Janai Kai: Maria Kanellis Is Always Looking To ‘Upgrade’ The Women

Janai Kai has wrestled for many of the top promotions across the world, including AEW, ROH, GCW, and more. 

Kai has only been wrestling since 2018, but she has established herself as one a standout name on the independent scene with her activity, style and persona. 

In 2021, Kai was part of ROH’s Women’s Division Wednesday, which led to her appearing for Women’s Wrestling Army, Maria Kanellis’ all-women’s product. 

Speaking to Jeremy Lambert & Joel Pearl on In The Weeds, Kai discussed working with Maria and WWA.

“It’s very important to me because anywhere I go, I always look to see ‘how is this going to influence me? Who is this person?’ I really pay attention to that,” she said about the importance of working in good environments and for good people. “If I don’t get a good experience out of it, it kind of brings me down. Getting into Women’s Wrestling Army, Maria is there and she’s been through so much. She knows, she’s been through almost every promotion. She definitely gets the business. It was automatically great to have her as a leader. I met Maria at Ring of Honor, she approached me about doing the tapings, and then she brought up her new promotion. The whole locker room is great. So many different styles in that locker room. The way that Maria is able to work with each of us and see how she can upgrade us in a way, is awesome. That’s what I always hope for if someone wants to work with me or if I’m going to a promotion, I always hope that this person actually wants to work with me, ‘work with me’ and try to put me up in some sort of way, build me, that’s exactly what she was doing and trying to work on with each person, and I appreciate that. I’m sure all the other women in the locker room do too.”

Women’s Wrestling Army held a series of tapings in 2022 that aired on YouTube. 

Kai is set to head back to Japan in August for an extended tour. 

Watch the full interview with Kai in the video above.