Various: KAIRI on Upcoming Match with Mercedes Mone, Kylie Rae on WWE Tryout & Free Agency, Indies

Jan 25, 2023

KAIRI Comments on Upcoming Match with Mercedes Mone & Wanting Future Match with Jamie Hayter

Dark Puroresu Flowsion held a recent interview with KAIRI. One of the topics discussed included her thoughts about her upcoming IWGP Women’s Championship match with Mercedes Mone.

“I respect her very much. She has always been kind to me in private, and when I returned to Japan from America, she gave me many wonderful gifts. I still cherish them. I believe Mone and I can make a great match that people will remember forever.”

KAIRI also gave her thoughts about wanting to face off against AEW’s Jamie Hayter in a match in the future.

“Of course! In fact, I never met her. But I often hear that she was very active in the STARDOM ring. Hello Jamie, I’m KAIRI! I hope you read this.”

Kylie Rae Comments on Recent WWE Tryout & Her Free Agency Status

A recent episode of the Going Broadway podcast had Kylie Rae as the guest. One of the topics discussed included her thoughts about her recent WWE tryout and match on WWE’s Main Event.

“They were coming to Chicago, and from my understanding, Freelance is my home, and from what I understand, they were asking people from our school to reach out to WWE. I don’t know if people know this. It’s Gabe Sapolsky. He’s one of the best people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. I can’t express enough how much he’s helped me throughout this entire process. That’s who we were reaching out to for extra work and what not. I was not contracted with NWA anymore, so I was able to throw my name in the hat for extra work. ‘If y’all need any women, I’m more than happy to be considered for this opportunity, please let me know. If not, I completely understand.’ Let’s be honest, for the ones who know, I come with baggage, a couple extra checked bags.
I just assumed that any type of opportunity going forward was going to be few and far between, if any. I was okay with that. I talked to Gabe, and from what I understood, he was surprised I was even reaching out for extra work. Essentially, it was, ‘I think we can get you a tryout if you’re able to.’ One thing I appreciated was, we had a conversation of where my mental health is, the sobriety came up, we were able to talk about that, and he wasn’t focusing on the past, just more of, ‘what do you have in place right now that’s going to keep you on the route that you’re currently on?’ God forbid I do start to go off course, what will keep me on the this good road? It was a good conversation. He was like, ‘I want to make sure you’re in a good place. Please be honest with me, if you’re not ready for this, I don’t want to go down this road until you are ready.’ I was like, ‘I can’t predict the future, but I feel as good as I’ve ever felt.
Out of all people, I really can’t do that. Now, we can joke about it, but it wasn’t funny at the time, not being at Bound For Glory, I’m still trying to build up my credibility. I’m not going to be like, ‘Sorry, I can’t make it.’ I’m at a place now where, if I commit to something, I’m going. It’s going to take something very extreme for me to not go because I’m not the type of person to normally go back on my word, so I don’t take that lightly, and I can’t tell them what the reason would be. So it was just, ‘don’t get hurt.
I went in there thinking, ‘I’m not going to get signed, so let me just enjoy this and make the most of it and enjoy being there and learn everything I can learn.’ That was my mindset. ‘The opportunity I’m being afford is going to this tryout. I don’t think anything will come after.’ That probably helped because it took some pressure off. ‘Let me do everything perfectly, let me impress the right people.’ It’s very intimidating being there, but I was genuinely having fun.
Promos, they are a struggle, but it was wonderful. I got to talk about my ADHD, which is genuine, clearly, if you haven’t noticed. It was awesome. It felt real and authentic. I got to have two practice matches, one was with Thea Hail, she’s such a sweetheart. She knew how nervous I was and helped me so much. The other one was Fallon Henley. I met her years ago at RISE. She was a dream match of mine years ago. To have the first match we ever have in a WWE ring in front of Shawn Michaels, it’s insane.”

Rae also stated that she did not sign a contract with WWE during her recent time in the company and currently remains a free agent.

“Never say never, to my knowledge, not in the Rumble. As far as something long-term, at this point, I got the, ‘not right now’ deal, which is okay. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. If it’s meant to be, it would have happened. It’s more so, they’re having us still come back for extra work, I was there this past Friday and the Friday before. From what it felt like, I can’t speak on their behalf because I don’t know, but from what it felt like, after the match, they were, maybe I’m naive, but they seemed very happy with it. It feels good being there. The environment, it feels very positive and genuine and people are happy. Maybe I’m naive. I’m not signed, I’m not contracted, I don’t have to be there every week. I don’t know anybody else’s experience, but from my experience, it’s been wonderful. I loved it there. The fact that I keep getting contacted to do extra work is probably a good sign.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

CNBC reported that VICE Media, parent company of VICE TV, is currently likely to be sold for less than $1 billion. It was reported that VICE officials recently restarted their sale process after potential bidders balked at the initial asking price. It was also reported that VICE Media had been valued at $5.7 billion in 2017.

The National Wrestling Alliance recently announced that they have pulled Jennacide off the card of their January 31st NWA Powerrr show due to her not expected to be medically cleared in time to compete at the show.

WrestlePro Alaska recently announced that they will be celebrating their 4th Anniversary SuperShow on April 22nd in Anchorage, Alaska.

West Coast Pro Wrestling recently announced that Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling talent Unagi Sayaka will be making her official debut for the company at their Queen of Indies 2023 tournament event on May 13th in San Francisco, California. It was also announced that this upcoming event will also be Sayaka’s official debut in the United States.

As noted before, Major League Wrestling talent Richard Holliday has been out of action for the company since this past June due to his current bout with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In a recent interview with the Busted Open Radio podcast, MLW owner Court Bauer stated that Holliday is progressing well with his current cancer treatments and MLW will be making several “good news” announcements regarding Holliday’s status in the company within the next few weeks. (Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com)

MLW recently announced three new matches for the card of their SuperFight 2023 event on February 4th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

MLW World Middleweight Championship – Delirious vs. Lince Dorado (c)
Willie Mack vs. John Hennigan
No Ropes Catch Wrestling match – Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Alex Kane

As noted before, Japanese wrestler Shinjiro Otani has been out of action from wrestling since this past April due to a serious cervical cord injury. NJPW announced that they recently donated 3 million yen ($23,067) to Otani’s medical fund to help financially assist Otani.

NJPW also recently announced two new matches for the card of their Battle in the Valley 2023 event on February 18th in San Jose, California:

NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship – West Coast Wrecking Crew (Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson) vs. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) (c)
Mascara Dorada, Josh Alexander, Adrian Quest, & Rocky Romero vs. KUSHIDA, Kevin Knight, Volador Jr., & The DKC

DEFY Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their DEFY Year 6 event on February 11th in Seattle, Washington:

Jon Moxley & Schaff vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Davey Richards