At Stardom‘s event to honor the retirement of Yoko Bito, NXT Superstars Kairi Sane appeared as part of the ceremony to pay respects to her former tag team partner.
WWE NXT Superstar Kairi Sane showed up to say goodbye to Bito! pic.twitter.com/2vLmFo0mup
— We Are Stardom (@we_are_stardom) December 24, 2017
#STARDOM #スターダム
美闘陽子 引退セレモニー
KAIRI SANE 宝城カイリ選手が登場！
夢の空間だ！ pic.twitter.com/2IP0Xz0L5R— レストランピアニスト もとい Motoi (@ms00001) December 24, 2017
Kairi Sane, who, as Kairi Hojo was one of Stardom’s most beloved and decorated champions, left Japan early in 2017 to join WWE, where she became the darling of the Mae Young Classic, taking the tournament in a gripping finale against new NXT Superstar Shayna Baszler. She left a World of Stardom Champion (their top title), Wonder of Stardom Champion (the equivalent of their Intercontinental Champion), a 3x Goddesses of Stardom Champion (tag team titles) and 4x Artist of Stardom Champion (6-woman tag). One of her Goddesses of Stardom title reigns was beside Yoko Bito.
陽子はん。
今日で引退なんて、まだ信じられないけど…
チームBY宝の絆は永久不滅です。#bestpartner pic.twitter.com/N1adx9wQuv— Kairi Sane (@KAIRI_official) December 24, 2017
Yoko Bito was part of Stardom’s first graduating class of students in 2010, alongside Sane Mayu Iwatani, but was forced to retire just two years later due to neck and back injuries. She took four years off to heal and made a surprise return in April of 2016, capturing the Wonder of Stardom title as well as teaming with Kairi Sane for tag team gold as well. Sadly, following her Wonder of Stardom title loss to Io Shirai this past November, Bito announced she would have to retire once again, this time for good, at the end of the year.
Thank you, Yoko Bito. pic.twitter.com/zkdWtG3fxJ
— We Are Stardom (@we_are_stardom) December 24, 2017
Sane’s appearance for Bito’s retirement marked the second early Christmas present for international fans from NXT, following the surprise appearance of former wXw wrestlers Alexander Wolfe and Axel Dieter Jr. at wXw‘s 17th Anniversary event last night, ahead of the announced appearances of Apollo Crews in the UK with PCW and Oney Lorcan‘s appearance with Beyond Wrestling.
