Xia Brookside Returns To Japanese Promotion After WWE Departure

Xia Brookside returned to World Wonder Ring STARDOM on Thursday. The former WWE NXT UK Superstar accompanied Mina Shirakawa to the ring before a tag match, which saw Shirakawa victorious alongside Unagi Sayaka against Thekla and Mai Sakurai. 

After the tandem's victory, Shirakawa betrayed her Pink Kabuki compatriot Sayaka, with Brookside and the debuting Mariah May standing beside Shirakawa. The trio announced themselves as "Club Venus." Shirakawa, a member of the Cosmic Angels stable said that she will remain in Cosmic Angels, but Brookside and May were members of Club Venus only. Shirakawa was a founding member of Cosmic Angels in November 2020, alongside Sayaka, meaning that other members of Cosmic Angels may need to reconsider their alliances in the coming weeks and months.

Brookside was released from WWE earlier this year when the company decided to shutter the WWE NXT UK developmental brand and rebrand it as "NXT Europe" in 2023. Brookside had been a part of the brand since 2018, even competing in the tournament to crown the inaugural WWE NXT UK Women's Champion, though she was eliminated in the first round. The second-generation talent debuted for WWE in 2018 as a part of the Mae Young Classic, eliminated in the first round by Io Shirai (now IYO SKY), the last such tournament WWE has held. While working for WWE, Brookside made numerous appearances in STARDOM, most notably losing to STARDOM High Speed Champion Hazuki in 2019, though she had not wrestled for the promotion since July of that year.