KAIRI Calls Championship Matches During Brief IWGP Women's Title Reign 'Miracles'

The first-ever IWGP Women's Champion is showing her gratitude after losing the belt over the weekend. KAIRI, who held the title for 90 days as its inaugural champion, lost to Mercedes Mone on Saturday at NJPW's Battle in the Valley event. The inaugural champion wrote in a Twitter thread that "it may have been a short-lived life as the first champion, but...I put my soul into each fight and fought with all my strength against opponents I respected."

Noting that Mone "was strong" in their match Saturday, KAIRI said she needs to now "accept this loss, know your weaknesses, learn from them, and use this frustration as a springboard to become stronger."

NJPW introduced its first women's world title late last year and held a seven-women tournament to crown the first champion. KAIRI defeated Mayu Iwatani in the finals of the tournament at the Historic X-Over event in November and went on to successfully defend the title against Tam Nakano at WrestleKingdom 17 last month. After the match, Mone made her debut and challenged her for the title at this past weekend's event. "It was a very exciting and lifelong expedition for me!" KAIRI said of her historic reign.

"As the first champion, I wanted to raise the value of the belt as much as possible, and I wanted to liven up professional wrestling," she continued. "In this way, I was able to have the IWGP women's belt match in the main event, and I was able to have a match at the Tokyo Dome. I was able to play in America. All of them are miracles and I can only thank you."