Kairi Sane Refused WWE Return Before Release
New backstage details on Kairi Sane's WWE departure, which happened this week.
Speculation that Kairi Sane had departed her ambassadorial role with WWE circulated earlier this week, when the former NXT Women's Champion removed references to the promotion from her social media accounts.
Dave Meltzer has now confirmed that Sane's contract with the promotion recently expired. Writing in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, he notes that WWE wanted to re-sign Kairi to a new deal and have her wrestle again, though Sane didn't want to relocate back to the United States.
COVID-19 related travel restrictions make going back and forth between the US and Japan impractical at the moment, though there's no indication that this factored into Kairi's decision.
Sane, 33, has teased wrestling again on social media, though nothing has been confirmed yet. Meltzer writes that her old home promotion, Stardom, would like to bring her back, though a comeback isn't something that's in the works at the moment.
Kairi hasn't wrestled since the 20 July 2020 episode of WWE Raw, after which she returned to her native Japan in order to be with her husband. She was retained by WWE as an ambassador despite this.