Reason Xia Li's WWE debut was delayed - Reports

The superstar finally arrived on SmackDown to challenge Natalya

Current WWE Superstar Xia Li's main roster debut was considerably delayed, and new reports seem to reveal the reason.

Li signed with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2017 and has spent the majority of her time with WWE competing on their NXT brand, most prominently during their black-and-gold era. While with the brand, she had a brief run as an enhancement talent, and appeared in the 2020 Women's Royal Rumble match, and featured heavily in the Tian Sha storyline alongside Boa.

During the 2021 draft, Xia was called-up to the SmackDown brand and made her first appearance on the WWE main roster television back on December 10th, 2021.

In the segment, Li would make the save for Naomi as she was targeted by the heels. She did not wrestle a main roster match until the latest episode of the blue show.

Now, however, new reports coming out of Fightful seem to confirm that the reason for this sits with the creative team, who apparently had nothing for Li.

Don’t mess with Xia.👿 twitter.com/btsportwwe/sta…

Xia Li was victorious over Natalya in her main roster debut match on the latest edition of WWE SmackDown.

Xia Li has already made history in WWE

Though she wasn't regularly featured on WWE TV until 2019, Li first worked with the company in 2017 in the Mae Young Classic tournament, following a tryout in China.

Her presence in the tournament meant that she was the first Chinese woman to ever compete in a WWE ring.

Li would be eliminated by Mercedes Martinez in a first-round match but would return to the competition the following year.

I made it.💪🏽 twitter.com/wwe/status/149…

What did you think of Xia Li's WWE main roster debut? Does she have the potential to be a star? Share your thoughts in the comment section down below.