On the third season of Lucha Underground, one of the undisputed highlights thus far has been the episode where Pentagon Dark had to fight all four members of Black Lotus’ Triad. (You know, the Triad, and Black Lotus.)
The Triad members were played by the debuting Kairi Hojo, Io Shirai, and Mayu Iwatani — all of whom are top singles wrestlers in Japan’s World Wonder Ring Stardom, or just “Stardom.” Anyone who watches Lucha Underground sat up and took notice. Apparently, so did WWE.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reports that Hojo, who appeared a Triad member “Doku” in Lucha Underground, has signed a WWE contract and will be reporting to the Performance Center in April. If you’re not immediately familiar with Hojo or her Lucha Underground character, you proably know her from GIFs, because she has THE BEST GOD DAMN ELBOW DROP IN THE HISTORY OF WRESTLING.
Hojo currently holds both the Wonder of Stardom and World of Stardom titles, and Stardom (obviously) wants her to lose those titles before she reports to WWE.
In addition, Meltzer says that Hojo’s Stardom roster-mate, Io Shirai — who has been talked about as one of the best wrestlers in the world, full stop, over the past year — is reconsidering a WWE offer now that Hojo has signed. Shirai will be visiting Orlando later this month, but will not be working any shows over WrestleMania weekend. It is unclear at this point whether she has signed or how close she is to signing.
While this isn’t such a massive blow to Lucha Underground, or doesn’t appear to be (what we’ve seen of Season 3 so far doesn’t overly involve the Triad, or their storyline might get wrapped up by season’s end), it is a big hit to the Stardom roster, as these are probably the two biggest stars on the roster. If that weren’t enough, Iwatani (the third-biggest star of the promotion) wants to retire by the end of the year.
You may now begin fantasy booking NXT women’s matches for the next year. Have fun!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svbaltNn6CM&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9st_S6x8ns
