Real Reason AEW Hasn't Signed Kairi Sane Yet (AEW News)

What's stopping Kairi Sane from appearing in AEW right now?

Kairi Sane
WWE

With Ilja Dragunov having now officially landed in AEW, Kairi Sane is another former WWE name who's been regularly linked with joining Tony Khan's promotion.

Not just that, but Kairi was a name brought up to AEW President Tony Khan during the post-WrestleDream media scrum over the weekend, where Khan called Sane a "fantastic wrestler" and said he was "very intrigued" by the possibility of her joining AEW at some point.

Per Dave Meltzer over at the Wrestling Observer, the belief is that Kairi Sane hasn't appeared in AEW yet due to a visa issue.

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Some may have noticed that the Pirate Princess has been announced for this year's Jericho Cruise, which takes place between November 7th - 11th, and the reason she's able to attend is that it takes place at sea rather than on US soil, setting sail to the Bahamas.

Amidst plentiful speculation, reports surfaced last month that Kairi Sane and AEW have been in talks about her joining the promotion, including the possibility of her debuting at All In back in August.

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To the dismay of many, Kairi Sane was part of WWE's post-WrestleMania 42 round of releases, which marks the second time that the hugely talented star had been let go by the market leader. Making that second release even more baffling was that Kairi was in the midst of a heavily featured storyline involving Asuka and IYO SKY, with Asuka having spent months berating Kairi, and WWE seemingly building towards the big moment that Sane would stand up to her mentor... only for WWE to instead release Kairi and leave that thread unresolved.

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 and Presenter, 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 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 and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.