How Japanese wrestler Asuka, aka Kanako Urai, became WWE Raw Women’s Champion, with a new hair colour for every fight
The fighter is the only woman in the history of WWE to have won the Money in the Bank briefcase including Royal Rumble, SmackDown, NXT, RAW and Tag Team Championships
WWE has a new female superstar and she’s literally adding some colour to an already larger-than-life sport. Kanako Urai, better known as Asuka, has just been named the new WWE Raw Women’s Champion and the winner of the 2020 Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match.
How she got her start
The fighter, who dreamed of becoming a figure skater when she was young, took her athleticism from the rink to the ring. She began her career in professional wrestling with the A to Z promotion in 2004 and worked there until 2006 when she decided to retire from it.
But she returned to the wrestling world after a year and a half, when she freelanced for different promotions such as JWP Joshi Puroresu, NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Wave.
By now, she had already become a household name in her country thanks to her several winning titles such as JWP Openweight Championship, Smash Diva Championship and Wave Tag Team Championship.
Her WWE career
Asuka’s journey with WWE began in 2015. She went on to become a champion in both the initial categories of WWE, NXT (where she was the record holder for keeping this title for 510 days, which no other superstar had been able to achieve in the history of WWE) and SmackDown.
Three years later in 2018, she successfully established her domain by winning the Royal Rumble title. She is currently the new WWE Raw Women’s Champion and the winner of the 2020 Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match.