A Tag Team You Should Know: Hyperactive

On July 12th 2026, Sendai Girls ran one of their biggest shows of the year, headlined by an excellent Chihiro Hashimoto vs VENY match for the Sendai Girls World Title. It also featured the debut of their latest rookie Reina Takano and a very special announcement as Anita Vaughan and Safire Reed, collectively known as Hyperactive, let the crowd know (in Japanese) that they had signed full time with the company. With long term contracts for foreign talent being a relatively modern concept in Japanese wrestling, I believe this makes them the first non-Japanese tag team to sign a full time contract with a Japanese company. They’re currently back in the UK for a short while, and they were gracious enough to grant me an interview.

Life in Japan

So massive congratulations on signing with Sendai Girls, but I have to start with the most important and obvious question first: has Amira got her nose back? (Editor’s note: Hyperactive and Amira Blair have a long running game of “Got Your Nose” which they played on a video call not long after Hyperactive traveled to Japan.)

Safire: No, it’s actually still in Japan. We got to the airport and was told our suitcases were over the weight limit! Turns out it was her big fat nose weighing the case down! So it’s roaming the streets of Japan somewhere these days….

To be fair, I’m now jealous of Amira’s nose. So how did this first tour all come together?

Safire: Literally this time last year… Anita EXPLAIN

Anita: It actually started exactly a year ago today. There was a Gaea Girls movie screening in London with Meiko Satomura doing a Q&A afterwards and we really wanted to go, but it was sold out!!

Then on the day I dunno, I just had this feeling like, we haveeee to go. I checked again about 3 hours before the show and literally 2 tickets had just become available, so I bought them straight away and we ran for the train into London.

After the screening, during the Q&A, the director pointed out that there were two wrestlers in the crowd and asked us to ask Meiko a question. Saf asked, Meiko answered and then basically said, “I like you two, I think you’re both great wrestlers. I’d love to bring you both to Japan.”

We were like… what?! 😭

We spoke to her afterwards, she reached out to us, and it all went from there. And now exactly a year later, we’re signed to Sendai Girls!!!

It’s cool looking back on cause it’s one of those ‘trust your gut’ things. You never know what can happen

There’s only a handful of British and Irish people who’ve gotten full time jobs out in Japan, and very few women. I think there’s Heidi Katrina with Sendai, Bea Priestley with Stardom and Debbie Keitel with Diana. How did the offer for the full time contracts come about?

Anita: About half way through our tour, Meiko had asked us to come back, which was already a huge honour in itself. We always knew that we wanted to come back and do a second tour so we were delighted. We were thinking hmm maybe we can head back in 2027 some time ?? but then after another meeting with Meiko she actually wanted us back as soon as possible! So then the conversation turned to getting us back for an October- December 2026 tour.

The full time conversation then came up just before the Xebio Arena show where she offered us to join the roster officially. It totally caught us by surprise. We never expected that kind of an offer and it blew us away completely.

We don’t know what changed or what conversations happened behind the scenes for the full time offer to come up… but during that time we really bonded even more closely with the roster and having the best time ever. It was a really special time. So maybe that led to the full time offer but we’ll never know! However the offer came about we were delighted to accept.

It’s been very cool to see how well you guys have integrated with the rest of the roster, both through your social media posts and the YouTube series. You seem to have a good language exchange going on, and it was very impressive that you made the announcement in Japanese, especially after a big match like that. ハイパアクチブーの日本語は改善していますよね

Anita: Hahah yeah we’re trying our best with learning Japanese. It’s nowhere near a high level at all yet but it’s great when we can communicate with all the girls, even just a little bit.

Definitely the best part was getting to make that announcement in Japanese at Xebio. A moment we’ll never forget. But if you’ve seen any of the YouTube series or our social media, you’ll know it truly was a team effort in prepping us for it. Super grateful to everyone who helped us, especially Manami!

Since we’ve come back to the UK we’re restarted our online lessons with our tutor so that we hit the ground running with our Japanese once we’re back there.

