Wrestling / Io Shirai

The Genius of the Sky in her natural habitat: On the top rope, and holding a title belt.

Masami Odate (born May 8, 1990) is a Japanese Professional Wrestler best known by her most frequent ring name of Io Shirai. Making her debut in March of 2007 at the tender age of 16, Io spent the first few years of her career competing in various independent circuits across both Japan and Mexico. Eventually signing with World Wonder Ring ST★RDOM in 2011, she would become their inaugural Grand Slam Champion while continuing to make sporadic appearances in Mexican promotions throughout her tenure, including in Lucha Underground under the ring name Hitokiri.

In 2017, Io would sign with WWE where she competed in that year's Mae Young Classic before debuting on NXT the following year. After being out from injury for several months in 2022 she would make her main roster debut at SummerSlam, now going by IYO SKY. She currently competes under the SmackDown brand.

Despite her relatively young age, Io is already one of the most decorates female wrestlers on the planet — She is a 6x Artist of Stardom champion, 1x Goddess of Stardom champion, 1x High Speed champion, 1x SWA World Champion, 2x Wonder of Stardom champion, 2x World of Stardom champion, 1x WWE Women's Champion, 2x WWE Women's Tag Team Champion, 1x NXT Women's Champion, 1x NXT Women's Tag Team Champion, and the 2023 Women's Money in the Bank winner. She's frequently ranked by numerous publications as one of the greatest wrestlers alive, independent of gender.

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The Genius of the Sky Tropes:

