No, Kairi Sane Is NOT Coming Back To WWE (WWE News)

Despite fan pressure, WWE has no plans to bring back Kairi Sane.

WWE Raw Kairi Sane
WWE

Despite loud "We Want Kairi!" chants on last night's Raw, with fans unhappy that Kairi Sane was part of WWE's recent round of releases, it doesn't appear we'll be getting the Pirate Princess back in the company any time soon.

Of course, last year saw huge outrage from fans and talent alike at the shock release of R-Truth, which ultimately resulted in WWE backtracking and Nick Khan personally phoning Truth to get him to sign a new contract with the market leader.

In the case of Kairi Sane, she had been a regularly featured player on Raw in recent months, including being a key part of the ongoing rivalry between Asuka and IYO SKY, with Kairi having constantly been berated and bullied by the Empress of Tomorrow. The clear story here was going to be Sane eventually standing up to Asuka and breaking those shackles, but that plot thread will seemingly never be resolved.

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Per PWInsider, there is no change in Kairi's status, there are no plans to bring her back to finish that story, and she's already back in Japan. On that front, Bryan Alvarez said on Wrestling Observer Radio that her return to Japan may not be tied to Sane's release, as she usually travels there once or twice each month.

WrestleVotes on Fightful Select also notes that there is zero word on Kairi returning to WWE, and that WWE doesn't want to set a precedent where decisions like this are reversed due to fan pressure. The idea here is to deal with this situation like the similar one with Karrion Kross and Scarlett when they were released last year. As in, despite strong fan noise for the two to be brought back, WWE chose to ignore that and hope for the chants and pressure to eventually go away.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.