Kairi Sane shook the WWE Universe with her surprising return at WWE Crown Jewel 2023. Fans were hyped by seeing the former NXT Champion return to the WWE ring after almost three years.
The Pirate Princess made an appearance in the Premium Live Event to assist her old friend Iyo Sky in retaining her WWE Women’s Championship title against Bianca Belair. However, in the process, Sane unintentionally saved her former rival, who is also a member of the Damage CTRL faction. Now, with Kairi Sane’s return, the future of the faction is uncertain.
Kairi Sane returns at WWE Crown Jewel
Kairi Sane made her long-awaited return to the WWE ring at the Crown Jewel 2023 Premium Live Event. The female superstar made a surprise appearance to assist Iyo Sky in retaining her WWE Women’s Championship against Bianca Belair.
This marked Sane’s first WWE appearance since her departure from the promotion in 2021. “WrestleVotes” had previously reported that The Pirate Princess was recently added to WWE’s roster, leading to speculations about her return at the Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.
After leaving WWE, Sane joined the STARDOM promotion and gained significant fame within the organization. However, in October, she addressed STARDOM fans to announce that it could be her last performance with the company, which led many fans to believe that she was departing from STARDOM. Since then, multiple reports claimed that Kairi Sane was headed back to WWE, and it eventually became true yesterday.
During the title match at Crown Jewel, Iyo Sky dominated the first half of the bout. However, Bianca Belair began countering Sky’s moves and limited interference from Bayley by keeping the fight inside the ring. At one point, Belair was forced to exit the ring and was about to slam Bayley through the announce table with a KOD. However, Kairi Sane surprised everyone by taking down Belair and saving Bayley. Following that, Iyo Sky executed a Moonsault on Belair and successfully retained her title.
Possible direction for Damage CTRL
The Damage CTRL faction was formed by Bayley with Dakota Kai and IYO SKY in 2022. The purpose behind creating this faction was to challenge Bianca Belair and Becky Lynch at SummerSlam 2022. However, with the return of Kairi Sane at WWE Crown Jewel 2023, the future of the Damage CTRL faction is now uncertain.
The Pirate Princess has been out of WWE since 2021. Her last storyline was rivalry with Bayley and according to that, The Role Model was responsible for kicking Kairi out of WWE. Sane returned to assist Iyo Sky in the title match and, in doing so, prevented Belair from defeating Bayley. Bayley was taken aback by her former rival’s presence since she was the one responsible for Sane’s departure from WWE. This incident now raises two possibilities.
The first possibility is Kairi Sane joining the Damage CTRL faction, and the second possibility is a strain in the relationship among Damage CTRL members. Sky and Sane have been ring partners during their time in STARDOM and NXT. Recently, the friendship between Iyo Sky and Bayley has also started to deteriorate due to some recent disagreements caused by The Role Model.
Now, there is a strong chance for Sky to align with Sane and potentially betray Bayley, leading to the disbandment of the Damage CTRL faction. If this happens, it would undoubtedly excite the fans.
Do you think Kairi Sane will join Bayley’s faction despite being her rival? Let us know your thoughts on it in the comment section below!
