"I decided to leave" - Kairi Sane opens up about her WWE departure

The global COVID pandemic seems to have played a part in Kairi Sane departing WWE in 2020.

Kairi Sane signed with WWE in 2016 and made her in-ring debut in the Mae Young Classic in July 2017. Three years later, while still under contract to the company, Sane left the United States behind and returned to Japan, serving as an ambassador for the company throughout the duration of her contract.

Former NXT Women's Champion Kairi Sane recently sat down with Entame Next to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about her decision to leave WWE and return to Japan, Sane admitted that it had a lot to do with the pandemic because she never planned to live in the United States permanently.

"When I left Japan in 2017, I promised my fans that I would go on a long journey, but that I would come back grown up," Kairi Sane said. "I told that to President Rossy Ogawa (now Executive Producer). In the first place, my goal was to learn first-class professional wrestling, and I didn’t really intend to live permanently in the US. [When the Pandemic hit] I thought, 'Where am I going to go from here?' I had a sense of accomplishment that I had fulfilled my promise to my best friend and that I had done everything I could in my three years with WWE, and after several consultations with WWE, I decided to leave."

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Kairi Sane on choosing to return to STARDOM after her WWE contract expired

Sane spoke about her decision to return to the ring with STARDOM after her WWE contract expired.

"After I returned to Japan, I had not been watching professional wrestling with much enthusiasm," Kairi Sane admitted. "But when I went to Stardom's Budokan last year, the feeling of 'I want to fight with everyone someday' came up from my heart. However, even if I were to return, it would be the first time in about two years that I would be in the ring."

The former WWE Superstar also shared his thoughts on the pacing in different promotions.

"The pacing of the matches and the rules were different from those in WWE, and I wasn't sure if I would be able to adapt quickly. However, I had been training in the gym even when I was not competing, so I was in good physical condition." [H/T: Reddit user DamieN62 for the translation]

Sane's work since returning to STARDOM has been tremendous, and it's awe-inspiring that she seems better than ever after not being an active competitor for a few years.