AJ Styles Says Kairi Sane’s WWE Release Caught Him Off Guard

AJ Styles was surprised to see Kairi Sane released by WWE.

On Friday, April 24, reports emerged that WWE had released a number of stars from across both WWE NXT and the main roster, with perhaps the most surprising name among the lengthy list of departures being Kairi Sane, who as one half of The Kabuki Warriors had found herself in the middle of IYO SKY and Asuka, with the pair originally on a collision course heading into WrestleMania 42 before plans changed.

During the latest episode of his Phenomenally Retro Podcast, AJ Styles addressed the recent WWE departures, with Kairi Sane’s exit highlighted as a move he did not have the answers for.

“I think everybody’s a little confused. Asuka and her as a tag team, and then it just kind of… we don’t know exactly what the case is. That one caught me off guard as well because it was a great tag team thing. I feel like Kairi was doing her best work as of now. I wish I had answers. I don’t have these answers for you guys. I don’t know what this means for her. Is she done wrestling? Is she going to go back to Stardom? What’s next for Kairi Sane? But I know that she was loved and she was amazing. And yeah, I just hate that.”

-AJ Styles

Despite initial reports that WWE had released Kairi Sane after she reportedly indicated a desire to return to Japan, Sane recently took to X to seemingly deny that she had any plans to walk away from WWE.

IYO SKY is set to take on Asuka at Backlash on May 9 in a bout that was originally planned for WrestleMania 42, with Kairi Sane having been heavily involved in the pair’s feud and reports indicating that some within WWE were frustrated by her departure. You can read more about that here.

As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the future of Kairi Sane as soon as we hear more.

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