Asuka’s rollercoaster ride in the WWE

Asuka is at the moment one of the greatest stars of the whole women’s division in all of WWE. She and her partner Kairi Sane main evented together with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair the latest PPV TLC. The Kabuki Warriors defeated Lynch and Charlotte in an amazing match and defended their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. Anyways, we’ll now look back at Asuka’s time until now in the WWE and what could be next for her.

NXT and the first months after the call-up

Asuka joined the WWE in 2015 and was from there on part of NXT. In 2016, she won the NXT Women’s Championship from Bayley and went on to hold the title 523 days. She is until now the women who held the title for the longest time and she also remained undefeated as she had to relinquish her championship in 2017 as she got injured in a match against Ember Moon.

Considering this, she was undefeated as she made her way to the main roster. She joined Raw and they worked with the angle that she would be undefeated in the weekly episodes of the red brand. She kept her streak alive and went on to win the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble in 2018. So, she earned a title match at WrestleMania 34. She decided to challenge Charlotte who was back then SmackDown Women’s Champion and the two women fought at WrestleMania 34. Surprisingly, Charlotte defeated Asuka by forcing her to tap out – her fans in Australia went mad for this.

For the rest of the year 2018, she wasn’t that relevant anymore and lost several matches. However, at the end of the year, she was in a match against Lynch and Charlotte for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at the PPV TLC. She won the match due to an interference of Ronda Rousey which was part of the build-up for the big match between Rousey, Lynch and Flair at WrestleMania 35.  Anyways, Asuka lost the title just 100 days later to Charlotte.

The Kabuki Warriors don’t get any attention

In 2019, the team of Kairi Sane and Asuka was introduced. They got called the Kabuki Warriors and had at the beginning Paige as their manager. However, at first, they weren’t able to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships and didn’t get that much attention. So, you could say that after her match at WrestleMania 34 against Charlotte, Asuka didn’t have the standing anymore which she had before. It was somehow sad to see that two great athletes like Asuka and Sane don’t get the recognition and tv time which they truly deserve.

Back on the top

However, three months ago they “returned” and appeared more frequently on tv. They earned a title match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships against Alexa Bliss and Niki Cross at Hell in a Cell which they also won. Within the last weeks and months, they acted as heels what fits them way better than faces. Besides, Asuka often uses the Green Mist to decide matches what draws additional heat and makes her more unique again. They also dropped Paige as their manager what was also the right decision as Paige is one of the babyfaces of the WWE.

Additionally, the feud between the Kabuki Warriors and the team of Lynch and Charlotte brought them on the next level and they delivered a great performance in their match at TLC. Furthermore, in the last episode of Raw, Lynch (Raw Women’s Champion) said in an interview that she would want to beat Asuka in a match. So, it clearly looks like we would get a feud between these two women.

Considering all these aspects, Asuka’s time in WWE really is a kind of a rollercoaster ride. At first, she was the baddest women in NXT and all of WWE respectively. Her loss to Charlotte brought her a kind of a downward spiral. She held the SmackDown Women’s Championship for 100 days, but in truth that was just part of the big storyline around Rousey, Lynch and Charlotte. Furthermore, at first, the Kabuki Warriors also didn’t have a great start, but now both and especially Asuka are back on the top of the women’s division and will hopefully stay there for a long time. Even though it’s unlikely that Asuka will win the Raw Women’s Championship from Lynch, it’s still great to even see her back in the big spotlight.