WWE released Kairi Sane on April 24, 2026, cutting one of more than 20 superstars from the roster just as her storyline with Asuka was gathering steam. The move ends a run that had taken her from Stardom to NXT, through a title win, a departure, and a return that never quite found a stable landing.
Sane, who began wrestling in 2011 under the name Kairi Hojo, joined WWE's NXT in 2017 and won the NXT Women's Championship during her developmental run. She and Iyo Sky, then known as Io Shirai, formed the Sky Pirates before she teamed with Asuka on the main roster as the Kabuki Warriors, a pair that quickly captured the Women's Tag Team Championships.
She chose to leave WWE in 2020, then came back in November 2023 and helped Sky retain the WWE Women's Championship against Bianca Belair at Crown Jewel. Sane also joined Bayley and Damage CTRL after her return, later reunited with Asuka as the Kabuki Warriors and won tag team gold again. By then, she had already torn a ligament in her thumb in January 2025, but returned to beat Liv Morgan in singles competition and stayed in the spotlight.
The release lands hardest because WWE had spent months building a slow-burn tension story between Sane and Asuka. Asuka routinely bullied her, Sane cowered and did whatever she was told, and then the two of them turned on Sky and attacked Rhea Ripley. That angle is now unfinished, and it leaves one of WWE's most distinctive performers without the payoff the company had been laying in front of her.
Sane had long been on the cusp of superstardom in WWE, but injuries and stop-start pushes kept breaking the momentum. Her release feels less like a clean ending than another abrupt cut in a career that repeatedly asked for more time than it got.
