Sareee’s trip home from Las Vegas came with an unexpected payday. After competing at the Marvelous show on April 16 as part of the Spark Rush tag team with Takumi Iroha, the Japanese wrestling star was waiting for her return flight when she decided to try a slot machine at the Las Vegas airport.
According to Tokyo Sports, Sareee hit big repeatedly, ultimately walking away with approximately one million yen, the equivalent of roughly $6,347 USD.
Sareee departed Las Vegas on April 19 following her WrestleMania Week appearance. The slot machine session at the gate became an impromptu victory lap before the long flight home.
This is not the first time Sareee has turned heads with her gambling luck. Tokyo Sports reports she previously attended a horse racing event and hit a major win on her first prediction attempt, stunning those around her.
The Marvelous Las Vegas show was part of the SHOOTING STAR FEST during WrestleMania Week. Sareee and Takumi Iroha made their U.S. tag team debut as Spark Rush, facing Mio Momono and Johnnie Robbie at the West Coast Pro event.
Japanese wrestling star Sareee made her Ring of Honor debut on Wednesday at the promotion\’s TV tapings, which took place just before AEW Dynamite\’s 6th Anniversary show went live.
The 29-year-old veteran brings significant international experience to ROH\’s women\’s division. Sareee began her career at age 15 in Japan, working primarily with World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana from 2011 to 2020, where she became a two-time Diana World Champion.
In 2020, WWE signed Sareee, and she performed on the NXT brand under the ring name Sarray from 2021 to 2023. Her WWE tenure ended due to creative differences, and she departed in March 2023.
Since returning to Japan, Sareee has worked across multiple promotions including Seadlinnng, Stardom, and Dream Star Fighting Marigold, where she became the inaugural Marigold World Champion. She currently holds both the IWGP Women\’s Championship and the Sukeban World Championship (as Sareee Bomb), making her one of the most decorated active wrestlers on the independent scene.
Her ROH appearance marks a potential expansion into AEW-affiliated programming and could signal additional U.S. bookings for the multi-time champion.
Much was made about Sareee signing with WWE in 2020, but the high expectations fans had for her in the company ultimately fizzled out. Rather than being a dominant name like she\’d been in her native Japan, Pro Wrestling\’s Sun God did little during her run before parting ways with WWE in 2023.
In a new interview with Mera Wrestling, Sareee spoke about her WWE tenure, during which she worked as Sarray. Asked about what went wrong, Sareee said that what she intended and what WWE wanted simply did not gel.
“When I went to WWE in America, I didn’t want to be a villain so much as a strong wrestler. I wanted to be seen as “cool” and “strong,” but instead they made me play an anime character in a sailor uniform. They told me it suited me, but I felt like, “That’s not me!’”
The character in question was introduced in January 2022, with Sarray explaining the transformation as breaking from her shortcomings in 2021. The character, who wore a schoolgirl uniform backstage, would wrestle in a new attire, supposedly thanks to her grandmother\’s medallion which had transformation powers.
Since leaving WWE, a decision Sareee made clear was due to differences with creative, she has competed for Sukeban, where she is the reigning Sukeban World Champion. Beyond Sukeban, Sareee has competed for Stardom and Marigold, the latter having ties to WWE.
While WWE\’s creative wasn\’t the right fit, Sareee has shown that she can thrive outside of the promotion. Now, her days of being a magical transformation girl are just a memory.
Ogawa, the recently-fired founder of STARDOM is hoping to bring stars including IYO SKY and Kairi Sane to a Marigold event expected to take place this summer. Whether that happens or not, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that a working agreement will be in place between the two companies.
The main star who\’ll benefit from this working agreement is Giulia, who is expected to sign with WWE in the near future. The former NJPW Strong Women\’s Champion is expected to compete for both WWE and Marigold before an eventual move to the U.S. Giulia, who appeared at NXT Stand & Deliver alongside Ogawa, is expected to appear on a few big Marigold events per year in addition to her full-time WWE commitments.
Giulia is set to appear at Marigold\’s debut event in May 2024 alongside a talented roster of women including NXT alum Sareee. Her WWE in-ring debut is expected to be at July\’s NXT Heatwave event, possibly with championship gold on the line.
