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Soon after this Kanako began teaming with compatriot Kairi Sane, who had just been called up from NXT, in a team known as the Kabuki Warriors. Debuting on the NXT brand, Asuka proved to be a dominant competitor, remaining undefeated between her debut on October 7th 2015 at NXT TakeOver: Respect through defeating Bayley to win the NXT Women's Championship at NXT TakeOver: Dallas on April 1st 2016 to when she finally relinquished the title due to breaking her collarbone when defending the title against Ember Moon at NXT takeOver Brooklyn III on August 19th 2017, ending her title reign at 510 days.įollowing this, Kanako was moved onto WWE's main roster under the RAW brand and continued showing dominance in the ring, winning the first-ever women's Royal Rumble match in 2018 to earn a championship match at WrestleMania 34, although she was defeated by Charlotte in this match, ending her undefeated streak in WWE at 914 days.Īfter a considerable period of coming up short against champions, which drew considerable criticism from wrestling fans, Kanako finally won her first main roster WWE championship when she won the SmackDown Women's Championship in the first-ever women's Tables, Ladders and Chairs match in a three-way match with Charlotte and Becky Lynch, holding the title for 100 days before dropping it to Charlotte a few days before WrestleMania 35 - which also drew considerable criticism from wrestling fans. Kanako first appeared in WWE in the crowd for NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, introduced on camera as Kanna, and later her signing was confirmed at a press conference in Tokyo where she confirmed she would be competing under the ring name Asuka. During this period Kanako also attracted a degree of controversy when writing an in-character article for the Weekly Pro-Wrestling magazine where she claimed the entire joshi puroresu community, leading to several wrestlers from JWP Joshi Puroresu confronting her at a Smash event, although this never led to any matches.
#Flamingo nxt japanese pro
In the years that followed Kanako gained considerable success in the joshi puroresu scene, winning singles titles in Smash and JWP Joshi Puroresu, tag team titles in Pro Wrestling Wave, Reina Joshi Puroresu and Smash, and was a five-time Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship holder in DDT, although her five reigns don't compare to the 185 reigns that Shinobu Sugawara has with the title or how a ladder has held the title on three occasions, a sentence which makes perfect sense in the world of DDT.
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During this period Kanako produced her first wrestling event, entitled Kana Pro, in April 2010. After NEO closed their doors, Kanako grew to increased prominence in Pro Wrestling Wave and also debuted in the Smash promotion, while she made her United States debut in October 2011 with appearances for Shimmer Women Athletes and Chikara. Returning to the ring in September 2007 as a freelancer, Kanako worked a variety of Japanese promotions such as Ice Ribbon, Pro Wrestling Zero1, Pro Wrestling Wave, Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) and NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling, which became her home promotion until NEO closed their doors in 2010.
![flamingo nxt japanese flamingo nxt japanese](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/5zMAAOSwBRpcbrcJ/s-l300.jpg)
However, in March 2006 she had to retire from wrestling due to a case of chronic nephritis, and in this time she opener her own graphic design agency where among other projects she designed graphics for the Nintendo DS.
#Flamingo nxt japanese professional
It was while she was working as a graphic designer that she decided to try and branch out into a new career in professional wrestling, making her debut in 2004 for the AtoZ promotion under the ring name Kana. Kanako was born in Osaka, and initially pursued a career in graphic design, having graduated from the Osaka University of Arts Junior College.