Kairi Sane: We Bet You Didn’t Know These Things About Her

Kairi Sane

Kaori Housako is a Japanese professional WWE wrestler and actress under the ring name Kairi Sane. If you’ve ever wondered why Kairi Sane dresses like a pirate, it’s because of her passion for yachting. That’s where she got the inspiration for her pirate attire. 

In 2016, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter called Kairi Sane and her fellow Japanese workers Io Shirai and Mayu Iwatani the “three of the best wrestlers in the world”. But recent news shows that Kairi Sane will be leaving WWE and heading back to Japan following a series of roadblocks in her career. 

Kairi Sane: Did You Know These Things About Her?

What’s Kairi Sane’s real name? 

  • In her professional wrestling career she is known as Doku, Kairian, Kairian 3.0, Kairi Sane, Pirates Kaiser and of course Kairi Sane. 
  • But the Japanese professional wrestler signed to WWE was born as Kaori Housako. Her nickname is Kaori. 
  • Going on stage under her previous ring name Kairi Hojo, she made her Stardom debut on January 7, 2012 during the first night of the 2012 Stardom Season 5 New Year Stars event, in a match won by Yuzuki Aikawa. 

What is Kairi Sane’s educational qualification? 

PC: Pinterest

She has done her graduation from Hosei University with a bachelor’s degree in Japanese literature. After graduating from Hosei University, Kairi Sane began pursuing a career in acting. She quickly fell in love with professional wrestling’s aspect of combining acting with sports and decided to become a wrestler herself.

What happened to Kairi Sane? Why is Kairi Sane leaving? 

Injuries: 

  • Despite having initial success on the NXT roster, Kairi Sane has struggled to find her own character on the main roster. 
  • Her head injury at TLC 2019 didn’t do her any favors when Jax threw Sane into the steel steps. After the referee checked on Sane, Jax tossed her back into the ring and hit her with a leg drop to pick up the victory. According to Fightful, WWE’s medical team tended to Sane and bandaged her up. Sane also reportedly insisted on finishing the match. Not only that, Sane remained in character and sent a message to Jax in the following tweet, blood and emotions exposed:
  • Since the episode of Raw at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, is taped, WWE was able to edit the match in such a way that viewers who were unaware of the injury ahead of time likely wouldn’t have even noticed that it occurred.
  • This match wasn’t the first injury scare in a match between Jax and Sane. Sane had a rough landing when she took a turnbuckle powerbomb from Jax a few weeks ago on Raw.
  • PWInsider’s Mike Johnson later reported that WWE officially banned the buckle bomb, with the spot between Jax and Sane being the final straw after multiple injuries from the move.
  • The size disparity between Sane and Jax may have played a role in how their past two matches played out, as Sane is nearly one foot shorter and well over 100 pounds lighter.

Problems with WWE:

  • Since last year, she picked up multiple injuries during her matches that kept her out of action time and again, leaving no space for consistency. Her injuries were seen on live TV during matches. This didn’t showcase the WWE in a very good light and that’s bad for anyone hired to promote the sport. Sane was featured in the graphic that was posted to Twitter last night to hype the champion vs. champion match for Raw that will feature Raw Women’s Champion Asuka against SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley.
  • There appears to be a change of plans because a new graphic posted to WWE’s Twitter does not include Sane in Asuka’s corner. Here’s the original graphic that was posted by WWE and the new one that excludes Kairi Sane:

Is Kairi Sane married? 

Kairi Sane announced her marriage to a man with whom she was having a long-distance relationship on February 22, 2020. She is expected to return to him after her recent fallout with WWE. Sane probably doesn’t want to risk further harm or permanently disabling injuries and will thus return to Japan to her husband. There, she plans on wrestling for another year before retiring completely from the sport.

How will Kairi Sane go out?

We haven’t seen the last of Sane as she will still be appearing on two or possibly three more episodes of RAW, according to Dave Meltzer.  Her departure from WWE will be played out as a ‘career-threatening injury’ in the storyline. At least that was the plan when Paul Heyman was in charge. Her character could have done so much more. However, the dominance of Asuka and several other main roster figures left no space for her to make herself stand out.

What is Kairi Sane’s Nationality? 

