The anticipated arrival...
On May 28th of this year a Tokyo Sports article broke the news that former two-time World Of STARDOM Champion Io Shirai was in discussions with WWE. The following day Io announced herself that she was going to be departing from STARDOM. One month after Io's announcement concerning her departure from STARDOM she made an appearance at a WWE live event at 'Sumo Hall' and delivered the news to the Japanese faithful in attendance that she inked a deal with the WWE and will be competing for the NXT brand.
Shirai is a part of this year's Mae Young Classic field and episodes of the tournament are set to release on the WWE Network on September 5th. Fans in attendance at an NXT Live event in Largo, FL last night did not have to wait until September to see one of the most highly-regarded female professional wrestlers in the world in action. Io Shirai made her NXT live event debut when she teamed up with Deonna Purrazzo and the current NXT Women's Champion Kairi Sane to take on Jessamyn Duke, Shayna Baszler and Marina Shafir. Io's team fell short in the bout but nonetheless she has arrived and her talents will be on full display once the episodes of this year's Mae Young Classic are released.
The finals of the Mae Young Classic are set and to get a glance at who'll be competing in the finals at WWE's 'Evolution' PPV in October, click here.
