10 Things You Need To Know About WWE's New Signing Kairi Hojo

7. She's Relatively Inexperienced

Kairi Hojo
We-Are-Stardom.com

Few professional wrestlers have ever developed as quickly as Kairi Hojo, particularly in Japan - a country notably cautious when it comes to pushing and developing younger wrestlers. Debuting in 2012, it took Hojo just a couple of years to be considered among the best wrestlers in the country. She has just five years’ experience to her name, and after signing with WWE, she has made it to the biggest wrestling promotion in the world in a remarkably short timescale.

Contrast this with current NXT Women’s Champion Asuka, who made her wrestling debut in 2004 but didn’t attract WWE’s attention until 2015. Similarly, Raw Women’s Champion Bayley started wrestling in 2008, SmackDown’s Becky Lynch started all the way back in 2002, and even Sasha Banks, at just 25 years old, has two years’ more experience than Hojo.

Like Charlotte Flair, Hojo’s wrestling ability defies her lack of tenure in the sport. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer called her one of the best wrestlers on the planet last year, and she’ll immediately be among NXT’s top performers from the moment she walks into the Performance Center. Provided she settles into American life, expect Kairi Hojo to be a fixture on WWE cards for many years to come.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.