Asuka (wrestler)

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Kanako Urai JapanJapan
Asuka at Wrestlemania Axxess (2018)

Asuka at Wrestlemania Axxess (2018)
Data
Surname Kanako Urai
Ring name Asuka
Kana
Additions to names The Empress of Tomorrow
height 1.60 m
Fighting weight 62 kg
birth September 26, 1981
Osaka , Japan
Trained by Yuki Ishikawa
debut June 16, 2004

Kanako Urai ( Japanese 浦 井 佳 奈 子 , Urai Kanako ; born September 26, 1981 in Osaka , Osaka Prefecture , Japan ) is a Japanese female wrestler who is currently under contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and competes under the ring name Asuka ( ア ス カ ) . Before joining WWE, she was known by the ring name Kana ( 華 名 ). She holds the record for the longest winning streak in the WWE as she remained undefeated for over 914 days. Asuka was able to surpass Goldberg 's record, which had long been considered unattainable . She celebrated her greatest successes to date on January 28, 2018, when she won the first Women's Royal Rumble Match in WWE history in Philadelphia and on December 16, 2018, when she won the SmackDown Women's Championship at the PPV TLC .

Private life

Urai graduated from Osaka University of Arts Junior College . She has written for Xbox Magazine and designed various mobile applications for Nintendo DS . She owns a hair salon in Yokohama . She has an athletic background in badminton and figure skating .

Wrestling career

Independent Leagues (2004-2015)

Prior to her wrestling career, Urai was a graphic designer . She was inspired by Japanese wrestling legends like Antonio Inoki and Keiji Mutoh to get into the wrestling business. On June 16, 2004, she played for the women's wrestling league AtoZ against Leo-na under the ring name Kana her first wrestling match. She spent the first years of her wrestling career at AtoZ until she had to end her career for a short time on March 19, 2006 because of nephritis .

At the end of her career, she opened her own graphic design agency. On September 22, 2007 she celebrated her return to wrestling and has since performed for promotions such as Ice Ribbon , JWP Joshi Puroresu , NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling , Pro Wrestling Wave and Pro Wrestling Zero1 .

She also appeared for leagues such as Pro Wrestling NOAH , All Japan Pro Wrestling , Pro Wrestling Wave , Smash , Wrestling New Classic and Reina Joshi Puroresu , where she achieved great successes, such as the double wins of the Wave Tag Team Championship and Smash Diva Championship .

Her first appearance outside of Japan was on August 3, 2011 in the United States , where she played a match in the Shimmer Women's Wrestling League . In addition to Shimmer, she also appeared in Chikara Pro Wrestling .

She played her last match in the independent scene on September 13, 2015 at Pro Wrestling Wave .

WWE (since 2015)

NXT and NXT Women's Champion (2015-2017)

NXT Women's Champion Asuka in 2016.

On August 31, 2015, it was announced that Urai had signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment .

Urai was spotted in the audience for the first time in WWE on NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn on August 22, 2015, alongside Sgt. Slaughter and Ric Flair . On September 23, 2015, she made her television debut on an edition of NXT , which was taped on September 10. There she got the ring name Asuka . The ring name is based on the former Japanese wrestler and wrestling legend Lioness Asuka . The show ended with Dana Brooke and Emma interrupting her promo. That began her feud against Dana Brooke and Emma, ​​her first in WWE. On October 7, 2015, on NXT TakeOver: Respect , she played her first match for NXT, defeating Dana Brooke.

On April 1, 2016 on NXT TakeOver: Dallas , Urai von Bayley won the NXT Women's Championship . On NXT TakeOver: Chicago won Urai for the 174th time in a row, breaking the winning streak of wrestler Bill Goldberg . During a title match against Ember Moon on August 19, 2017, Urai broke her collarbone , forcing her to take a break of several weeks. In the NXT recording on August 24, Urai therefore resigned from the NXT Women's Championship , while preparations were being made for her transfer to the WWE main roster . Her series of matches, in which she remained undefeated on NXT by pin or abandonment, thus reached an effective 510 days. Due to the delayed broadcast of the NXT recording, 523 days are also given as the length of your streak .

Raw and Royal Rumble Winner (2017-2017)

Urai became part of the Raw rooster and made her main roster debut on October 22, 2017 on Pay-per View TLC . There she had a match against Emma, ​​which she also won. On November 19, 2017, she was the last remaining participant in her team at the PPV Survivor Series and was able to win the traditional women's elimination match as Sole Survivor by eliminating Tamina and Natalya . On January 28, 2018, she won the first ever women's Royal Rumble match at Royal Rumble , which earned her a title match at Wrestlemania 34 . She challenged SmackDown Live Women's Champion Charlotte Flair on March 11, 2018 , but lost the match by abandonment on April 8, 2018 at Wrestlemania 34 in New Orleans . This also meant the end of their record winning streak in the WWE. Shortly before, on April 3, she and The Miz had won the first season of the Mixed Match Challenge against Bobby Roode and Charlotte Flair.

