WWE Raw women’s champion Asuka recently spoke with Nikkan Sports to talk all things pro-wrestling. Highlights from the interview can be found below via Google translate.
How she made the WWE women’s division stronger when she arrived in 2015:
“When I came in (Autumn 2015), there was no word for ‘Diva,’ and female athletes were also known as ‘Superstars.’ I thought this was my mission. When I was just coming to WWE, I played the main role at the NXT competition several times. It was said that it was really amazing! It was rare for a female player to appear in the main at WWE, but now I am left to the main of PPV and TV broadcasting. Isn’t it one of the first motivations to start closing the gender gap in WWE?”
The key differences between female wrestling in Japan and the United States:
“When I was in Japan, there weren’t many women coming to see me, so it was really nice to be a fan. At that time, I was conscious of trying to increase the number of fans who are watching male professional wrestling. The world of female professional wrestling is like a small village. I was thinking of getting the fans to be fans, and I thought that if they didn’t become happy players, they wouldn’t reach the level that would be accepted in the world. I feel that athletes with good motor skills tend to be evaluated especially in Japan, but there is no point for being recognized in WWE. You can do such a thing, you can do that, alone in the United States I mean, it’s like if you are a fan of the world. It is important that you are fashionable and have a strong individuality. Of course, wrestling technology is necessary, but the atmosphere and humanity that attracts fans are important. WWE has wrestling technology and there are quite a few people who can move but are not popular at all. In Japan, people with careers are great, but here people are the most popular.”