Speaking of the YouTube series, it’s been a really fascinating and informative look at the day to day lives of the roster, and it was especially cool seeing some of the training, which to say the least is, uh, quite different from what was shown in the Gaea Girls film. How does the training in Sendai compare to training in the UK or Ireland?

Safire: It can be intense. In the best way. I think we push each other in the U.K and Japan. But in the UK a lot of it is also adding in character to a drill, training in Japan is more showing not giving up, and truly giving it everything you have physically and emotionally. Japan is quite strongly sports based and when you’re doing a drill you give every part of your heart and intensity as possible.

I think what differs too is there could be up to 25 people in some classes in the U.K depending where you go. In Sendai Girls, I’d say there’s 8-10 maximum as you can see from the YouTube videos. We push each other and do everything together, and train with each other every single day.

Yeah, that 4 v 3 sparring session with you guys, Takase, Stephanie, Spike, Oka and Reina was pretty cool to watch. It was easy to see the camaraderie between you all.
On the Xebio show, as well as your big announcement, we also saw the debut of Reina Takano. I believe she started training just before you guys went over to Japan. How has it been training with someone so new, and Saf, did you give her any tips on facing Aja?

Safire: Reina is one of the hardest working girls we have ever trained with. She is full of passion. You can feel it when she’s in the ring. Genuinely you feel the fire in her heart. I’m very glad we have got to train alongside her, she doesn’t give up, and she keeps going and doesn’t give up no matter how hard it gets. It’s truly inspiring. Any tips for her match against Aja-San? Just for her to give it absolutely everything she has. And of course, she gave it her all.

So as well as Sendai Girls, you also worked a Friday Night Gatcha show for Marvelous and AV worked a team Dera show against Manami. Are there any other companies you’d like to work for when you get back?

Anita: It’s definitely interesting to think about what other opportunities could come up now that we’re going to be spending longer in Japan as full-time SENJO members.

On our first tour we were very much focused on Sendai Girls and just trying to settle in, learn the style and find our place there. Now that we’ll be based in Japan for longer, I guess it naturally opens up more possibilities to work with other promotions too.

But honestly, our main focus is still SENJO. There’s still so much we haven’t done there yet and so many people we haven’t faced. We’re really looking forward to doing more tag matches, but also getting more singles matches too. When you actually think about it, there’s still so much for us to do in our home promotion.

But of course, if other opportunities come along, we’d love to go and represent Sendai Girls in other promotions around Japan. I think there’s a bit more pressure with that now too, because being full-time roster members means we’re not just representing ourselves anymore, we’re representing Sendai Girls as well.

So obviously between the shows and training, you’ve been incredibly busy while I’ve been in Japan, but how have you found life there during your time off?

Anita: For me, getting to actually experience everyday life in Japan has been really cool. A lot of our days off aren’t anything super exciting to be honest… we’ll go grocery shopping, clean the apartment, go for walks around the city, find somewhere for coffee or food. Just normal everyday life really just in a new country.

I think being in Sendai makes it a different experience too. We’re not in the middle of Tokyo where everything is constantly busy and there’s always something happening. Sendai has a quieter pace of life, and I’ve really enjoyed that.

Obviously wrestling is the reason we’re there, but getting to experience normal everyday life in Japan alongside that has been really special. And now that we’re going back for longer and we’re working on Japanese it’ll be great to get back and become even more comfortable in that everyday life too.

© Chris Gannon

Back in the UK

You’re going to be back in the UK for a couple of months while you prepare for the big move back, and your calendar is already looking pretty full with shows and seminars. Were these the first seminars you’ve run, and how did you find the experience?

Safire: Yes, those were our first seminars we had run! It was a great experience getting to share what we had learned and picked up over the last few months in Japan, but also the last couple years of us being a tag team and being able to put both together. We still have so much to learn wrestling in Japan and wrestling as a tag team, but we try our best to learn from every single match!

You were both at the first lodestone seminar, did you get any advice from Bayley on running your own seminars?

Anita: Hahaha we didn’t actually reach out to her for advice, but that probably would have been a good idea

Actually, now that you mention Lodestone, one of the nicest parts has been seeing so many women at our seminars who come up afterwards, ask questions and want to know more about the path we’ve taken. Because really, that was us when we went to that first Lodestone.

