{"id":634443,"date":"2026-05-10T09:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T09:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/634443\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T09:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T09:06:07","slug":"wwe-stars-pay-tribute-to-asuka-around-possible-retirement-at-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/634443\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE stars pay tribute to Asuka around possible retirement at Backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was nowhere near as definitive-appearing as Brock Lesnar\u2019s apparent retirement at WrestleMania 42 last month. But the way Asuka emotionally showed her love and respect to IYO SKY after their nearly 25-minute thriller at WWE Backlash<\/a> on May 9 and then waved to the crowd? It felt like goodbye to many.<\/p>\n

In the immediate aftermath of the moment, some online discussed the deeper meaning of this Instagram she posted earlier Saturday:<\/p>\n

And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I\u2019ll say it clear
I\u2019ll state my case, of which I\u2019m certain
I\u2019ve lived a life that\u2019s full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way<\/p>\n

That led folks further, where they found Charlotte Flair played off a fan\u2019s concern about her tribute to the first woman in history to win a Royal Rumble, a Money in the Bank ladder match, and an Elimination Chamber\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026 but The Queen wasn\u2019t even the first living legend to fangirl over Asuka on Saturday\u2026<\/p>\n

And Bayley\u2019s written shout out to both of the women on Backlash got quote-tweeted so Natalya could do the same after Saturday\u2019s event ended:<\/p>\n

We have to do a lot of connecting of dots to make any of the above mean much other than that the Empress is very highly thought of backstage, though \u2014 which we already knew. Even Asuka\u2019s choice of \u201cMy Way\u201d for her IG Story could be about the end of Asuka\u2019s story with her protege IYO, not her WWE run or pro wrestling career.<\/p>\n

On the Backlash Post Show<\/a>, Big E said he didn\u2019t know what the moment SKY and her mentor shared meant, but\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder if this is a goodbye. I haven\u2019t really seen Asuka this emotional. If this is goodbye, I know she will be dearly missed. She has been a pioneer; she has done truly incredible things in the ring before she even got to WWE but has further staked her claim as an all-time great here in WWE. I don\u2019t know what this means\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Rumors about Asuka\u2019s next moves should be along soon, and perhaps she\u2019ll even address them herself. We shall see.<\/p>\n

If you choose to, interpret these clues along with any others you might find and speculate in the comments. Or just think about the epic career of a woman who conquered the biggest wrestling company the world\u2019s ever known, without sharing a language or culture with her bosses or most of her colleagues, and without any drama or very little comment of any kind.<\/p>\n

She made an impression on most of us the moment she landed on our radar, whether it was as a joshi named Kana or the Women\u2019s Evolution trailblazer we knew\u2019ve known as Asuka in WWE. She\u2019s also changed the business. Whether this is goodbye or not, I\u2019m grateful for Asuka and her career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was nowhere near as definitive-appearing as Brock Lesnar\u2019s apparent retirement at WrestleMania 42 last month. But the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[39180,88,4366,8316,4367],"class_list":["post-634443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-backlash","tag-entertainment","tag-wwe","tag-wwe-raw","tag-wwe-smackdown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}