Kairi Sane was released by WWE in the company's latest round of cuts and, according to PWInsider, has already returned to Japan — a move that would make it nearly impossible for her to appear on the Apr. 27, 2026, edition of Monday Night RAW in Laredo, Texas.
The news crystallized over the weekend as the #WeWantKairi movement trended on social media and PWInsider moved to quash hopeful rumors that Sane was headed back to WWE. The outlet said there has been no change in Sane's status and explicitly refuted claims she was returning to the company, while also reporting she is back in Japan. Fans who watched Sane’s second stint with WWE, which began in 2023, pushed for a last-minute surprise at RAW — a scenario now rendered highly unlikely by her reported location.
Sane herself posted on X after her release, thanking supporters: she said she was grateful to those who had been by her side and wrote that she would "set sail… in my own time," adding that she loved her fans. That message only amplified the online push to see her appear one more time on WWE television, even as outlets and fan chatter offered conflicting takes on whether she would.
Context matters here: WWE routinely conducts annual roster cuts, and this latest wave included Sane among others. The immediate consequence is straightforward — a performer who had returned to WWE in 2023 is now off the roster again and, by reports, back in her home country. For the company and the storylines it runs weekly, that matters because Sane had been woven into an angle with Asuka and Iyo Sky that now lacks a key player.
The tension is sharp. Storyline threads that depend on a single performer can collapse when that performer leaves, and in this case the complication is geographic as well as contractual. PWInsider’s insistence that Sane is already in Japan and that there has been no status change sits uneasily next to fans’ insistence — on social feeds and in trending tags — that she should return for RAW in Laredo. If Sane stays in Japan, a return by Apr. 27 is nearly impossible; if WWE changes course, the company has not signaled it will. That gap between fan expectation and reported reality is the story’s friction point.
Beyond the immediate scheduling problem, the loss is narrative. The report accompanying Sane's release notes that her storyline with Asuka and Iyo Sky may never be resolved. For viewers who followed that arc, an unresolved finish is a rare outcome in television wrestling, where payoffs and rematches are the currency of storytelling. The situation also leaves open where Sane’s career might go next: if she remains in Japan, the usual possibilities cited by observers include a return to promotions such as World Wonder Ring Stardom or New Japan Pro-Wrestling, though no specific move has been reported.
Given the facts reported so far — WWE’s roster cut, PWInsider’s refutation of a return and its account that Sane is back in Japan, plus her own message of gratitude on X — the practical conclusion is blunt: the Asuka–Iyo Sky angle is likely to remain unresolved in the immediate future. Fans who hoped a surprise appearance on Apr. 27 would stitch the story back together should temper expectations; unless Sane changes course and returns to the U.S., the plot thread with Iyo Sky and Asuka will most likely be left dangling.
