Kairi Hojo and Evie get new WWE names, announced for Mae Young Classic

[cero2k]

Source: f4wonline.com

The Mae Young Classic has added its most noteworthy name yet.

Kairi Hojo, who is one of the best women's wrestlers in the world and one of the best pro wrestlers in general, was announced for the tournament this morning. The announcement was made during a video at WWE's house show at Sumo Hall in Japan. She will be using the name Kairi Sane in WWE.

After reporting last year that WWE was interested in both Hojo and Io Shirai from the Stardom promotion, Dave Meltzer confirmed that Hojo had signed a three-year deal with WWE in March. Shirai later agreed to join the company as well, but her coming over has been delayed due to neck issues.

Hojo was expected to be in the tournament and started with WWE in Orlando earlier this month. She revealed publicly that she would be leaving Stardom in May.

Also confirmed for the tournament was Scottish wrestler Viper (who will be known as Piper Niven in it). Meltzer reported that WWE was interested in her for the Mae Young Classic as well, which was interesting given that she had been involved with ITV's World of Sport project in the UK.

The list of official entrants for the 32-competitor tournament is now up to 14 names. Those are: Toni Storm, Princesa Sugehit, Lacey Evans, Sarah Logan, Tessa Blanchard, Abbey Laith, Taynara Conti, Kavita Devi, Jazzy Gabert, Bianca BelAir, Vanessa Borne, Dakota Kai, Kairi Sane, and Piper Niven.

-- WWE's New Zealand Twitter account announced today that Evie (who is from New Zealand) would be taking part in the tournament. She has also been given a new in-ring name, with her now being known as Dakota Kai in WWE. She changed her name to that on Twitter after the announcement.

News of Evie signing with WWE broke last December and she reported to the company earlier this year. She hadn't wrestled a match for WWE since signing with them before debuting at tonight's NXT house show in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Evie has been one of the standouts of the women's wrestling scene outside of WWE, including appearances for Stardom over the last couple of years. She also appeared on an episode of NXT TV in 2015 in a match against Nia Jax. The match was Jax's first on television.

[cero2k]

i seriously don't understand WWE, they allow every single CWC guy come in with their names, but they change the names for the MYC.

[Big Red Machine]

i seriously don't understand WWE, they allow every single CWC guy come in with their names, but they change the names for the MYC.

Gran Metalik changed his name. But I think the real reason is that a lot more of these women are already under contract.