In an industry dominated by male performers, there have been only a few female wrestlers who made an equal amount of impact as their male counterparts. Current WWE superstar and 18-year veteran Asuka is one of those female wrestlers that revolutionized women's wrestling over the years. Since she made her debut in 2004, Asuka has achieved tremendous success as an in-ring competitor and has won numerous championships over the years.
While the fans are well-aware of Asuka's exploits in the pro wrestling business, they might not know certain aspects of her life outside the business. With that said, let's take a look at eight things the fans might not know about Asuka's life outside WWE and wrestling.
8 She Owns A Hair Salon
One of the most unique features of Asuka's in-ring attire is the different hair colors she's displayed over the years. It appears that the Empress of Tomorrow might have a natural talent when it comes to hairdos as she has her own hair salon in Yokohama, Japan, named Another Heaven.
It also appears that the salon is doing good business, and even former AEW World Champion Kenny Omega was a customer, as Asuka thanked him for visiting her salon back in 2016.
7 She Was A Gravure Model
While the fans are used to witnessing Asuka as a fierce competitor inside the ring, they might not be aware of her days as a gravure model. Gravure idols are female models who predominantly pose for magazines, photo books, and DVDs.
Asuka had a brief stint as a model during her early days and has released three gravure DVDs titled Manifesto. The first edition came out in 2011, while the second and third followed in 2012 and 2015. She and fellow pro-wrestler Mio Shirai also released a gravure DVD together titled Sadistic Tails in 2012.
6 Had A Passion For Figure Skating
While most of Asuka's other ventures outside WWE are well-known to the fans, her brief stint in figure skating went right under the radar. Ahead of her WrestleMania 34 match against Charlotte Flair, Asuka sat down for an interview with Xavier Woods alongside Shinsuke Nakamura, where she revealed her early exploits in figure skating.
She stated that she started figure skating when she was around ten years old but trained only for a year. If she had not pursued a career in pro wrestling, she might've won Japan multiple medals in figure skating in multiple Winter Olympic Games.
5 She's Worked As A Video Game Journalist & Graphic Designer
Another face of Asuka the fans might not know is that she's an avid gamer and has also used her intellect to work as a videogame journalist during her early years. She has also worked as a graphic designer before choosing to pursue a career in pro wrestling. She has designed graphics for Nintendo and various mobile apps over the years and even opened her own graphic designing agency during her first retirement in 2006 before eventually finding her way back into the ring.
This simply proves that Asuka is a multi-talented woman and could've easily succeeded in any stream if she didn't choose a career as a pro wrestler.
4 She Was Sponsored By Microsoft To Promote The Xbox
Asuka made some serious strides during her time as a videogame journalist as she got some significant sponsorships from a big company.
Impressed with her work, Microsoft chose to sponsor her wrestling career and paid a decent amount of money to use the Xbox 360 logo on her gear. It helped the company market the console among the Japanese wrestling fans and general audience, while Asuka got some eyes on her, which helped her expand her wrestling career to the next level.
3 Her Net Worth
Asuka is one of the biggest names on the current WWE roster, and her contract with the company is reportedly worth $350,000 per year. As mentioned earlier, she also has several business ventures outside WWE, and with everything combined, her net worth is reported to be around $1 Million.
While that might not look very high compared to the other high-profile wrestlers on the roster, The Empress of Tomorrow has a high chance to get more opportunities in WWE with Triple H in charge of the company's creative. It might lead to her getting a more lucrative contract from WWE if she chooses to stay with the company in the future.
2 Has Her Own YouTube Channel
While Asuka might not talk much in WWE due to her not being fluent in English, she does know her Japanese, and she chose to express herself more to her fans by opening her YouTube channel KanaChanTV.
She posts gaming and lifestyle content on her channel and is quite regular with posting videos. She did take a small break last year but once again started posting regularly from May 2022. She covers a wide variety of content in her channel, including gaming, cooking, ASMR, exercise, Japanese culture, food vlogs, and recently started car reviews as well.
1 She's A Mother
Despite being in the limelight continuously, Asuka has done well to keep her personal life well hidden from the outside world, and only those who are close to her know her personal family details. Becky Lynch, who is one of Asuka's closest colleagues, revealed that the Empress of Tomorrow is a mother.
While talking about handing the Raw Women's Championship to Asuka before going on maternity leave, Becky Lynch revealed that the moment felt extra special as Asuka was also a mother. It's still not clear how many children the former women's champion has and about her current relationship status, but it's truly inspiring to know how well Asuka manages to balance her personal life with her illustrious pro wrestling career.