Asuka

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2004–2010)

Urai, working originally as a graphic designer, decided to find a new career in professional wrestling after becoming a fan of the likes of Keiji Mutoh, Satoru Sayama, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Antonio Inoki, Akira Maeda, Nobuhiko Takada, Masakatsu Funaki, Volk Han and Minoru Suzuki. Trained by Yuki Ishikawa, Urai adopted the ring name Kana and made her professional wrestling debut for all female promotion AtoZ on June 16, 2004, in a match against Leo-na. She spent the first part of her career with AtoZ, before suddenly retiring due to chronic nephritis on March 19, 2006. During her time away from the ring, Urai opened her own graphic design agency. After spending a year and a half away from professional wrestling, Urai made a comeback on September 22, 2007, and worked as a freelancer for promotion such as Ice Ribbon, JWP Joshi Puroresu, NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Wave and Pro Wrestling Zero1 while also forming the Passion Red stable with Nanae Takahashi, Natsuki Taiyo, Ray and Yumiko Hotta in NEO, which became her new home promotion. On October 10, 2009, Kana teamed with Takahashi to defeat Hiroyo Matsumoto and Kyoko Inoue for the NEO Tag Team Championship, Kana's first professional wrestling title. They held the title for two months before losing it to Ayumi Kurihara and Yoshiko Tamura on December 31, 2009. On January 24, 2010, Kana quit Passion Red.

Pro Wrestling Wave (2008, 2010–2015)

Kana had made some appearances for Pro Wrestling Wave in 2008, but did not start working regularly for the promotion until the end of 2010, when NEO Japan Ladies Pro Wrestling folded. On July 24, 2011, Kana defeated Ayumi Kurihara in the finals to win the 2011 Catch the Wave tournament. On October 30, Kana and Kurihara defeated Ran Yu-Yu and Toshie Uematsu to win the Dual Shock Wave 2011 tournament and become the first ever Wave Tag Team Champions. While a tag team champion with Kurihara, Kana also regularly teamed with Mio Shirai as Triple Tails.S and on February 1, 2012, Kurihara, Mika Iida and Shuu Shibutani were made official members of Triple Tails. Four days later, Kana and Kurihara lost the Wave Tag Team Championship to Ran Yu-Yu and Toshie Uematsu. On March 6, the new incarnation of Triple Tails was named White Tails, in reference to Wave's top villainous alliance, Black Dahlia. On November 27, Kana defeated Yumi Ohka in a singles match, after which she declared herself the new "ace" of Wave. On February 17, Kana, as the 2011 Catch the Wave winner, was granted entrance into the Wave Single Championship tournament, defeating Mio Shirai in her semi-final match. On March 17, Kana was defeated in the finals of the tournament by Yumi Ohka.

On April 21, Kana and Mio Shirai defeated Misaki Ohata and Tsukasa Fujimoto to win the Wave Tag Team Championship, bringing Triple Tails.S its first title. They made their first successful defense on July 7 against Fujimoto and Kyusei Sakura Hirota. On July 12, the White Tails stable produced their final event before the group's dissolution, during which Kana wrestled the soon-to-retire Ayumi Kurihara to a ten-minute time limit draw. Three days later, Kana and Shirai lost the Wave Tag Team Championship to Shidarezakura (Hikaru Shida and Yumi Ohka) in their second defense. From September 1 to October 6, Kana took part in the 2013 Dual Shock Wave tournament, where she teamed with Yumi Ohka. The team made it all the way to the finals of the tournament, before losing to Las Aventureras (Ayako Hamada and Yuu Yamagata) in a three-way match, which also included Muscle Venus (Hikaru Shida and Tsukasa Fujimoto). In July 2015, Kana made it to the semi-finals of the 2015 Catch the Wave tournament, but was defeated there by eventual tournament winner Yumi Ohka.

Japanese independent circuit (2010–2015)

On April 29, 2010, Kana held her first self-produced event, titled Kana Pro, which saw her lose to Meiko Satomura in the main event of the evening. On June 19, Kana formed the Triple Tails stable with Io and Mio, the Shirai sisters, and together the three of them worked for several promotions across Japan. Kana Pro's second event on January 10, 2011, saw Kana and Yuki Ishikawa lose to Carlos Amano and Yoshiaki Fujiwara in the main event. Triple Tails also put together their own shows on February 13 and May 8, 2011. Kana Pro's third event logang on September 24 saw Kana lose to Kengo Mashimo in the main event. On October 29, Kana was elected the eighth president of 666, a small independent promotion for which she had wrestled for the past year. On November 5, Kana took part in the final event held by the Battlarts promotion, defeating Aki Shizuku in a singles match.

