same time. This move also reformed the Kabuki Warriors tag team. At Survivor Series WarGames, Damage CTRL lost to Belair, Flair, Becky Lynch, and Shotzi in a WarGames match.

Kabuki Warriors Win Tag Titles

On the January 26, 2024, episode of SmackDown, Sane and Asuka defeated Kayden Carter and Katana Chance to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships for the second time as a team. Sane then competed in the 2024 Royal Rumble match entering as competitor #11. She eliminated Candice LeRae but was eliminated by Carter.

At Elimination Chamber: Perth pre-show, Sane and Asuka defended their titles against the team of Indi Hartwell and LeRae. Then, at NXT Roadblock, they defeated the team of Lyra Valkyria and Tatum Paxley to retain their titles. On Night 1 of WrestleMania XL, Damage CTRL (Sane, Asuka, and Kai) were defeated by Belair, Naomi, and Jade Cargill in a six-woman tag team match. During 2024 WWE Draft, Sane (as a part of Damage CTRL) was assigned to RAW. At Backlash France, Sane and Asuka lost their titles to Belair and Cargill. Their second reign lasted 99 days.

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