With the WWE announcing last week that the Mae Young Classic will tape in August, we are starting to see major signings. First, we now know that Toni Storm has signed and will appear in that upcoming WWE UK show. And today Tokyo Sports reported that Io Shirai has signed. Her final Stardom appearance will be June 17. It is not known what kind of contract she is getting but my guess is it is for NXT. Io was supposed to sign last year. But after some dithering on her part, she finally decided to sign and then she flunked her physical. She was having neck problems at the time and she took some time off to determine if surgery would be necessary. She got lucky and surgery wasn't required and she is now healthy. The other thing is at the time Io published her autobiography and she did a book tour. And timing was what the dithering was about. Stardom owner Rossy Ogawa would not confirm or deny that Io is leaving. But he did Tweet the Tokyo Sports newspaper article. He said he will comment when it is appropriate which is his standard response. Of course I don't know where that leaves Stardom. But I understand the WWE is offering additional contracts to joshi wrestlers. So until I know who is being offered WWE contracts and who will sign, there isn't much point in saying anything. The reason the WWE is interested in joshi wrestlers is they have had success with Asuka and Kairi Sane and joshi wrestlers will accept less money than indy wrestlers because the WWE is an opportunity to make a lot of money in the long run. Of course I have been asked about the Io Shirai name. She owns it and she can use it if she wants. She has an international rep and HHH will want to use that. I guess the bottom line is Io Shirai is one of the best wrestlers in the world and I can't wait to see her on my TV each week.
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