On March 11, 2012, Kana made her debut for the DDT Pro-Wrestling promotion, taking part in an eight-person ten-minute battle royal for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship, which she won five minutes into the match by pinning Michael Nakazawa, before losing it with just 50 seconds remaining in the match to Antonio Honda, only to regain it via submission with just 22 seconds remaining in the match. On April 8, Kana defended the title in another ten-minute battle royal, during which she lost the title twice to Michael Nakazawa and once to Keita Yano, but each time managed to regain it and left the match with it, now as a five-time champion. On April 25, Kana made her first appearance for Ice Ribbon in three years, when she teamed with Aki Shizuku to defeat April Davids and ICE×60 Champion Hikaru Shida. On April 30, Kana lost the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship to Ayumi Kurihara at a Pro Wrestling Wave event in the opening match of the 2012 Catch the Wave tournament. On May 5 at Ice Ribbon's Golden Ribbon 2012 event, Kana defeated Hikaru Shida in a non-title singles match. On May 12, Kana made her Mexican debut, when she took part in Toryumon Mexico's DragonMania VII event, defeating Syuri in a singles match. In early July, Kana and Mio Shirai took part in the 2012 Japan Expo in Paris, France. Kana returned to Ice Ribbon on October 20, when she teamed with new ICE×60 Champion Mio Shirai in a tag team main event, where they defeated Maki Narumiya and Tsukasa Fujimoto.

Following her December 2012 departure from WNC, Kana began making more regular appearances for both Ice Ribbon and JWP. She was, in storyline, brought into JWP by her friend Arisa Nakajima, much to the chagrin of the promotion's president Command Bolshoi, who was one of the wrestlers upset by her 2010 manifesto. On February 24, 2013, Triple Tails.S held its first self-produced event in nine months, which saw Kana and Mio Shirai wrestle Arisa Nakajima and Ayako Hamada in a main event tag team match. On May 5, Kana made another appearance for JWP, submitting JWP Openweight Champion Arisa Nakajima in a tag team match, where she and Rydeen Hagane faced Nakajima and Nana Kawasa. Post-match, Kana and Nakajima came to blows, with Nakajima claiming that she was now defending all of joshi against Kana. Ahead of Ayumi Kurihara's impending retirement, she and Kana came together on July 26 to produce the "kanAyu" independent event, which saw Kana and Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!! lose to Kurihara and Masaaki Mochizuki in a main event tag team match. On August 18, Kana returned to JWP and defeated Arisa Nakajima to become the new JWP Openweight Champion. Following the win, Kana, portrayed as the villainous outsider, smeared makeup on Nakajima's face, before gloating over capturing JWP's top title during Plum Mariko's memorial event. Kana made her first successful title defense on September 16 against the reigning JWP Junior and POP Champion Manami Katsu. Kana made her second successful title defense on October 14 against JWP Tag Team and Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Champion Hanako Nakamori. While continuing to badmouth JWP and its wrestlers, Kana also entered a storyline, where she began professing her love for Arisa Nakajima, much to the bewilderment of the former champion. As part of the storyline, Kana refused title challenges made by Kayoko Haruyama and Leon and instead named Nakajima her next challenger. On December 15 at JWP's annual year-end Climax event, Kana lost the JWP Openweight Championship back to Nakajima in her third title defense.

Smash (2010–2012)

Kana made her debut for Yoshihiro Tajiri's new Smash promotion on June 25, 2010, losing to Syuri in the main event of Smash.4. After the match, Kana left the arena smiling and later challenged Syuri to a rematch, which was made official on June 30. In the rematch on July 24 at Smash.5 Kana, now a full blown heel, defeated Syuri via submission in just three minutes. As part of the attempt to get her over as the top villain, Kana wrote a manifesto for the Weekly Pro-Wrestling magazine, which was published on August 4 and where she attacked the entire Joshi Puroresu community, claiming it was full of wrestlers with no personality and bad attitudes and who wrestled in an unrealistic manner. The article led to a confrontation between Kana and wrestlers from the JWP Joshi Puroresu promotion on August 30 at Smash.7, but never led to a direct match. Kana then began feuding with Tajiri, which led to an intergender match on December 24 at Happening Eve, where Tajiri was victorious. Following the loss, Kana reemerged on January 29, 2011, as the leader of the Triple Tails stable with the Shirai sisters, dubbing herself Sekai no Kana (literally "World Famous Kana"). Kana then continued working against the opposite sex, teaming with the Shirais to defeat Tajiri, Ken Ohka and Yoshiaki Yago on February 25, but losing to Funaki on March 31.