So in that sense, I do feel like we’ve been carrying that message from Lodestone with us… encouraging more women to push themselves further in wrestling and showing them that there are opportunities out there if they keep going. It’s really cool to now find ourselves on the other side of that. All while still being on our own wrestling journey

That’s very cool, I’m still in awe of Bayley for putting that whole thing together and some of the guests she got, including John Cena. Got to ask, did the subject of the multiverse rumbles come up with him? I mean you guys, or at least a DX who looked suspiciously like you, are his official final opponents right?

Anita: It did not come up haha. The lodestone camp happened first but when we wrestled the training match in front of him, his feedback to us was that we reminded him of DX and so it inspired the big DX Hyperactive appearance after that 😝

You’ve both had WWE tryouts, AV you had one just before Summerslam last year and Saf you barely had time to unpack before you headed to one a couple of months ago. How did they come about and how did you find them?

Safire: So, Jim Smallman contacted us both individually, which if you’re an independent wrestler in the UK or outside of the US, then Jim contacts you, I believe –

Anita: He’s the international talent scout –

Safire: So that’s who contacted us and invited us both to tryouts, which AV had first.

Anita: I got invited to the one in New Jersey for SummerSlam last year, and it was really cool and it was my first time in America as well. It ended up being a really amazing learning experience getting to go out there. You get to do promos in front of the coaches from the PC and other guest wrestlers who pop in and give advice. From that perspective, it was just an unbelievable experience, like you don’t get that. And I’d never experienced anything like that before, it was really good.

Safire: Pretty much the same as what AV said, it was really just a great experience. When you step in there, you just feel like your child self at heart, because it was what you grew up watching, and then you’re in there with all these people that work there, and it’s just amazing. Great experience, learned loads, met loads of really new people. It’s something I’ll always remember.

We’ve just had All In weekend over here and you guys seemed to be everywhere this weekend, and even made the ppv when they showed the shot of Thekla in the crowd. What were your highlights of the weekend?

Safire: Was we? Had no idea, if there’s any footage please do show.

Here’s the footage from the PPV.

Safire: Hilarious, AEW debut. So, my highlight of the weekend was all the shows that we did and being around all the people that we were with. I think the highlight was just the weekend itself. All In weekend is always such a big time for shows and other wrestlers coming over, and meeting new people, and getting to just be part of such a wonderful weekend with so many cool opportunities. We got to do EVE, we got to do Mystery, we got to be part of Progress. We just had the time of our lives obviously doing what we love, but watching what we love as well. I guess the highlight is the wrestling as always.

Also, every show we were a part of was sold out. I think most shows were sold out this weekend, which is awesome for the scene. And the atmosphere was electric too, such a buzz.

Anita: Yeah, I agree with that, pretty much. The highlight is just getting to be part of a weekend like that and a part of all the shows. As a wrestler, when you get to perform on shows during big weekends like All In weekend, you really feel the difference in the crowd. The energy is just so much bigger. Everyone who’s there in the crowd is there to watch wrestling, they’ve come from all parts of the world. When we talk to fans after the show, we’re like “oh where have you come in from” and they’re like, “Oh, I’ve come from Estonia,” “I’ve come from the Czech Republic,” “I’ve come from Germany,” “I’ve come from the United States.” Literally from everywhere, people are coming to celebrate wrestling in London, and it’s great. It was nice as well, because some people hadn’t seen us since before we went to Japan and everyone is like “oh it’s great to see you guys got on so well, and I’ll be following you when you go back,” and it’s just nice to get to connect and talk to people, and see everyone before we go back.

Going to be honest, you guys being in the ring with Orange Cassidy or Serpentico was not on my list of predictions this year.

Anita: Nor ours haha but that’s mystery wrestling eh? It was great. Even to get the chance to speak with them after and get advice. It’s something we never expected from the weekend but one to remember. Also getting to share the ring with our best friend at first sight kingsley was awesome too.