• The Ace: While she is heralded as being among the three best female wrestlers in the world alongside Kairi Sane and Mayu Iwatani by Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, some magazines outright call her "arguably the best wrestler in the world regardless of gender" and a "treasure of female wrestling".
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Beautiful, dark-haired, and following her Heel–Face Turn, blunt and kind of a loner.
• Arch-Enemy: Io had been helping out Kairi against her feud with Shayna Baszler and her fellow Horsewoman ever since her NXT debut. Even after Kairi moved to the main roster, Io continued to feud with them, as a revenge for Shayna almost breaking Kairi's arm on her last match at NXT.
• Ax-Crazy: After her Face–Heel Turn, she sort of... well, lost it a little bit.
• Badass Adorable: Outdone by Kairi Sane in the Adorable department, but still qualifies. As for the Badass... she's one of the only three women to have ever pinned Shayna Baszler before the COVID-19 Pandemic, and as with any other wrestler, can kick a lot of ass in Real Life.
• Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: In early NXT runs she's wearing a red wrestling gear without cover her abs. After her heel turned she's wearing a black gear and cover her abs. In the main roster she's wearing a white, black, yellow, purple, and blue wrestling gear without cover her abs.
• Big Damn Heroes: At Takeover: Wargames II, running in to support Kairi Sane after a failed attempt to do so already by Dakota Kai. While Sane would eventually lose the match, Shirai succeeded in neutralizing Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir from their constant interference in the match.
• Bored with Insanity: How her Heel–Face Turn is essentially presented. Considering the reason for her Sanity Slippage and Face–Heel Turn in the first place is her frustration over not winning the NXT Women's Title, Io calming down when she finally wins it makes sense.
• Break the Cutie: Was forced to watch her best friend get her arm broken kayfabe-wise. Then her new ally, Candice LeRae, also was jumped and beaten by the Horsewomen. Then the Horsewomen interfered in her match at TakeOver XXV, allowing Shayna Baszler to pick up the win, thus denying her the opportunity to prove that she's the best and avenge Kairi and everyone else on the roster who's been tormented by Baszler. Let's just say Shayna's celebration didn't last long... Ultimately, one more loss to Baszler in a Steel Cage match proved to be the final straw as Io snapped on Candice.
• Call-Back: During an interview, she mentions that she and Kairi Sane are good friends, referring to their on-off rivalry and friendship at World Wonder Ring ST★RDOM. She and Kairi would join forces on NXT as the tag team Sky Pirates, as well as on SmackDown as part of Damage CTRL.
• Cool Mask: Io and her sister Mio were former Luchadors in Mexico, wearing cat-like masks. She continues to wear her mask in WWE during her entrances before removing it after posing at the turnbuckle.
• Dark Action Girl: In Lucha Underground, Black Lotus outright called her the greatest warrior to set foot outside the Far East, as well as the deadliest human being she'd ever known, in this video. She becomes one again in NXT following her Sanity Slippage induced Face–Heel Turn in 2019.
• Dark Is Not Evil: She kept her black gear after returning as a Face.
• Dark Reprise: Post Face–Heel Turn, her theme changed from the upbeat "Genius of the Sky" to the slower "Tokyo Shock".
• Evil Costume Switch: Went from very colorful outfits to wearing a lot more black after her Face–Heel Turn.
• Evil Is Petty: In her first match with Candice LeRae after her turn, she got mad about not being able to pin her and resorted to a modified Koji Clutch where she trapped Candice's arms so she couldn't tap out, forcing her to pass out.
• Evil Wears Black: Her Evil Costume Switch above saw her ditch her colorful wrestling gears in favor of black leather.
• Face–Heel Turn: Devastated after narrowly losing to Shayna Baszler in a cage match for the NXT Women's Championship, Shirai turned her wrath on friend Candice LeRae, suplexing her onto an open chair.
• Finishing Move: As a Face, a very beautiful Moonsault in which she gets lots of hang time. As a Heel, her moonsault seems to have morphed - perhaps by design - to a lower-angle rotation that favors landing impact over height, more akin to Lita or Seiya Sanada.
• The Glomp: Not as bad as Bayley, but since allying with Kairi Sane and Dakota Kai, she loves to hug them tightly.
• Heel–Face Turn: At some indeterminate point in 2020 from vicious, slightly psychotic lone-wolf villain to laser-focused, enigmatic anti-heroine.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Ever since both her Face–Heel Turn and Heel–Face Turn, she's been rather fond of leather pants.
• Hero-Worshipper: Rey Mysterio Jr. is her favorite wrestler and she even has his 619 Tiger Feint Kick as part of her moveset.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kairi Sane. She's also frequently allied with Dakota Kai throughout her WWE tenure.
• Hidden Depths: Despite becoming rather dark and unhinged since hitting her Rage Breaking Point and Face–Heel Turn, Io still competed honorably far more often than not, and was still easily more likely to take flight in battle than to run away, especially in a match. She also continued to play to the crowd rather a lot, perhaps indicating that she missed their approval despite any assertions to the contrary, as well as continued to use the Tiger Feint Kick as a Signature Move, clearly still holding a soft spot for Rey Mysterio. Before long it became rather clear that Io Shirai wasn't souled out, but simply lost in the sky; beneath her gritty and callous exterior stood a devastated soul with a broken pride who couldn't accept that her failure to defeat Shayna Baszler was entirely her own fault. Naturally, around the time she did become NXT Champion, defeating Shayna's conqueror Rhea Ripley in a triple threat to dethrone no less than Charlotte Flair, Io had finally began to mellow out and put a more constructive focus to her solitary Tokyo dark approach.
• I Work Alone: This aspect of her character began as a central part of her initial heel turn and hasn't changed since. Unfortunately for her, she happened to score a win of the NXT Women's Tag Titles with Zoey Stark. Io's pride and honor as a competitor means she'll give her best effort at defending her titles like always, but she's stuck with Stark as a result - and visibly, vocally, and hilariously unhappy about it.
• Lady Swears-a-Lot: If you can understand her Japanese, you'll realize she loves taking advantage of the fact that most of the audience (and the executive board) can't.
• Light Is Not Good: In the main roster Iyo not wearing a black gear wrestling instead wearing a white gear wrestling. Inverted in Backlash 2023 she's wearing a black wrestling gear.
• Lightning Bruiser: You wouldn't expect a high-flyer like Io to do jackknife suplexes and Piledrivers off the ring apron.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: As a Damage CTRL member she's mean but in the match with Dakota Kai against Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez she's concerned about Aliyah got wind knocked out.
• Meaningful Rename: Changes her surname to IYO SKY upon joining the main roster in 2022. Sky, obviously coming from her Red Baron "Genius of the Sky" and for the fact that she has a Diving Moonsault as a Finishing Move.
• Ms. Fanservice: Io did a lot of gravure photoshoots in Japan as a part of Stardom, but she never shied away from showing more skin than some of the other women, to the point where she did completely nude (but censored) shoots. She even appeared in a JAV at one point! (in a non-sexual role)
• The Muse: She had Poppy sing her entrances on special occasions during her NXT tenure.
• Mythology Gag: Her Heel attire is reminiscent of her Lucha Underground one.
• Power Trio:
  • The founding members of Triple Tails alongside KANA and sister, Mio. They became White Tails when divisions between the wider group formed.
  • As the Black Lotus Triad with Doku (Kairi Hojo/Sane) and Yuren (Mayu Iwatani). Technically they're a quartet since the eponymous Black Lotus employs them, but the trio are the ones always seen together.
  • As DAMAGE CTRL with Bayley and Dakota Kai.
• Red Baron: The Genius of the Sky. After her Face–Heel Turn, Mauro Ranallo also gave her the nickname "The Joshi Judas".
• Red Is Heroic: Io's wrestling gear as a Face is dominantly red.
• Sanity Slippage Song: Poppy's "Scary Mask" was used to illustrate/visualize Io's Rage Breaking Point and eventual Face–Heel Turn during video promos.
• Shout-Out: During her heel phase in NXT, she also wore ring attires that has color schemes and designs based on Kamen Rider Zero-One Rising Hopper Form and Kamen Rider Vulcan Assault Wolf Form. When she won the NXT Women's Title, she is wearing a Kamen Rider Zero-Two-inspired gear.
• Silent Snarker: Since the 2.0 rebrand, she can often be found quietly rolling her eyes at the Denser and Wackier antics around her. This carried over to her main roster tenure, where her eye rolls and withering Aside Glances tend to do most of the talking for her.
• Sky Pirate: When teaming with the "Pirate Princess" Kairi Sane, they are called the "Sky Pirates".
• Slasher Smile: After turning heel.
• Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: Debuted in the main roster in 2022 as part of an evil Power Trio with Bayley and Dakota Kai, despite being a Face in her last appearance in NXT months prior.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Zoey Stark, whom she disliked but respected enough to team with to take the Women's tag team titles from The Way.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Seems to be her favorite word in the English language.
  (To a racist heckler) "I'm Japanese, bitch!"
  (To Asuka) "BITCH!"
• Ur-Example: She's the very first Grand Slam Champion in the history of World Wonder Ring ST★RDOM.
• Villain Protagonist: Has a compelling reason for her Face–Heel Turn, a point to prove and a core drive for her actions, as well as some Hidden Depths, despite being a heel.
• When She Smiles: After spending an entire year being mostly a Perpetual Frowner with few but definitely unsettling grins, Io gradually pulls a Heel–Face Turn once she finally wins the NXT Women's Championship. With it is the return of Io's famous beam.
• Wrestling Family: She's the younger sister of Mio Shirai.
• Wrong Insult Offence: Took a page out of Chris Jericho's book (list?) when dealing with a racist fan on NXT.
  Fan: Go back to China!
  Io: I'm Japanese, bitch!