In April, Kana entered a feud with Serena, stemming from a comment she made, calling Kana a talented "amateur" wrestler, while she herself had worked for the top promotion in the world. In response, Kana vowed to make Serena respect her. In the first encounter on April 30 at Smash.16, Serena teamed with Makoto and Syuri to defeat the Triple Tails in a six-woman tag team match, when Serena pinned Kana with her finishing maneuver, the spear. On May 3 at Smash.17, Serena defeated Kana with a spear in the first singles match between the two. At the following event on June 9, Smash started a tournament to crown the inaugural Smash Diva Champion, which saw Kana defeat Lin "Bitch" Byron in her first round match. On August 11 at Smash.20, Kana defeated Syuri to set up a rematch with Serena in the finals of the tournament. On September 8, Kana defeated Serena to become the inaugural Smash Diva Champion. On November 24 at Smash.23, Kana lost the Smash Diva Championship to Tomoka Nakagawa in her first defense. On January 19, 2012, at We Are Smash, Kana defeated Nakagawa in a rematch to regain the title. Kana's second reign ended also in her first defense, when she lost the title to Syuri on February 19 at Smash.25, after which the two longtime rivals hugged and made peace with each other. On March 14, Smash held Smash.Final, the promotion's final event before ceasing operations, during which Kana teamed with Último Dragón to defeat Mentallo and Syuri in a tag team match.

American independent circuit (2011–2014)

On August 3, 2011, it was reported that Kana would be making her debut in the United States in early October, working for all-female promotion Shimmer Women Athletes on 1 and 2 and for Chikara on 7 and 8. As part of Shimmer, she wrestled most notably Sara Del Rey, but faced also wrestlers like Mercedes Martinez, Nikki Storm, Cherry Bomb or Ayako Hamada. She also had an alliance with LuFisto. Her time with Shimmer helped her to learn the American wrestling style.

Wrestling New Classic (2012)

On April 5, 2012, Tajiri named Kana as part of the roster of Wrestling New Classic (WNC), the follow-up promotion to Smash. For the first time since 2006, when she was affiliated with AtoZ, Kana signed a contract to make WNC her new home promotion, ending her freelancing days, though the deal allowed her to continue working for Pro Wrestling Wave and producing her own independent events. On April 26 at WNC's first event, Before the Dawn, Kana teamed with Mio Shirai in a tag team match, where they defeated Makoto and Syuri, with Kana pinning Makoto for the win. Post-match, Kana verbally assaulted Makoto, which led to Shirai turning on her and siding with Makoto. At WNC's second event, Starting Over on May 24, Kana submitted Makoto in a tag team match, where she teamed with Syuri and Makoto with Riho, a replacement for an injured Mio Shirai. Two days later at Go! Go! West: Osaka, Kana submitted Makoto again, this time in a singles match. On June 17, Kana produced her first Kana Pro event in collaboration with WNC, where she and Kenichi Yamamoto were defeated in the main event by Daisuke Ikeda and Syuri. The rivalry between Kana and Makoto continued at WNC's following event on June 22, where Makoto ended her losing streak by pinning Kana in a tag team match, where Kana teamed with Syuri and Makoto with Mio Shirai. On July 15, Kana defeated Shirai in a singles match, after which she had another heated exchange with Makoto, who had been sidelined from in-ring action with a fractured wrist.

