Io Shirai appears at WWE house show, confirms she’s joining NXT
Confirming what had been known for the last month, Io Shirai is officially headed to WWE.
At the second of two days of WWE house shows at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan, Shirai made an appearance in front of the crowd and announced that she had signed with the company and will be starting in NXT this summer. Whether or not she’ll be in this year’s Mae Young Classic, which will be taped at Full Sail University this August, wasn’t confirmed.
Tokyo Sports first reported in the May 28 edition of their newspaper that Shirai would be departing Stardom and going to WWE. She had her final match for Stardom on June 17.
Shirai originally accepted an offer to join WWE in May 2017, but a heart issue that was found during medical testing kept her from being signed then. She was cleared to return to wrestling for Stardom and continued to be their top star until leaving the promotion.
Shirai, who is 28 years old, finished 10th in the “Most Outstanding” category in last year’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards.
WWE posted some video of Shirai’s appearance from today:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkpvJjzgX3S
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.