WWE has been building steadily toward their women’s tournament for most of 2017, but ever since rumors began swirling about Japanese star Kairi Hojo potentially signing with WWE, the overwhelming sentiment has pretty much been “Kairi Hojo better be in the Mae Young Classic or else.” Well, it’s time to pack away your “or else” options, kids, because Hojo is in and has revealed her new WWE name, to boot.
The rechristened Kairi Sane appeared in a pre-taped video at Friday’s WWE Tokyo event to confirm that, yes, she is in the Performance Center now, she has signed with WWE, and she will be part of the Mae Young Classic.
Kairi Sane announces that she will take part in the historic #MaeYoungClassic! #WWETokyo pic.twitter.com/LleJ4P9XHN
— WWE (@WWE) June 30, 2017
Similarly, WWE’s New Zealand Twitter account (yeah, there’s one of those!) announced that Dakota Kai, better known as Evie, will also be in the field of competitors.
https://twitter.com/WWENZ/status/880531477854773248
On Friday, WWE.com had the full, complete announcement of Sane, Kai, and two more women confirmed for the tournament. The first is Piper Niven, a Scottish wrestler whose real name is Kimberly Benson, and who has been wrestling in the U.K., Japan, and pretty much all over since 2008 under the name Viper.
And the final name is one of two women who won qualifying matches at the most recent NXT tapings. We assumed these qualifiers would be appearing on NXT in the coming weeks, but since WWE’s YouTube channel uploaded the full qualifier in question, I guess not!
Bianca BelAir is the rechristened Bianca Blair, who WWE absolutely thinks the world of. This tournament really is shaping up very nicely. Also: poor Aliyah.