Later that same event, Kana's uneasy alliance with Syuri came to an end, when Syuri turned on her, after losing to Ayako Hamada, and joined a new villainous stable formed by Akira and StarBuck. The first match between Kana and Syuri since the latter's turn took place at a WNC event on August 2; Syuri, Akira and StarBuck defeated Kana, Hajime Ohara and Tajiri. On August 30, Kana, Mikey Whipwreck and Tajiri were defeated in a Barbed Wire Board Deathmatch by Syuri, Akira and StarBuck. Kana, Whipwreck and Tajiri were also defeated in a rematch the following day in Osaka, before coming back to win the second rematch on September 1 in Toyohashi, ending the villainous trio's win streak in the process. In the main event of a WNC event on September 17, Kana earned a big win over Syuri, defeating her via submission in a tag team match, where she and Tajiri faced Syuri and Akira. During a press conference the following day, Kana and Makoto announced that they were coming together to produce an event at Shinjuku Face on November 9, celebrating their common birthday, respectively. On September 20, Kana was defeated by Akira in an intergender match at Korakuen Hall. On November 9, Kana and Makoto produced the first MakoKana Pro event. Early in the event, the two teamed to defeat the Ice Ribbon team of Hamuko Hoshi and Hikaru Shida. Later, in the main event, Kana teamed with Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling's Kagetsu, wrestling Syuri and JWP's Arisa Nakajima to a thirty-minute time limit draw. The match was billed as the first confrontation between Kana and Nakajima, who both started their careers in AtoZ. On November 26, Kana entered the WNC Women's Championship tournament, defeating Makoto in her first round match. Two days later, Kana was eliminated in the semi-finals of the tournament by Nagisa Nozaki, following interference from her Kabushiki gaisha DQN stablemate Jiro Kuroshio. Following the match, Kana quit WNC and once again became a freelancer, claiming that she had not been paid for months and had not been able to get in contact with the promotion's president Tsutomu Takashima. WNC officially released Kana from her contract on December 4.

Reina Joshi Puroresu (2014–2015)

On August 30, 2014, Kana began working for Reina Joshi Puroresu as a storyline consultant. After Kana used her power to strip Ariya and Makoto of the Reina World Tag Team Championship, she and Arisa Nakajima became the new champions on November 20 by defeating Lin Byron and Syuri in a tournament final, when Syuri was betrayed by her own partner, paid off by Kana. On December 26, Kana defeated Syuri to win the Reina World Women's Championship. Following the win, Kana reformed Reina as the promotion's new "general producer" (GP). In early 2015, Kana launched her own stable, originally named Kana-gun (Kana Army), but later renamed Piero-gun (Clown Army) due to all members adopting Kana's clown makeup; members of the stable included native wrestlers Makoto and Rina Yamashita, foreigners Alex Lee, Cat Power and La Comandante and male wrestlers Hercules Senga and Yuko Miyamoto. On January 12, 2015, Kana and Nakajima made their first successful defense of the Reina World Tag Team Championship against Goya Kong and Muñeca de Plata. On February 25 at KanaProMania: Advance, Kana and Arisa Nakajima lost the Reina World Tag Team Championship to Hikaru Shida and Syuri. On March 25, Kana lost her position as the Reina GP to Shida after she and her stablemates Cat Power and Yuko Miyamoto were defeated in a six-person tag team match by Shida, Shiro Koshinaka and Zeus. In May, Kana made her first successful defenses of the Reina World Women's Championship against visiting Mexican wrestlers, defeating Gitana on May 17 and Reyna Isis on May 29. On June 13, Kana made her third successful title defense against Yako Fujigasaki. On August 31, ahead of her impending departure from the promotion, Kana relinquished the Reina World Women's Championship. She wrestled her final match for the promotion on September 4, when she and Syuri defeated Konami and Makoto in a tag team match.

WWE

On August 22, 2015, Urai attended WWE's NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn event in Brooklyn, New York, Rumours about her having signed with WWE were soon confirmed at a press conference on September 8 in Tokyo; this made her the first female Japanese wrestler to sign with the company since Bull Nakano in 1994. She joined WWE's developmental brand NXT, and adopted the ring name Asuka. Her debut appearance, which aired on September 23, ended in a confrontation with Dana Brooke and Emma. In her debut match on October 7 at NXT TakeOver: Respect, Asuka defeated Dana. Asuka continued racking victories over various wrestlers including main roster wrestler Cameron and continued her feud with Dana Brooke and Emma. At NXT TakeOver: London, Asuka defeated Emma. Both wrestlers' performance was highly praised by critics such as Dave Meltzer, who called the match "fantastic".

