‘Right before’ the back-to-back shows, KAIRI suffered an ankle sprain.
The first-ever IWGP Women’s Champion was crowned at NJPW x STARDOM Historic X-Over and that champion is KAIRI. She bested Mayu Iwatani to win the belt and next up on the docket is KAIRI defending the title at Wrestle Kingdom 17 against Tam Nakano.
NJPW1972.com is rolling out interviews with talents who are scheduled to be on Wrestle Kingdom 17 and KAIRI’s is the latest to be published.
She shared that she suffered an ankle sprain ‘right before’ STARDOM Gold Rush where she challenged for the Wonder of STARDOM Title. The next night was Historic X-Over. KAIRI was instructed by a doctor not to wrestle but she pushed through.
I thought I was fully prepared for the two nights, mentally and physically. But then as I was training right before Osaka, I sprained my foot. My ankle was swollen up really badly, and the doctor told me not to wrestle. I got through the Osaka match which really helped me from a mental standpoint, but with Mayu the next day, I was definitely worried.
The reaction KAIRI got for winning the IWGP Women’s Title included comments from IYO SKY, Asuka and Shayna Baszler. She mentioned that Shinsuke Nakamura liked her post about it and she’d like to see his match with The Great Muta (Keiji Muto) at NOAH’s ‘The New Year’.
You might be right [the reaction to the IWGP Women’s Title win was bigger overseas than it was in Japan]. Not just from fans, but from the WWE locker room as well. Asuka, IYO, Shayna Baszler all sent congratulations, so it was great to have that reception even after I’d left that company.
He [Shinsuke Nakamura] liked my post after I won! I know he’ll be in Japan on January 1st, wrestling the Great Muta so I’d like to be there and take that in.
KAIRI was in action at STARDOM Dream Queendom and Karen Peterson will have a recap of the show posted here on POST Wrestling.
