IYO Sky  

Masami Odate is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Iyo Sky. She is a member of Damage CTRL.
IYO Sky in a file photo (Image credits: Twitter/@ProWFinesse)

Masami Odate is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Iyo Sky. She is a member of Damage CTRL and former two-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champions with fellow stablemate Dakota Kai. She previously wrestled in WWE's developmental brand NXT under the ring name Io Shirai, where she was a former NXT Women's Champion and NXT Women's Tag Team Champion. She is also known for her time in World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom), where she was a former two-time Wonder of Stardom Champion, six-time Artist of Stardom Champion, two-time World of Stardom Champion, the inaugural SWA World Champion, one-time Goddess of Stardom Champion. 

NameMasami Odate
D.O.BMay 8, 1990
Height1.56 m (5 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
Weight54 kg (119 lb)
OccupationProfessional Wrestler
Debut2007
In-ring nameBiba Kasai, Hitokiri, Io Shirai, Iotica, Iyo Sky, Midnight Ange, Oyuki, T-2 Mask, Tenkū Shōjo Lusca

Early Life

Odate spent several years working as a tag team wrestler, teaming with her older sister Mio, with whom she wrestled for various promotions across Japan and Mexico, winning the TLW World Young Women’s Tag Team Championship in the process. In June 2010, she and her sister came together with Kana to form the Triple Tails stable, which lasted for 15 months, before Io broke out of the group and embarked on her singles career in Stardom. Io quickly became one of the promotion’s top stars, and in April 2013, she won the promotion’s top title, the World of Stardom Championship, which she held twice, with each reign lasting for over a year. 

Early Career

Shirai and Mio made their debuts for one of Japan’s largest professional wrestling promotions, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), wrestling in a match, where they defeated the team of Kyoko Kimura and Mikado. The Shirais also made several appearances for another large promotion not usually known for female wrestling, Pro Wrestling Zero1. The Shirai sisters won their first championship in a tournament final to become the first Totally Lethal Wrestling World Young Women’s Tag Team Champions. In 2010, Shirai traveled to Mexico, where she entered a local wrestling school to undergo further training. Shirai, working under the ring name Biba Kasai, made her debut for International Wrestling Revolution Group. 

After leaving Triple Tails, Shirai, though still billed as a freelancer, effectively made World Wonder Ring Stardom her new home promotion, making her debut in 2011. Shirai defeated Meiko Satomura to become the first two-time World of Stardom Champion. Stardom announced Shirai’s departure after her last match on June 10. Shirai wrestled her final matches for Stardom on June 10 taking part of a ten-match one-minute time limit series against members of the Stardom roster that ended in one win and one loss.

WWE

In October 2016, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that both Shirai and Kairi Hojo had been contacted and offered WWE contracts, starting in 2017. Reportedly, Shirai had informed Stardom’s management that she was taking the offer. In March 2017, Shirai took part in a WWE tryout at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.  Shirai made her first official appearance for the promotion on June 30, 2018, at the WWE house show in Ryōgoku Kokugikan, where it was announced she had signed with the promotion and would be competing in their developmental brand, NXT. Shirai defeated Xia Brookside in the tournament’s first round in her WWE debut match.

NXT

Shirai made her debut match on the December 19 episode of NXT, where she teamed with Kai and they defeated Duke and Shafir in a tag team match, and because of her win, a week later, Shirai competed in a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women’s Championship. Shortly after, with Kai sidelined with an injury, Shirai continued to team with Sane, forming a tag team known as “The Sky Pirates”. Following Sane’s move to the main roster, and the disbanding of The Sky Pirates.

Shirai continued her feud with Baszler, Duke and Shafir as the three continuously attacked her. She entered a storyline with both Flair and Ripley (whom Flair defeated to win the title at WrestleMania 36), which led to a triple threat match at TakeOver: In Your House. At the event, on June 7, Shirai defeated both Flair and Ripley to win the NXT Women’s Championship, marking her first title win in WWE. Shirai made her return from injury at SummerSlam alongside Bayley and Dakota Kai, with the three being allies and confronting Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair. Shirai was presented under the new ring name Iyo Sky and joined the Raw brand as a heel.

Championships and accomplishments

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Ranked No. 4 of the top 100 female wrestlers in the PWI Women’s 100 in 2018

WWE

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Dakota Kai

NXT Women’s Championship (1 time)

NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Zoey Stark

Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic (2022) – with Kay Lee Ray

NXT Year-End Award (3 times).

Other titles

Americas World Mixed Tag Team Championship (1 time)

For more WWE news click below

Read: The Rock

Read: The Undertaker

Get the latest from Sportslumo.com by following us on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube

Related Stories