On the January 13, 2016, episode of NXT, Asuka participated in a battle royal to determine the number #1 contender for Bayley's NXT Women's Championship; she was eliminated second-to-last by Eva Marie. On the February 10 episode, battle royal winner Carmella lost her title match against Bayley. Asuka saved Carmella from a post-match attack by Eva Marie and Nia Jax and afterwards had a staredown with Bayley, indicating that she wanted a shot at her title. On April 1, Asuka defeated Bayley by technical submission to win the NXT Women's Championship at NXT TakeOver: Dallas and successfully defended the title against Nia Jax on June 8 at NXT TakeOver: The End. In summer 2016, Vince McMahon contemplated moving Asuka to the main roster during the 2016 draft, but NXT head Triple H dissuaded him, calling Asuka "the one person NXT could not afford to lose" and the brand's "anchor".

Asuka remained in NXT and rekindled her feud with Bayley, whom she again defeated on August 20 at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II. After her successful title defense against the returning Mickie James on November 19 at NXT TakeOver: Toronto, Asuka displayed the first signs of villainous behavior when she refused to shake her opponent's hand after the match. On the January 11, 2017, episode of NXT when Asuka was overpowered by The Iconic Duo (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce), Nikki Cross came to her rescue but then herself attacked Asuka. Asuka demanded to defend her title against all three and won the subsequent fatal four-way match on January 28 at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio. In early February, Asuka became the longest-reigning singles champion in NXT history, male or female. In March, Asuka wrestled on several house shows with WWE's main roster as a replacement for an injured Naomi, including a show at Madison Square Garden on March 12. Around this time, WWE began promoting Asuka's "undefeated streak [...] since her arrival" in NXT. Asuka had never lost a match by submitting or being pinned, though she had come up short in the aforementioned battle royal in January 2016 and tag team match and one fatal four-way match on NXT house shows in March and May 2016, respectively, when other wrestlers were pinned.

Legacy

In December 2015, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter stated that Urai "may be the best worker in WWE, man or woman". In 2017, Urai became the first Japanese wrestler to top Pro Wrestling Illustrated's annual PWI Female 50 list. She is the first person in WWE history to win NXT Women's Championship, Raw Women's Championship, SmackDown Women's Championship, Women's Tag Team Championship, Royal Rumble match, Money in the Bank match, and Elimination Chamber match. In 2020, she competed in more WWE matches than all other superstars. In 2021, WWE named her as one of the top 5 of the greatest female superstars of all time.

Other media

Urai has released three gravure DVDs, titled Manifesto (マニュフェスト, Manyufesuto; 2011), Manifesto II (マニュフェストII, Manyufesuto II; 2012) and Manifesto Final (マニフェスト Final, Manifesuto Final; 2015). She and Mio Shirai have also released a gravure DVD together, titled Sadistic Tails (2012). In September 2019, Urai launched her own gaming and cooking channel on YouTube, KanaChanTV. She had teased the channel with several posts on her Twitter account before formally announcing the channel. KanaChanTV features playthrough videos with her own bilingual English/Japanese commentary as well as lifestyle content.

Personal life

Urai is a graduate of the Osaka University of Arts Junior College. She has written for Xbox Magazine and designed graphics for Nintendo DS and various mobile applications; she has also owned a hair salon in Yokohama named Another Heaven. She started building her own arcade game building in Japan in July 2023.

According to Becky Lynch and Naomi, Urai is a mother.

In an interview with ET Canada in 2021, Urai detailed her own experiences with racism and shared her thoughts on the rise of anti-Asian sentiment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Championships and accomplishments

CBS Sports

WWE Match of the Year (2018) vs. Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs

DDT Pro-Wrestling

Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (5 times)

JWP Joshi Puroresu

JWP Openweight Championship (1 time)

JWP Year-End Award (2 times)

Best Bout Award (2013) vs. Arisa Nakajima on December 15

Enemy Award (2013)

Kuzu Pro

Kuzu Pro Diva Championship (1 time)

NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling

NEO Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Nanae Takahashi

Osaka Joshi Pro Wrestling

One Day Tag Tournament (2011) – with Mio Shirai

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Ranked No. 1 of the top 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2017

Ranked No. 9 of the top 50 tag teams in the PWI Tag Team 50 in 2020 with Kairi Sane

Woman of the Year (2017)

Pro Wrestling Wave