IYO SKY Reveals Origin of Her Name – During a recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, WWE Superstar IYO SKY revealed the unexpected and hectic story behind her name change from Io Shirai to IYO SKY — a decision made just days before her official main roster debut at SummerSlam 2022.

SKY, who had wrestled under the name Io Shirai throughout her NXT career, explained that the change came after an unplanned call from Triple H while she was still recovering from a broken ankle. “Hunter called me, ‘Are you ready to go to Raw?’ And I totally didn’t expect that,” she said. “He told me, ‘with Bayley and with Dakota Kai,’ because she was not even working on WWE. That makes me so happy, because Bayley, Dakota, and I make a new unit.”

However, the call wasn’t the only surprise. Triple H also asked her to come up with a new ring name — and fast. “Then he says, ‘Oh, please think of a new ring name.’ Oh my gosh, I don’t have any time because maybe that was only five days before SummerSlam. I didn’t even have one week for sure,” SKY recalled.

With very little time to prepare, she came up with a name that would both honor her roots and connect easily with fans around the world. “The Shirai means ‘purple thunder’ in Japanese. So that’s why I tried to think of something that when you’re hearing my name, you can imagine something,” she explained. “I came up with IYO SKY, because if you hear IYO SKY, you can easily be thinking of the sky, and you won’t forget my name. So that’s why I decided to put SKY.”

IYO SKY made her main roster debut on July 30, 2022, at SummerSlam, forming the faction Damage CTRL alongside Bayley and Dakota Kai. Since then, she has achieved tremendous success, capturing the WWE Women’s Championship, the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship, and winning the Money in the Bank briefcase. Her story shows how a last-minute decision turned into one of WWE’s most recognizable modern names.

Stay tuned to WrestlingAttitude, WA.Com On Facebook, Twitter/X, Bluesky and Google News for more.

IYO SKY Reveals Origin of Her Name

AdvertisementAdvertisement