During the WWE Women’s Championship match between Bianca Belair and Iyo Sky, a long-time friend and former tag team partner of Sky, Kairi Sane, returned to WWE.
Sane appeared fully decked out in red and black gear to help take down Belair after Bayley was taken out by Sky on accident. Sky retained the title and afterwards Sane and Sky beat down Belair in the middle of the ring to a chorus of boos from the crowd. Bayley stared on in disbelief while the two hugged it out in the ring.
Sane and Sky’s history goes all the way back to their time in STARDOM in 2013. That year, Sky (formerly Io Shirai) beat Sane (Kairi Hojo) in the 5STAR Grand Prix and proceeded to do it again in 2014. In 2015, Sane beat Sky for the World of STARDOM title. They would go on to face each other in singles matches throughout the years, until they met once again in WWE in 2018. Sane’s WWE run started off next to perfect — she competed in the inaugural Mae Young Classic and won, beating Shayna Baszler. She then went on to compete in NXT, defeating the likes of Belair, Rhea Ripley, and Baszler who she won the NXT Women’s Championship from. In Sane’s last WWE match in 2020, she defeated Damage CTRL’s Bayley on Monday Night RAW. During her time with the company, she tagged with Sky on NXT multiple times, but they were never a formal team. Sane did team with Asuka as The Kabuki Warriors, going on to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. The Kabuki Warriors held the titles for 171 days.
Sane recently finished up her obligations in Japan and STARDOM, with her last match being a trios tag between herself, Mayu Iwatani and Nanae Takahashi defeating STARS (Hazuki, Koguma & Saya Iida).
