IYO SKY’s deal with WWE was set to expire just one month after her huge main roster debut at SummerSlam 2022.
Following Bianca Belair’s successful RAW Women’s Championship title defense over Becky Lynch at SummerSlam 2022, fans saw an incredible spectacle as we saw three returns in a row in the form of Damage CTRL.
The trio were all returning from some form of hiatus with the company, with Bayley returning from a catastrophic knee injury. IYO would return from a hiatus brought on by contract negotiations stalling and finally Dakota Kai would return following her release just a couple of weeks prior.
Speaking to Tokyo Sports (via DeepL translator), SKY gave more insight into her injury and contract situation.
“I don’t know if it was because I was in such a mental state, but the bone in my (right) heel called the talus was broken. It was the first time I broke a bone in wrestling, and the first time I had surgery for a wrestling injury. I still have a bolt in my ankle,” she said.
When asked if she was planning on returning to Japan, SKY replied, “I thought about it. It wasn’t that I didn’t like America, but that if there was nothing I could do here, I thought that if I went to Japan, there would be more things I could do. The situation of Stardom where I used to be has changed, and I have grown a lot since I left Japan, so I was confident that I could show a different kind of work in Japan this time.”
Finally, SKY was asked what made her decide to stay in WWE. She replied, “It was my policy not to give up. In the U.S., I could have approached them and said, ‘I want to end the contract.’ But I didn’t want to do that, so I set a goal to work hard until the contract was over, and I stayed on for almost a year. I appeared at the “SummerSlam” (in August 2022) when my contract was about to end in one month.”
IYO SKY
Now over a year later, the faction is still going strong, with IYO SKY currently holding the WWE Women’s Championship after capturing the title back at SummerSlam 2023.
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