I could hear Amira’s screaming coming from Wembley Arena over that one.

You’re really making a name for yourself as a tag team worldwide now, but Safire, you also have an interesting singles match coming up, a match with Kay Lee Ray, which is a battle between two former EVE champions and a generational clash.

Safire: Yeah. I’m very excited for my match with KLR. She likes to do some mad stuff in her matches as do I. So I’m certain it’s gonna be a banger. I was a big fan of KLR when I’d watch her on the indies growing up, so it’s super cool to be able to be in a ring with her, especially somewhere like EVE.

Yeah, it’s pretty a very interesting one because by the time you were starting out, KLR was in WWE full time, so it’s a proper clash of generations. You guys are also booked for wXw’s Grand Prix weekend in the tag tournament. You’ve got quite a history there right?

Anita: wXw is a fun one, we both have a lot of history there. In 2024 I won the Femme Fatales tournament and I also won the wXw Shotgun title. The following year, Safire won the Femme Fatales tournament and we wrestled each other in the final. It was a really special match for the both of us, it meant a lot to us and it’s still one of my favourite matches to this day. We’re looking forward to going back now as a tag team, with so much more experience under our belts as a tag team and getting to face other experienced teams from around the world is just going to be the best experience. I’m particularly looking forward to that match with Best Bros. Anything from you Saf?

Safire: Bosh.

When the first rounds were drawn up and I saw you were against Mei and Akki, I was pretty pumped because that was the match I wanted to see, so it was nice it was guaranteed. We’re also going to see fellow Senjo roster members Chihiro Hashimoto and Manami, along with Meiko herself. Can’t wait to see how the German crowds take to Manami. Is there anyone else from the Senjo roster you’d like to see out here?

Anita: Yurika Oka. 100%. I think she’d have the time of her life and I know the UK and European crowds would adore her. I could say the same for everyone on the roster honestly. Iwata, Takase, Mizunami, Yuna..! Would all be awesome out here. For sure if we got Spike out here we’d love a trios match too.

Hyperactive can draw

Hyperactive have an infamous and unusual item of merchandise in your store: hyperdoodles, custom sketches drawn by the two of you. What is the origin story of those?

Safire: We will just show you hahahah

The tweet that started it all

The first hyperdoodle © Hyperactive

Anita: And somehow this led to us ACTUALLY selling these and improving our drawing skills along the way.

What’s your process for creating them? And how much alcohol is involved?

Anita: It’s not an exact process really haha. We just meet up, get the arts and crafts supplies out on the kitchen table and get to work

From there on it’s a team effort for each one. One of us starts sketching it, whoever thinks they have the best idea how to do the requested doodle, and then we just build it from there. Adding in colours and squiggly lines and funny little details as we go.

It is fun. Even though there were a few times we left the orders pile up and realised how much time it takes us to do each one. Some take us 5 mins, others can legit take 30 mins so it’s different every time. But it’s cool that people get to have a personal merch item from us that they’ll have forever.

“Hyperactive babysit Nina Samuels’ twins” from the interviewer’s personal collection

So thank you both for your time, this has been a very fun interview, and I’m looking forward to seeing you at shows before you go back. Before we go, do you have any plugs?

Anita: For sure if anyone wants to check us out, please follow us on instagram

@AV.hyperactive

@safire.hyperactive

And on X at

@AnitaVaughanHA

@SafireReedHA

We do our best to post reels and vlogs and updates on how life’s going so it’s a fun way to keep up with us. Shows wise, we’ll be taking part in wXw’s World Tag Team Tournament from Sept 25th-27th and we’ve got one last EVE show too before we head back to Japan…. we face Killer Queens on 2nd October! To keep up with all things SENJO you can follow the shows on Wrestle Universe and you’ll find more of us on Sendai Girl’s social media pages too:

X: @senjo2006

Insta: @sendaigirlspro_official

TikTok: @sendaigirls0709

And yes… As Saf says we have an online merch shop which is open for the next month. All good Saf?

Safire: Sickkkk

Interview by Chris Gannon! Follow Chris on Instagram

© Chris Gannon