WWE is acknowledging wrestling legend Meiko Satomura as she steps away from the ring.
The 45-year-old Satomura retired on April 29 with her final match taking place in Tokyo for Sendai Girls, the promotion Satomura founded in 2005. WWE stars IYO SKY, Kairi Sane, Asuka, and Shinsuke Nakamura sent in video messages that were played on the show. Later that night, Corey Graves mentioned Satomura’s retirement on WWE NXT, congratulating her on an incredible career.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque then sent out a tweet today also congratulating Satomura.
Congratulations to the Japanese wrestling legend and former @WWENXT UK Women’s Champion, Meiko Satomura.
— Triple H (@TripleH) May 1, 2025
Your contributions to this industry have inspired a generation of female athletes around the world. https://t.co/eLKoVVpDBa
“Congratulations to the Japanese wrestling legend and former @WWENXT UK Women’s Champion, Meiko Satomura,” he wrote. “Your contributions to this industry have inspired a generation of female athletes around the world.”
Satomura was a coach and wrestler for NXT UK when that brand existed. Her last WWE matches happened in July 2024 on a main roster house show tour of Japan. She worked a pair of eight-woman tag matches on the tour before losing to Bayley in a singles match on the final night.
April marked the 30th anniversary of Satomura’s in-ring debut. Though she’s retiring from active competition, Satomura vowed to continue helping the next generation of women’s wrestlers through Sendai Girls.
Satomura’s official retirement match was her teaming with Manami to defeat Aja Kong & Chihiro Hashimoto. After that ended, there was an impromptu five-minute handicap match where Satomura & Kong teamed together.
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