Former champion drops WWE return tease ahead of SmackDown
The go-home episode of Friday Night SmackDown ahead of WWE Bad Blood is set to air live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, later tonight. Ahead of the show, a former champion teased their potential return to television after five months.
The name in question is former WWE Women's Champion Asuka. The 43-year-old is currently out of action due to an unfortunate knee injury. Her last in-ring appearance was at Backlash France. The Damage CTRL member and her teammate Kairi Sane lost the Women's Tag Team Championship to Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair at the premium live event.
Asuka has been sharing social media updates teasing a return to WWE television lately. The Japanese star recently took to her Instagram account to drop another tease. She posted a reel featuring her edited image in wrestling gear.
You can check out Asuka's reel below:
Former WWE champion names Asuka as her dream opponent
Asuka is considered by many as one of the best in-ring performers on the WWE women's roster. Former Women's Tag Team Champion Sonya Deville recently named the veteran performer her dream opponent.
During an appearance on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, the Pure Fusion Collective member recalled her NXT matches with Asuka while pointing out that the two have never competed in a televised singles contest. Sonya Deville expressed her desire to have a proper feud with The Empress of Tomorrow.
"I've had a million matches with her but not a lot televised, and never a singles televised to my knowledge. Asuka is one of my favorite opponents. We would have awesome matches down in NXT seven years ago, eight years ago, on live events and road loops. And it was my favorite match to this day, but we never got an angle on TV. And then it would be like, I go to RAW, she go to SmackDown, she go to SmackDown, I go to RAW, and we just keep playing tag and not catching each other. So I was like, if I could paint the perfect picture, I would love to have like a two-three seg match with Asuka and just mess each other up," said Deville. [H/T - Chris Van Vliet]
You can watch the entire conversation below:
In addition to Asuka, Damage CTRL's Dakota Kai is also sidelined due to an unfortunate injury. It remains to be seen when the two will return to the squared circle.