Well, I just learned that Io Shirai had not signed a new contract with WWE and is leaving in August.

To be completely honest with you, I was and still am completely shook by this because she's one of my favorite wrestlers in NXT and to hear this from a friend of mine was really upsetting. She and Kairi were one of the reasons why I had gotten into NXT and I ended up loving it since then.

When the then black and gold brand debuted on the USA network, I was really impressed by her work ethic and how she enters for a match. I ended up falling in love with her, not because of her looks and how cute she is, but because of how her wrestling is much different than many other Japanese wrestlers I've ever seen.

Io made me a fan for life after she turned heel. Her previous babyface run was really bland and not really too believable, but when she reinvented herself, I started marking out for her. Io really made me a fan for life and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

Besides her gimmick, I found out that behind her goth persona, she is nothing like her gimmick. From what I heard from fans and her coworkers, she's an absolute sweetest girl they've ever met. I even had a drawing that I had done before she turned heel and I was really hoping that I'd give it to her, but it doesn't matter now.

Anyways, when Io won the NXT Women's Championship, I was so happy. I literally thought she deserved to walk away with it after beating Charlotte and Rhea Ripley at In Your House.

Her reign was so good that she was defending it whenever she could and that made me a fan of hers even more. I couldn't even express how much happiness it gave me when she won the title.

At WarGames III in 2020, Io had to be so cute: before she put the trash can on, she was smiling and just being so adorable that I literally laughed so hard that I can't be a hater.

when she lost the title to Raquel Gonzalez, not calling her Raquel Rodriguez, I was so bummed, but I knew she would bounce back.

When Io returned to fight Candice, thanks to Poppy introducing her, I jumped out of my seat and I was begging her to win a championship again. Io did by tagging with Zoey Stark to win the new NXT Women's Tag titles. While it wasn't Kairi, I thought the duo was pretty entertaining. Yes, their hanging at the restaurant was a bit cringe, but it worked because of how dedicated Io and Zoey were to make their team the best.

When they lost the tag team titles, I wasn't upset about it because I know Io is better off as a singles competitor than a tag team wrestler.

Soon after losing the titles, Io fell off the card for me. I was and still a fan of hers because I know that she's one of the best wrestlers in the world today.

Now that she's leaving, it made me feel so sad and, I'm man enough to admit it, I legit almost cried because she's one of my favorites. First Kairi and now Io? I understand that it's to be near her family, but how much more can I take?

I might as well be happy for her because she's had a very good run in NXT and she never had one bad match.

Thank you Io. Thank you for entertaining the fans for the past 4 years in NXT. All of us will miss you.

If you guys want, I'll be writing a list on 10 of Io's best moments in NXT later on before she leaves as a way of saying thank you to her.

Now, if you can excuse me, I'm gonna go cry my eyes out.