Former WWE Champion Reportedly Returns to Company

There have been a number of returns to WWE after Triple H took over creative, and there have been several rumored returns that have yet to happen officially. One of those returns might be right around the corner though, as WrestleVotes is reporting that former NXT Women's Champion and WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Kairi Sane has reappeared on WWE's internal talent roster. The report states that her return is imminent, though it isn't known if Sane will be part of Monday Night Raw or SmackDown. Kairi's return has been rumored for a while, but it seems that her WWE return is happening sooner rather than later.

On Twitter, WrestleVotes wrote, "After what feels like months of speculation, I'm told Kairi Sane has reappeared on the internal talent roster. Her return to the company is imminent." You can find the full post below.

After what feels like months of speculation, I’m told Kairi Sane has reappeared on the internal talent roster. Her return to the company is imminent.

— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) November 2, 2023

In a later tweet, WrestleVotes revealed that Sane is listed in the misc section of the Internal Roster as of this morning. In the tweet, they wrote, "As of this morning Kairi Sane is listed under the MISC section of the internal company roster. For complete transparency, the MISC section currently reads as Stephanie McMahon, HHH, Undertaker, Austin, Tyler Breeze & Titus O'Neil. There are 18 names total across 3 columns. The 18th name is Kairi Sane."

Sane would move up the ranks in WWE NXT and eventually dethrone Shayna Baszler as NXT Women's Champion at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. Sane would reign as Champion for 71 days until losing the Title to Baszler at Evolution in 2018.

Sane would become a regular part of the main roster and would join up with Asuka to form the Kabuki Warriors, and they would quickly become a force to be reckoned with. They would take down Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross at Hell in a Cell to become the new WWE Women's Tag Team Champions and would go on to defend it 4 times over the course of 181 days. They would eventually lose to Bliss and Cross later on at WrestleMania 36.

The Kabuki Warriors would wrestle their final match together in July of 2020 on Raw, falling to Sasha Banks and Bayley for the Women's Tag Team Championships. Sane would wrestle her last match in WWE the following week, and that's when she became an ambassador of WWE and moved back to Japan.

Sane would leave that role in late 2020, and she would go on to return to Stardom (now going by just Kairi) in 2022. An injury sidelined her for a bit but she would return to action later that year and continue with Stardom through 2022. In November she would defeat Mayu Iwatani to become the first-ever IWGP Women's Champion, and would defend her Title against Tam Nagano at Wrestle Kingdom 17.

In a full circle moment, Kairi was then confronted by a debuting Mercedes Mone (Sasha Banks), who had signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling after her time in WWE ended. Kairi and Mone would face each other at Battle in the Valley, and Mone would defeat Kairi and become the new IWGP Women's Champion. Kairi's reign would clock in at 90 days.

Are you excited for Kairi's WWE return? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!