WWE Backlash has come and gone, but Asuka’s match with Iyo Sky got a lot of people talking. Iyo Sky picked up the win and fans immediately started to speculate on Asuka’s future after the match as she embraced Iyo and was in tears as she made her way to the back.
Following her match at Backlash, Dave Meltzer noted he heard Asuka is semi-retired on Wrestling Observer Radio when he said, “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. 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.”
Fightful Select is reporting that the situation with Asuka appeared to be a mystery to people in the locker room, and people in WWE creative who weren’t sure if it was a goodbye.
It’s also being reported that everyone who spoke to Fightful remained firm in their belief that Asuka has not wrestled her final match. Asuka was also praised by the WWE locker room, staff, and a higher up who said she was, “always reliable no matter what was thrown her way.”
According to the report Asuka signed a new long term deal with WWE in 2024. The length of the deal is unknown, but most deals were for five years at that point in time.
It was also noted that while many in the locker room weren’t sure what the gestures following Asuka’s match meant, there were farewells being said both in person and on social media.