10 Matches You Forgot Asuka Competed In

May 2024 · 6 minute read

Debuting in 2004, Asuka developed a reputation in Japan as one of the standout performers in women’s wrestling while working under the ring name Kana. After signing to WWE in 2015, Asuka took the promotion by storm, racking up a winning streak that put Goldberg’s to shame and leaving NXT the undefeated Women’s Champion. Since then, Asuka’s proven one of the best wrestlers in the company, achieving pretty much everything one can win in the women’s division.

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Asuka’s been in the game for nearly two decades and wrestled pretty much everybody on the indies, in Japan, and in WWE, so let’s take a look at some matches that even the biggest Asuka fans may have forgotten about.

10 Asuka vs. Emma (WWE TLC, 10/22/2017)

After departing NXT undefeated, Asuka’s streak continued with her ascent to the main roster in October 2017, where she made her in-ring debut against Emma at the TLC pay-per-view. With echoes of Asuka’s rivalry with Emma and Dana Brooke when she initially arrived in NXT, Emma proved a worthy opponent for Asuka’s first outing on the main roster. However, Asuka’s had better and higher profile matches than this debut, and Emma never hit it big on the main roster, so it’s an easy match to forget.

9 Kana vs. Meiko Satomura (Triple Tails Produce, 2/13/2011)

Nicknamed “The Final Boss” of women’s wrestling, Meiko Satomura is considered among the best wrestlers in the world, and certainly a dream opponent Asuka in WWE fans’ eyes, as Satomura is currently part of NXT UK as its Women’s Champion. But before WWE, Kana and Satomura had four singles matches together, all of them bangers, but the arguable best one is their 19-minute effort at the indie show Triple Tails Produce, put together by Kana and her Triple Tails partners, Io and Mio Shirai. With a great mix of violence and technical prowess, Kana comes out on top over Satomura.

8 Sara Del Rey vs. Kana (CHIKARA Klunk in Love, 10/8/2011)

WWE fans may not know it, but one of the keys to the rise of the women’s division in the mid 2010s was Sara Del Rey, one of the best wrestlers on the indies before being brought into WWE developmental as a trainer. Before seeing Asuka in the Performance Center, Del Rey had a match against her in the indie promotion CHIKARA.

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In this 18-minute main event, both competitors brought the intensity, but Del Rey scored the winning piledriver for a three-count victory.

7 Cheerleader Melissa vs. Kana (SHIMMER Volume 67, 10/18/2014)

CHIKARA wasn’t Kana’s only bout on the American indies. From 2011 to 2014, Kana was a regular part of the all-female promotion SHIMMER, taking on future NXT rivals like Nikki Storm (Nikki Cross) and Athena (Ember Moon). But she only had one shot at the SHIMMER Championship, challenging underrated indie veteran Cheerleader Melissa in what would be one of Kana’s final matches for the promotion before moving on to WWE. Kana seemed to be outclassing Melissa in the ring, but the champ managed to stage an impressive comeback, resorting to a series of nasty Curb Stomps before a concluding Air Raid Crash.

6 Asuka & The Miz vs. Bobby Roode & Charlotte Flair (WWE Mixed Match Challenge, 4/3/2018)

Many WWE fans may have forgotten the Mixed Match Challenge, but those who do remember the mixed tag team tournament likely look back on it as this surprisingly fun and charming under-the-radar thing that aired on Facebook. The unlikely tag team of Asuka and The Miz proved to be a highlight of the tournament, making it all the way to the finals, where they took on Bobby Roode & Charlotte Flair and came out on top in a very fun match.

5 Kana vs. Kay Lee Ray (SHIMMER Volume 69, 10/19/2014)

Kana’s time in SHIMMER meant taking on many of the top female wrestlers on the indies, many of whom ended up becoming a part of WWE in the years that followed. This included Kay Lee Ray, who’d go on to become the “Forever Champion” in NXT UK before going to NXT 2.0 and getting renamed “Alba Fyre.” Kana, who’d become a forever champion herself in NXT domestic, would put away Kay Lee Ray with the Kana Lock, later known as the Asuka Lock.

4 Asuka vs. Deonna Purrazzo (NXT, 12/9/2015)

Over the course of her 2015 to 2017 run in NXT, Asuka squashed a whole lot of unsigned wrestlers and up-and-comers, including future two-time Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo. The two fought in three singles matches during their time in WWE, but their first encounter is of note for the hilarious finish.

RELATED: Deonna Purrazzo's 10 Best Matches, According To Cagematch.net

By the end of this less-than-three minute match, Emma and Dana Brooke came out to hassle Asuka, but the distraction didn’t go as planned. Instead, Asuka quickly turned to knock out Purrazzo with a devastating spinning kick, leaving the two heels in shock.

3 AKIRA, StarBuck & Syuri vs. Kana, Mikey Whipwreck & TAJIRI (WNC, 8/30/2012)

Many of Asuka’s pre-WWE matches have gone forgotten, but there are many worth remembering. This six-person tag team Barbed Wire Board Deathmatch is a fun watch — if not as hardcore as it sounds — but the highlight here is the completely random lineup, which alone deserves to be remembered by fans. On one side is AKIRA (a.k.a. former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Akira Nogami), Canadian-Finnish indie journeyman StarBuck, and future World of Stardom Champion Syuri, while on the other side Kana is teaming with not only ECW/WWE legend TAJIRI, but also his old ECW tag team partner, Mikey Whipwreck.

2 Hikaru Shida vs. Kana (Hikaru Shida Produce, 9/6/2014)

For many fans, the modern female Japanese wrestler dream match is likely WWE’s Asuka vs. AEW’s Hikaru Shida, but to date the two have already had three singles matches together. Of the three, their second encounter was the best, occurring at an indie show produced by Shida herself. A fierce match between two great competitors, it was Hikaru Shida that would come out victorious over her more experienced opponent, delivering a Falcon Arrow followed by her signature Tamashii running knee for the three-count.

1 Kana & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Meiko Satomura & Minoru Suzuki (Kana Produce ProMania Reach, 6/16/2014)

Between 2010 and 2015, Kana produced several indie cards herself, including June 2014’s Kana Produce ProMania Reach, which offered a totally insane main event where she teamed with Pro Wrestling NOAH ace Naomichi Marufuji against Meiko Satomura and NJPW star, modern MMA pioneer, and cruel/beloved heel Minoru Suzuki. It sounds wild on paper, and the match itself doesn’t disappoint, either, with some shockingly stiff interactions between Kana and Minoru Suzuki. For the fans that remember it, it’s probably one of the best mixed tag team matches of all time.

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