As noted, it was reported on Wednesday by Tokyo Sports that WWE NXT Superstar Sarray has left the company as of today, March 9, and that she is set to officially announce her return to Japan on Monday, March 13.
In an update, Fightful Select has confirmed Sarray’s WWE departure, and that she already has bookings elsewhere. WWE has not confirmed the departure as of this writing, but word is that Sarray’s work with the company is effectively done.
Sarray posted a tweet, seen below, where she did not touch on the departure, but she announced that her press conference will air via Instagram Live this coming Monday at 2pm in Japan or midnight here on the East Coast in the United States.
“Please watch it. Looking forward to it. Thank you!,” she wrote in a translated message.
It was noted that the beginning of the end of Sarray’s WWE run actually came in early 2022 when many of her biggest supporters were let go from working behind-the-scenes in NXT. Sources within the brand said Sarray never factored into a consistent or major creative fashion after that, and by the spring of 2022, the writing was on the wall.
Current WWE Vice President of Global Talent Development William Regal was let go on January 5, 2022, when he was working NXT as the storyline General Manager and as WWE’s Director of Talent Development & Head of Global Recruiting, and that departure was seen as the turning point of Sarray’s run. Regal left AEW and returned to work for WWE in January of this year, but he’s been working with the main roster.
People who frequent the WWE Performance Center noted that Sarray hadn’t been around in “ages,” but no answers were given when people asked why she wasn’t around. It was widely accepted within WWE that the creative given to her was outright bad, an apparent reference to how, beginning in January 2022, Sarray’s character saw a reboot surrounding a medallion from her grandma. We’ve noted how that program never really clicked, and word came out this week that the original plan for the reboot changed quite a bit due to the NXT 2.0 launch.
Sarray reportedly took great pride in helping Tiffany Stratton along during their brief feud in the spring of 2022. Stratton defeated Sarray on the March 15 and April 19 NXT episodes, but then Sarray and Andre Chase defeated Stratton and Grayson Waller on the May 10 episode.
While there was a language barrier, there’s been no talk of issues in Sarray’s dealings with others in the company, and only positive things have been said about her from others at the WWE Performance Center.
After finding success in Japan, Sarray signed with WWE in February 2020. Her arrival was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but her NXT in-ring debut came on the April 20, 2021 show, where she defeated Zoey Stark. While her signing was touted as significant, Sarray ended up lost in the shuffle on the NXT brand. She has not wrestled since losing to then-NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose on the August 2, 2022 edition of NXT TV. This loss came after a brief run in NXT UK.
There’s no word yet on who Sarray will be working for in Japan, but we should know more after Monday’s press conference.
Below is the aforementioned tweet:
自分の口から皆様にきちんとご報告したかったのに…申し訳ありません。
一部先に報道されてしまいました。13日（月）記者会見をおこないます。
14時にインスタライブで見てください🙏Hello everyone, I will have my press conference next Monday and will do it live on Instagram (14pm Japan…
— Sareee (@Sareee_official) March 9, 2023
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