Asuka: 5 things you may not know about the returning WWE Superstar
Asuka made her triumphant return to WWE programming this past Monday on RAW. Having not appeared on WWE TV since the 2021 Money in the Bank event, she finally showed up to interrupt Becky Lynch's scathing promo.
As Lynch rambled on about how she was going to become Women's Champion again and reign over the division with an iron fist, Asuka returned to a thunderous ovation. The Japanese superstar danced around The Man and said that she would stop her. After a brief tussle, it was the latter who retreated as The Empress of Tomorrow celebrated in the ring.
The former NXT Women's Champion's return is huge for RAW and for WWE in general. In her, they have a top-tier competitor who can seamlessly be slotted into the main event picture. With fans firmly behind the popular superstar, there is no better time to push her to the moon.
However, as famous as the former undefeated champion is, there are some lesser-known facts about her. In that regard, here are five details you may not know about Kanako Urai a.k.a Asuka.
#5. On our list of things you may not know about Asuka: Microsoft paid her to promote the Xbox
Those in the know will be aware that Asuka is a massive and hardcore gamer. Her history with video games is well-documented, and over the years has caught the attention of top companies, including Microsoft.
In fact, Microsoft made the decision to sponsor the Japanese superstar's wrestling career by providing her with Xbox gear. They offered her a lot of money to have her print the Xbox 360 logo on her wrestling attire. This made her a marketing draw, and we are surprised WWE has not cashed in on her marketability yet.
#4. She is a Grand Slam Champion in WWE
Asuka's WWE career has been full of wins and championships. Her accomplishments make her one of the best female superstars to step foot in a WWE ring.
However, not many people are aware that she is part of an exclusive club in WWE history. The Empress of Tomorrow became the second woman after Bayley to become a Grand Slam Champion in Vince McMahon's company.
By winning the RAW Women's Championship in 2020 after already being crowned NXT Women’s Champion, Smackdown Women’s Champion and Women’s Tag Team Champion, Asuka became a history maker in her own right. She has since been joined in that club by Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair.
#3. She owns a hair salon
@KennyOmegamanX Congratulations on winning🤘
Thank you for coming to my hair salon😊
If you have watched Asuka in the ring, you will have noticed that she colors her hair more frequently than any other superstar. The reason for that is that she owns a Yokohama-based hair salon called Another Heaven and is an expert at various hairstyles.
The former undefeated champion promotes her business on social media extensively. The most high-profile celebrity to have visited her salon was AEW Superstar Kenny Omega, whom she thanked in December 2016 for showing up.
#2. She has dabbled in video game writing
While Asuka is a WWE Superstar today, in the past, she has also experimented with cool lines of work like figure skating and modeling. However, what takes the cake for us is her video game writing venture.
After training in journalism, the former undefeated champion took her love for video games and merged it with her writing skills to produce storylines for the former. She has gone on record to say that it was a job she loved because of her passion for video games.
What's more impressive is that she was great at what she did. In fact, she was good enough for some publications in Japan to contact and hire her as a freelancer. Under the designation, she wrote about video games and gaming culture.
#1. She has done gravure modeling
Asuka has also had a career as a gravure idol. For the uninitiated, a gravure idol is a female model who primarily models for magazines, photobooks or DVDs. In her time as a gradol, she has released three gravure DVDs, all of which were successful.
The titles of the three DVDs are Manifesto, Manifesto II and Manifesto Final. Together with her friend Mio Shirai, she has also released a collab gravure DVD titled Sadistic Tails in 2012.
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