The IWGP Women’s Championship has quickly gained prestige with some of the top female wrestlers in the world competing for it and now a former NXT Star has her eyes on the prize.
On July 29th of NJPW announced the creation of the promotion’s first-ever women’s title. Following the historic news, it was revealed the STARDOM roster would compete in a tournament to become the inaugural champion.
On November 20th at Historic X-Over, KAIRI defeated Mayu Iwatani in the finals to be crowned the new champion. At Battle in the Valley on February 18th Mercedes Mone won the title in her first match since leaving WWE before losing it to Iwatani at All Star Grand Queendom on April 23rd.
Now, another former NXT Star has expressed her interest in the title. Sareee recently returned to Japan after leaving WWE earlier this year. Following her homecoming, she spoke with Monthly Puroresou about her time in the company and spoke of her desire to challenge for the IWGP Women’s Championship.
Since Mr. Inoki invented the initial IWGP belt, I’m curious about it. After having returned to Japan, it’s one of the belts I want to pursue. Without a doubt, I want to roll it up. But to find out if that happens I’ll have to wait.
Sareee Reflects On Her Time In NXT
In the same interview, she spoke about her time in WWE and reflected positively on her experience in America.
I’m really happy I went. I gained a lot of knowledge, I suppose. I did learn a lot while I was in the United States. I wasn’t able to bring my entire wrestling repertoire to the WWE, but I have absolutely no regrets about going. It wasn’t at all a failure.
Sareee signed for the company in 2020 but due to the pandemic wasn’t able to appear until the following year. After a good start on thr brand as Sarray, she, unfortunately, struggled to live up to her potential.
She was then set to challenge Meiko Satomura for the NXT UK Women’s Championship but the match was cancelled when it was announced the brand was closing.
Earlier this year, she revealed she was leaving WWE and returning home to Japan to restart her in-ring career.