At last night's Backlash PLE, Asuka squared off with IYO SKY in an exciting, very personal match. However, after the latter defeated her former mentor, an emotional Asuka embraced SKY and seemed to say goodbye.
Rumours that Kairi Sane would return to officially end her involvement in the storyline proved false, and there's now speculation about what all this means for Asuka.
According to Dave Meltzer, the 11-year WWE veteran can now be considered "semi-retired." However, what exactly that means isn't currently clear.
"So, the story I heard is that she is semi-retired. I haven’t really gotten an exact meaning of what semi-retired means, but I guess people were wishing her goodbye and things like that backstage," he explained. "So I don’t know if that means she’s going to Japan and still wrestle. I don’t know if that means she’s going to still do stuff here and there, but I was told semi-retired."
Later, Meltzer and co-host Bryan Alvarez mooted the possibility that Asuka was among those recently cut by the company. "I wonder if she was with other people that was cut. I mean, I don’t know," the former mused, before the latter said, "I can’t fathom that, but I guess it’s possible. But I mean, Kairi was cut, and she didn’t even get used to the end of this thing, so..."
It would be a real shame to say goodbye to Asuka, but it's feasible that WWE has moved her on to a part-time contract as a cost-cutting measure. We'll just wait and see what happens, but if this was the end of the road for the Japanese Superstar, it was an incredible send-off.
During her WWE run, Asuka, who is 44, has won the NXT Women's Championship and is a four-time WWE Women's Champion. She's also held the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship five times and is a Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank winner.
You can see some highlights from the match below.