PC: Pinterest 

She is Japanese and currently Kairi Sane’s residence is Orlando, Florida, U.S. 

Her profession has made her famous all over the world as Kairi made her international debut in 2014, beginning with bookings in Mexico. 

Where was Kairi Sane born? 

Her birthplace is Hikari, Yamaguchi, Japan which was her hometown before she found fame as a professional wrestler. 

How old is Kairi Sane?

31 years as she was born on 23 September 1988. 

What is Kairi Sane’s height in feet? 

5 feet 1 inch in height. 

What is Kairi Sane’s weight? 

52 kgs. 

Other interesting facts about Kairi Sane: 

PC: The Sportster
  • Kairi Sane’s Sun Sign is Libra. 
  • Kairi Sane made her video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K19. She is also a playable character in WWE 2K20.
  • Kairi Sane has concussion issues. WWE reportedly first offered Sane a contract in October 2016. However, while Sane was interested in signing with WWE, she worried that she wouldn’t pass the company’s strict physical exam due to a history of concussions. Thankfully, Shinsuke Nakamura convinced Sane that she’d be a perfect fit for WWE, and she officially signed a three-year deal with the company in March 2017.
  • WWE is no stranger to signing athletes from a wide array of sporting backgrounds, but Kairi Sane comes from a particularly unique sport: yachting. Throughout her collegiate career, Sane competed in numerous intercollegiate, national, and world yachting competitions, and she even dreamed of making it to the Olympics. While that didn’t happen, Sane carried her passion for yachting into her pro wrestling career – it’s where she got the inspiration for her pirate attire.
  • Sane began her training with the Japanese promotion Stardom in 2011. She passed her first pro test in November of that year and debuted the following January. The fact that she’s made it to WWE in such a short amount of time is truly astounding. By comparison, it took Asuka, who started wrestling in 2004, more than 10 years to gain WWE’s attention. Of course, there’s no doubt that Asuka broke down doors for Sane, but Sane’s quick rise to prominence speaks to her natural ability inside the squared circle.
  • She was ranked No. 10 of the top 100 female wrestlers in the PWI Female 100 in 2017 and 2018.
  • Ranked No. 8 in the top 10 female wrestlers in 2018 for Sports Illustrated— tied with Shayna Baszler.
  • Her first appearance for an American promotion was actually on Lucha Underground. In February 2016, Sane wrestled under the name “Doku” as a member of the mysterious Black Lotus Triad and was the first to face renowned luchador Pentagon Dark (a.k.a. Pentagon Jr.) in a gauntlet match. While Pentagon Dark ultimately defeated Doku, her showing was impressive – you have to see her patented elbow drop to believe it.
  • The actress was discovered while acting in a play as a pro wrestler. Perhaps it was destiny that Kairi Sane found her way to pro wrestling. It certainly seems so given the unusual circumstances of which she was discovered. After graduating from Hosei University, Sane pursued a career in acting, which included theater work. One of the roles she undertook required her to portray a pro wrestling villain, and Fuka, the general manager of Stardom, just so happened to see Sane’s performance. Fuka was so impressed that she invited Sane to one of Stardom’s shows, and the rest is history. This is her filmology: 

Signature moves:

  • 4173 (Bridging Gedo clutch)
  • Alabama Slam / Tokyo Slam (Double leg slam)
  • FKE / Flying Kabuki Elbow (Springboard forearm smash)
  • High-impact elbow smash, with theatrics
  • Interceptor (Spear)
  • Marine Spike (Diving double foot stomp to a tree of woe-hung opponent)
  • Sliding D (Sliding forearm smash to an opponent seated in the corner, with marching theatrics) – adopted from Masato Tanaka
  • Flying Headsissors
  • Axe Kick
  • Uraken
  • Dropkick
  • Running Blockbuster
  • Sūpu~Umarekawari no Monogatari. 

Television: 

  • 2011: Zenigata Kintarō 
  • 2012: Waratte Iitomo! 
  • 2012: Gachigase 
  • 2013: Sekai Fushigi Hakken 
  • 2014: Nakai Masahiro no Mininaru Toshokan
  • 2015: Naruhodo! Haisukūru 

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