WWE forging a working agreement with Marigold, one that\’ll seemingly last for multiple years, is a massive change from how the previous administration did business. In stark contrast to Vince McMahon\’s \’don\’t play well with others\’ approach, WWE is said to be exploring forging working relationships with other companies and Tony Khan has said that he\’d be interested in a WWE-AEW partnership, under the right circumstances.
Japanese wrestling sensation Sareee has addressed her departure from WWE.
Sareee joined WWE in April 2021 and wrestled as Sarray for the company\’s NXT brand. On Monday, she held a press conference at the from Tokyo, Japan at the Inoki Genki Factory to discuss her time with WWE and her future in wrestling.
According to Tokyo Sports, she said she has nothing but gratitude for her two years in America. She learned what she wanted to learn in America, but the time has come to take her career in a new direction.
\”I made friends all over the world, I think that\’s what I\’ve gained,\” she said (translated). \”I think I need to make the most of what I have experienced in the No. 1 promotion in the world in my wrestling career\”.
She is excited to be an independent wrestler once again. She feels that her purpose in life is to fight and she\’s open to wrestling anywhere that fits her style. Her return match in Japan will be Tokyo Shinjuku Face Tournament \”Sareee-ISM\” on May 16th.
\”I would like to make the most of it and go on a rampage in the Japanese professional wrestling world.”
Sareee
Sareee also tweeted the following, thanking WWE and the WWE Universe for the experience.
No matter what some people might say, I did my best. I am so glad that I had the chance to go to WWE??
A new report has provided an update on former NXT talent Sarray\’s exit from WWE.
Sarray signed with the company in 2020 to join the NXT roster. Unfortunately, her WWE career was put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She competed in Japan during that time and also won the SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Tag Championship with her partner Yoshiko on Nov. 27, 2020, against Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima and Tsukasa Fujimoto). Sarray and Yoshiko dropped the titles to Nanae Takahashi & Arisa Nakajima on Jan. 22, 2021. After losing the SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Tag Championship, Sarray would come to the United States and debut in NXT on April. 20, 2021.
While Sarray came to the company with chances for new opportunities, WWE had difficulty featuring her on the show. She competed in NXT when they shifted to NXT 2.0, which started five months after her debut. During that time, NXT 2.0 began to focus on featuring newer talent like Cora Jade, Elektra Lopez, and Lash Legend, with other established NXT talents like Mandy Rose, Raquel Gonzales, and Kay Lee Ray. Sarray got lost in the shuffle and spent less time on NXT TV. Her last match was against Mandy Rose at NXT 2.0 on Aug. 2, 2022.
After three years, Tokyo Sports reported that Sarray had left the WWE after her contract expired, and she would return to Japan to continue her professional wrestling career. She is expected to hold a press conference on March. 13 in Japan to announce her plans.
Sarray faced Lash Legend during the December 17 episode of 205 Live
Update on Sarray Leaving WWE
Since Tokyo Sports revealed that she had left WWE, fans were curious about what went wrong with her career in NXT. Fightful Select reported that they were told that \”…the beginning of the end was actually early in 2022 when many of her biggest supporters were let go from NXT.\”
The report continued, \”…Sources within the brand said that she never factored into a consistent or major creative fashion after that. We\’re told by the spring of 2022 that the writing was on the wall. William Regal\’s departure was one that many pointed to as a turning point. Those who frequent the Performance Center said that she hadn\’t been around in \”ages\” and weren\’t given any answers when they\’d ask about her.\” The report shared that it\’s acknowledged within WWE that she was given bad creative.
Despite her career in WWE, the report shared that she liked working with up-and-coming talent, including her brief feud with Tiffany Stratton. According to the report, people working in the Performance Center have positive things to say about Sarray.
She will have a match on May. 16 at the Sareee-ISM event at Shinjuku Face in Kabukicho, Tokyo, Japan.
![\"Sarray](\"https://media.sescoops.com/uploads/2021/12/205-Live-Sarray-Lash-Legend.jpg\")