SmackDown and SmackDown Women's Champion (2018-2019)

SmackDown Women's Champion Asuka in 2019.

On April 17, 2018, Urai was drafted to SmackDown Live , where she was not allowed to build on her previous winning streak for a few months. She could not win a title feud against Carmella , especially since Carmella's former sidekick James Ellsworth intervened several times in the matches. It was not until the end of the year that it achieved significant successes again. On November 27, 2018, she won a Battle Royal on SmackDown Live and was rewarded with a place in the Tables, Ladders and Chairs title match at the PPV TLC , which was previously only scheduled between Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch . Urai won this match on December 16, 2018 by being the first to reach and remove the title belt attached to the ring. Previously, the ladder on which Flair and Lynch fought each other was knocked over by Ronda Rousey , who intervened in the match .

In the run-up to Wrestlemania 35, Urai lost the title to Charlotte Flair in the SmackDown issue of March 26, 2019 after 100 days of reign. Since then she has increasingly appeared in the Tag Team Division together with Kairi Sane as The Kabuki Warriors . On October 6, 2019, she and Kairi Sane won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship from Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross .

Raw and Raw Women's Champion (since 2019)

As part of the WWE Draft, Urai switched from SmackDown to Raw on October 14, 2019 . On April 4, 2020, they lost the titles to Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. This reign lasted 181 days. On May 10, 2020, she won the Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match. On 11 May 2020 she was awarded the WWE Raw Women's Championship by Becky Lynch handed after they resigned from the title because of her pregnancy. The reign lasted 77 days and finally lost the title to Sasha Banks on July 27, 2020 . She was able to regain the title from Banks on August 23, 2020.

Wrestling successes

World Wrestling Entertainment
DDT pro-wrestling
  • Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (5 ×)
JWP Joshi Puroresu
  • JWP Openweight Championship (1 ×)
Kuzu Pro
  • Kuzu Pro Diva Championship (1 ×)
NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling
  • NEO Tag Team Championship (1 × with Nanae Takahashi)
Osaka Joshi Pro Wrestling
  • One Day Tag Tournament (with Mio Shirai 2011)
Pro wrestling wave
  • Wave Tag Team Championship (1 × with Ayumi Kurihara, 1 × with Mio Shirai)
  • Catch the Wave (2011)
  • Dual Shock Wave (with Ayumi Kurihara 2011)
Reina Joshi Puroresu
  • Reina World Women's Championship (1 ×)
  • Reina World Tag Team Championship (1 × with Arisa Nakajima)
smash
  • Smash Diva Championship (2 ×)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kayla McCurry: Asuka Undefeated Streak ended with a WOOOO. In: TSJ101 Sports! April 21, 2018, Retrieved February 1, 2019 (American English).
  2. ↑ WWE: Two new signings. cagematch.de, August 31, 2015, accessed June 3, 2017 .
  3. ↑ WWE NXT TakeOver: Respect. cagematch.de, October 7, 2015, accessed June 3, 2017 .
  4. ↑ WWE NXT TakeOver: Dallas. cagematch.de, April 1, 2015, accessed June 3, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Asuka vacates NXT Women's title, headed to WWE main roster. August 24, 2017, accessed February 1, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Get full first-ever Women's Royal Rumble stats: entrants, eliminations and more. Accessed February 1, 2019 .
  7. ↑ MMC results, April 3, 2018: “Team Awe-ska” bested “The Robe Warriors” to win the WWE Mixed Match Challenge and $ 100K for Rescue Dogs Rock. Accessed February 1, 2019 .
  8. ↑ James McKenna: Asuka Wins Smackdown Women's Championship at TLC. In: Pro Wrestling Sheet | Insider Wrestling News and Reports. December 17, 2018, Retrieved February 1, 2019 (American English).
  9. ↑ Twitter goes beserk as Charlotte Flair wins the SmackDown Live Women's Championship. March 27, 2019, accessed on March 28, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Kanako Urai  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Asuka
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Urai, Kanako; Kanako, Urai; Kana; 浦 井 佳 奈 子 (Japanese); ア ス カ (Japanese); 華 名 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese female wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH September 26, 1981
PLACE OF BIRTH Osaka , Japan