With her title reign lasting well over a year now, MLW’s Featherweight Champion Janai Kai is showing no signs of slowing down. She’s welcomed any challengers for her title and she’s knocked them each down one after another.
At MLW’s Kings of Colosseum on Saturday, January 11, in Texas, Janai Kai takes on Delmi Exo in an intensely personal Title vs. Hair match. They step in the ring to put it all on the line. Should Kai retain, Exo will have to sacrifice her hair.
But exactly how did this feud become so personal?
“Delmi didn’t know that I was coming through when I made my debut, and this was a title match, so she wanted a challenge, and I stepped up, and bam. I won the title from her right then and there. And ever since then, she’s been just a little bit irritated with how that happened,” Kai said in an interview with SlamWrestling.net.
“She stepped up many times against me, and I just keep beating her. So we’re at this point now where she’s very, very determined. She feels like she has strengthened since then.”
Should Kai have her way, Exo will walk out of the ring Saturday without the title, but also without her hair. Exo won the title a few months before Kai beat her for it, defeating inaugural champion Taya Valkyrie at War Chamber in April 2023.
Trained by Mr. 450 and Santana Garrett, Janai Kai (Janai Ruiz) received additional training from Erik Lockhart in Florida. When she returned home to D.C., Kai also trained with Cheeseburger and Sumie Sakai.
In addition to the training she received, Kai has also taken Taekwondo since she was a child. She also trains in kickboxing and muay thai. She believes this gives her an advantage over some of her opponents who may not have the same mixed martial arts training.
“There’s definitely a lot of things that they wouldn’t know, some tricks that I can pull, that they wouldn’t know,” the 30-year-old Kai said. “I do have a different type of pacing as well, that I’ve noticed that many talent that have came across the ring to me haven’t been able to adjust to that quickly because I moved so differently. That movement comes from my martial arts background. So I see that a lot of times, where I kind of psych them out a little bit, and then they kind of get where I’m coming from, but they still are not getting it.”
Debuting in Ring of Honor in 2018, Kai credits Chelsea Green as one of her biggest supporters and influences. The two wrestled a match in 2021 with no crowd during the pandemic, a match that was very special for Kai. “She’s seen me since I stepped into ring in Florida. She was there for my first class,” she admitted while looking back on her time in ROH. “When it comes to that end of things, a lot of people don’t know that she did help me when I started training, so that was a very special match for me.”
Already with years of experience in Japan with GLEAT (pronounced “great”), Kai took many lessons from her time training and learning in Japan. Her biggest takeaway from her time there was patience. “So when I wrestled there for two months, I was living all by myself. There was no one else from overseas with me during my tour. There was a core group that would help me.”
Despite living alone, she did lean on a group of people who helped her out with even basic things like which transit route to take, which places to eat at, things that made her daily living less of a challenge in a country on the other side of the world.
“It didn’t feel too rushed, like the whole process of like a show day. It can be very crazy. A lot of wrestlers know this, especially if there [are] shows where we’re running maybe a tad late with setting up or something. But everything over there, they got it on the T so when I when I’m just, like viewing, or want to help out and like everything, I can take my time,” she reflected.
“Everything is at a set time, and it goes very well. It’s very fluid, very organized.”
The patience she learned in Japan is now serving her well during her title reign, being undefeated in a number of title defenses since October 2023.
The road hasn’t always been easy for Kai, though. During the pandemic, Kai was one of millions unsure of her future. “Back when I didn’t really establish or knew who I was, that was when I was really letting the fans trigger me or try and tell me who I am, in a way, or if I felt like I wasn’t necessarily being your favorite, I really put that against me.”
Tuning out the noise. Blocking out the haters. Whichever phrase you prefer. There’s a different approach when you’re a professional wrestler, as Kai said. Interacting with fans is part of the wrestling show experience. Since the start of her career, she’s come a long way in not only being sure and confident in herself, but also working with the fans instead of letting their emotions get to her.
“[The fans] want to be part of the show. So when you work with them that way, when you’re just like, ‘Oh, you’re giving me this energy, I’ll give it right back.’ They all technically love that, but hate that at the same time,” Kai explained. “And that’s what you kind of want. And I actually love that. I thrive off of that.”
Kai will certainly hear every emotion from the fans in attendance Saturday. If she has her way, she’ll work with it as she’s learned to.
At the NYTEX Sports Center on January 11, Kai will look to do anything in her power to not only retain her title, but also put a spotlight on the MLW Featherweight division. “There’s no holding back.”
Major League Wrestling hosts Kings of Colosseum January 11 at the NYTEX Sports Center in North Richland Hills, Texas. Event information and tickets can be found here.
TOP PHOTO: MLW Featherweight Champion Janai Kai poses with her title belt, with her faction name in the background. Photo courtesy of MLW.
RELATED LINKS
- Dec. 5, 2024: MLW Eric Bischoff’s One Shot: Delmi Issues a bold challenge for Janai
- Janai Kai socials: Facebook * Instagram * Tiktok * X
