Asuka's Time As An Evil Clown Character Before WWE, Explained
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Asuka is one of the top female stars of WWE and easily the global juggernaut’s most successful superstar from Japan. The Japanese wrestler has had an incredible run in the company since her NXT debut in 2015. Among the many jewels in her crown, she is a Grand Slam Champion and had an undefeated streak that lasted almost two and a half years, surpassing that of WCW legend Goldberg.
The Empress of Tomorrow has enjoyed success in both singles and tag team divisions and has held gold numerous times. She’s an NXT Women’s Champion, two-time WWE RAW Women’s Champion, the SmackDown Women’s Champion, three-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion, and the 2018 Women’s Royal Rumble winner.
Asuka was always considered a happy-go-lucky bubbly superstar who exudes positive energy and always has a smile on her face. Even though she was touted in her debut vignettes as an unstoppable force, stating “No one is ready for Asuka”, she was never evil or destructive. However, she wasn’t always this wholesome as a wrestler and had a dark past not known that much to casual wrestling fans. So let's dive deep and explore Asuka's time which involved a dark side before her tenure in WWE.
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Asuka Was An Evil Clown During Her Days In Japan
Asuka started her career in wrestling in the Japanese independent circuits back in 2004, going by the ring name Kana. She was a regular wrestler in the beginning but then transformed into something evil. As Kana, the evil murder clown, she used to wear nightmarish clown makeup, making her look almost demonic.
There was a menacing dark aura around her, and she was not only scary to look at but behaved in a similar disturbing fashion. Hailing from Japan, she practiced the Japanese “Strong Style” and did it sadistically on her opponents, often making them suffer painfully. The poison mist was a prominent feature of her arsenal as well, making her an evil heel.
From 2011 to 2014, Asuka made regular trips to the United States while being based out of her home country of Japan. In the States, she competed in her evil and regular avatars for various indie promotions such as Chikara and others. She made her name with American wrestling fans with her display of dedication in brutal slugfests as well as comedic matches.
During a 2011 interview with DDS, she claimed she was the best in the world and had no competition.“There will never be another wrestler like me. That is my conviction. I am the only one in the world, this is Kana…Unfortunately, no rival exists among female wrestlers. I am waiting for one to appear…Keep your eyes firmly on me!”.
The Dark Past Of Kana Has Followed Asuka To WWE
It was late last year that Asuka started teasing going back to her dark roots again. She went serious in her in-ring facial expressions and started tweeting cryptic messages. Some of these messages were excerpts from poems that read “Disowned may you be forever, Abandoned may you be forever, Destroyed be forever All the bonds of nature.” while other messages were more simple but concerned “Goodbye cruel world”.
It was a far cry from her usual positive and cheerful self, leading fans to express their concern about Asuka's well-being. However, all was well, because she was just teasing her eventual transformation into Kana, even sharing her old pictures as the demonic clown. She had taken this step to reinvent herself because, after all these years, her career had gone stale in WWE, and she was on a losing streak.
Asuka finally debuted her menacing Kana look at the 2023 Women’s Royal Rumble match, entering at #17 to a roaring crowd. Asuka was wearing that terrifying clown face paint and had topped it off with a demonic Japanese mask as a part of her entrance. The return of Asuka under the shades of her old gimmick has worked in her favor as seen by the ovation and appreciation she has been receiving from the WWE Universe lately.
Asuka's resurgence at the helm of her dark roots has culminated in a victory for her at the 2023 Elimination chamber pay-per-view, where she outlasted five other competitors to secure an opportunity for a RAW Women's title match against Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 39. With the evil clouds firmly absorbing the Empress of Tomorrow, it seems like the most important chapter of Asuka's history as Kana is about to unfold on the Grandest Stage of Them All.
