Kanako Urai (born September 26, 1981, Osaka, Japan) is a professional wrestler from Japan who currently works for WWE under the ring name Asuka. She began her professional wrestling career in 2004 with the AtoZ organisation under the name Kana, where she stayed until her retirement in 2006. She started working as a freelancer for organisations including JWP Joshi Puroresu, NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Wave, Reina Joshi Puroresu, Smash, and Wrestling New Classic. She has won the Wave Tag Team Championship, the Smash Diva Championship, and the JWP Openweight Championship.
After becoming a fan of wrestlers like Keiji Mutoh, Satoru Sayama, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Antonio Inoki, Akira Maeda, Nobuhiko Takada, Masakatsu Funaki, Volk Han, and Minoru Suzuki, Asuka decided to pursue a new career in professional wrestling with Yuki Ishikawa as her coach. On June 16, 2004, she competed in her first professional wrestling match for the all-female promotion AtoZ against Leo-na. She worked at AtoZ for the initial portion of her career before abruptly retiring on March 19, 2006, as a result of chronic nephritis.
Asuka in WWE
Asuka attended WWE’s NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn event on August 22, 2015 amid rumours that she signed with the company. At a press conference on September 8 in Tokyo, the rumours that she had signed with WWE were quickly confirmed, making her the first female Japanese wrestler to do so since Bull Nakano did so in 1994. She joined NXT and took the ring name Asuka. On September 23, when she made her television debut, Dana Brooke and Emma confronted her.
At NXT TakeOver: Dallas on April 1, Asuka beat Bayley by submission to win the NXT Women’s Championship. On June 8 at NXT TakeOver: The End, Asuka successfully defended her championship against Nia Jax.
Main Roster Debut
On the September 11, 2017, episode of Raw, it was announced that Asuka was drafted to Raw. After one month, on October 22, Asuka defeated Emma at TLC. She then competed in a Survivor Series match as a member of Team Raw against Team SmackDown. She was the final member of team Raw and eliminated Tamina and Natalya. Asuka continued her winning streak over the following few months by defeating competitors like Alicia Fox, Dana Brooke and Alexa Bliss.
Winning the Smackdown Women’s title
Asuka entered the first-ever women’s TLC match against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship by winning a battle royal before the end of November. Asuka won the SmackDown Women’s title for the first time in her career on December 16 at TLC after Ronda Rousey interfered and knocked Lynch and Flair off a ladder. This was also the first time a women’s championship match had ever been the main event of a dual-branded event.
Asuka Networth 2023
According to various sources on the internet, Asuka has a net worth of $1 million. She also has an annual income of $350,000 as she is one of the more established stars of the women’s division in the WWE.
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