There has been uncertainty surrounding Io Shirai’s future with WWE ever since it was reported earlier this month that her contract is set to expire soon.
On today’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer indicated that Shirai appears to be preparing to leave WWE.
“Io Shirai’s pretty much got her foot out of the door. Pretty much gone.”
Shirai’s current deal comes to an end in August, which means she will become a free agent if that does not change. That appears to be what is going to happen as she is apparently pretty much gone from the company.
Shirai has reportedly been informing people in Japan that she would like to return home in order to be closer to her family, which could be the case for her future. This is the same situation that Kairi Sane was in, but she ended up staying with the company in order to work as a WWE Ambassador until her deal expired, and since then she has gone on to compete for World Wonder Ring Stardom.
Right now it is not expected that Shirai would end up in any form of WWE Ambassador role, as unlike Sane, her contract is going to be officially over with WWE. That would bring an end to a five-year run with WWE, as Shirai first signed back in 2018, although the company originally tried to make that happen in 2017, only for medical problems to stop that.
During that time she only worked in “WWE NXT,” and has never been officially moved to the main roster, although she has had plenty of success as part of the black and gold brand. Shirai is a one-time “NXT” Women’s Champion, and a former “NXT” Women’s Tag Team Champion, which she won alongside Zoey Stark.
The former title holder has not competed for WWE since “NXT’s” Stand And Deliver event due to an injury, but it had been reported that she was gearing up for a return in the near future. However, now it appears to be unlikely that Shirai will compete for the company again, with her future being up in the air.
