10 Wrestlers WWE Must Sign After WrestleMania 33
6. Io Shirai
Io Shirai might be the best wrestler in the world not currently signed to a major promotion, regardless of gender. As Stardom’s ace and top champion, Shirai has conquered the Japanese joshi scene. Her matches are universally excellent, and she’s incredibly hard-hitting. More importantly, she’s still only 26 years old, meaning that she has at least another 10-15 years left as a top-tier pro-wrestler.
She’s smaller than current NXT Women’s Champion Asuka, but no less violent. Shirai has been kicking opponents’ heads off their shoulders since the day she debuted in 2007, and her matches with Kairi Hojo and Mayu Iwatani are up there with the best 2016 had to offer. If she showed-up in WWE tomorrow, she’d immediately be the best pure wrestler in the women’s division, even though she has only competed in America on a handful of occasions.
The Asuka comparisons are inevitable, and not without merit. Still, Shirai is faster and more athletic than the Empress of Tomorrow, even if her character work isn’t quite as compelling. Watching her set the forthcoming women’s tournament on fire would be an incredible sight, and if WWE are as switched-on to women’s wrestling as they think they are, they’ll be sending Io Shirai a giant stack of money after WrestleMania.