Asuka’s WWE absence has been clarified, with PWInsider reporting that the former champion is returning to Japan for an extended period to deal with an undisclosed family matter while remaining under contract with the company.
The update comes after Asuka appeared on Monday’s Raw in Knoxville, where she embraced IYO SKY backstage, told her “See you later,” and then exited the building. The moment, following their Backlash match last Saturday where the two embraced after SKY’s victory, painted a picture of a performer taking her leave in a meaningful way.
According to PWInsider, the word making the rounds within WWE is that Asuka plans to return to Japan for an extended period of time due to an undisclosed family matter. She remains signed with WWE and the absence is said to be unrelated to the recent post-WrestleMania 42 roster releases or the reports of WWE talent being asked to accept pay cuts.
The clarification comes Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Radio report that people were wishing Asuka goodbye backstage at Backlash and that she had been described to him as semi-retired. Asuka’s Backlash match with IYO SKY served as the end to a program that lost a key element when Kairi Sane was released in WWE’s post-WrestleMania 42 roster cuts, despite being an integral part of the storyline.
Sane had been positioned between Asuka and SKY for months before her departure brought the intended payoff to the feud into question. The Backlash match proceeded without her, with SKY winning and the two women sharing an emotional embrace in a touching conclusion.
Asuka has been with WWE since the summer of 2015 and is a four-time main roster women’s champion, a one-time NXT Women’s Champion, a five-time Women’s Tag Team Champion, a 2018 Royal Rumble winner, and a 2020 Money in the Bank winner.
