History Wrestling / KanakoUrai

* BeingGoodSucks: The reason why she and Kairi turned heel in the first place was because they lost all the time for abiding by the rules.

** Also against Wrestling/AlexaBliss during Wrestlemania Season 2018. Despite Bliss being a full decade younger than Asuka, the veteran in this case was teased as Bliss' absolute most insurmountable challenge yet.

* PowerTrio: The founding members of Triple Tails were KANA and the Sexy Purple Thunder Sisters, Mio and Io Shirai. The founders became White Tails when divisions between the wider group formed.
* ThePromise: Asuka made a promise to a broken Kairi (who just lost her chance to enter the MitB match) that she would win the Money in the Bank briefcase for the both of them. Fastforward to the match, Asuka managed to survive the match long enough to reach the rooftop and face Nia Jax, the one who defeated Kairi and took her spot. Through determination and her desire to fulfill her promise, Asuka managed to defeat Nia and win the match. And then they discovered that what was actually in the briefcase was not a mere title shot, but the Women's Championship itself. Kairi was beyond happy and organized a party celebration a week later.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Before joining WWE, she wrestled barefoot, wearing kick pads with no shoes. This is no longer allowed after Wrestling/{{Rusev|AndLana}} broke his ankle, so instead, her boots as Asuka are designed to give the illusion of this from a distance. Interestingly, her model in the WWE 2K17 game is still barefoot.

* KansaiRegionalAccent: A born and raised Osakan who doesn't shy away from the accent in the slightest. Shinsuke Nakamura, who's from Kyoto, has joked about how sometimes even ''he'' can't quite understand her.

* DarkerAndEdgier: A visual change to go along with a metaphorical one. Following their heel turn to secure the Women's Tag Team Championship, Asuka and Kairi traded out their characteristic colorful gear for all-black ring attire. For Asuka, this would eventually include a ripped black tee, evoking some serious pastel goth aesthetic. Taken even further with her Wrestling/RoyalRumble 2023 return. She comes back with darker hair, a new menacing mask, a DarkReprise of her theme and menacing MonsterC clown face paint.

** This eventually evolved into a whole year where Vince's ready-made response to any mishap involving shortage of personnel, was "Send Asuka out there". With some RAW shows having up to three segments involving Asuka and some PPVs having her wrestle more than once. Maybe the most extreme example of this was the Clash of Champions PPV where Asuka was initially booked in a match that unfortunately was set to happen in the pre show. But due to an unexpected break happening around those days, not only Asuka's match was moved back to the main card but she also had to go out and wrestle '''a second time''' against Bayley for the title to cover for an unfortunate Nikki Cross.

* HistoryRepeats: Her first [=SmackDown=] and Raw Women's Championships were both won from Wrestling/BeckyLynch and involves a special Ladder Match.

In July 2015, Kana revealed her plans to retire from professional wrestling and try new things after an upcoming Kana-Pro event in September. However, this would be misdirection, as she signed with Wrestling/{{WWE}} the following month, later taking on the ring name Asuka when she officially debuted on the [[Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}} NXT]] developmental brand. At ''NXT Takeover: Dallas'', the first big show of 2016's Wrestling/WrestleMania weekend, she defeated Wrestling/{{Bayley}} for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-nxt-wm.html NXT Women's Championship]]. On NXT, she became the longest-reigning champion within a single run in history.[[note]]Shayna Baszler surpassed her in total number of days in 2020, but this was divided between two reigns.[[/note]] The next year would see Asuka move up to the ''Raw'' main roster, soon claiming two landmark victories as a Sole Survivor in a Wrestling/SurvivorSeries elimination match in 2017 and the first-ever winner of the Women's Wrestling/RoyalRumble match in 2018. By the end of 2018, she captured the [=SmackDown=] women's title for the first time ever and defended it successfully for 100 days, a reign where she notably became the only person to cleanly defeat Wrestling/BeckyLynch in her "The Man" era (by making her tap out, no less).

Becky Lynch, who never again thought of any opponent as being at her level after becoming The Man, admitted Asuka was the only wrestler she needed to fight out of [[WorthyOpponent personal desire]]. And that's not a light statement; Asuka is considered to be pretty much the FinalBoss of the whole WWE women's division. Many wrestlers (from Ember Moon to Natalya to Charlotte Flair) have stated that working with Asuka was one of, if not the highest point of their careers. Her career even transcends any female division, with plenty of male wrestlers like [[Wrestling/YoshihiroTajiri Tajiri]], Wrestling/KennyOmega, Wrestling/TripleH, and [[Wrestling/AlexanderRusev Rusev]] calling her one of the greatest overall wrestlers of all time. Weekly Puroresu magazine has featured her on their cover plenty of times, and famed journalist [[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Dave Meltzer]] called her one of the best overall wrestlers in WWE today. Hell, she even [[BeyondTheImpossible got the respect]] of none other than Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki himself.

** During the build up of Asuka's streak once she made the main roster, she suddenly added the cross-armbar as a finisher. The implication was that they were setting her up as a rival for the soon-to-debut Creator/RondaRousey. This arc got as far as Asuka winning the Women's Rumble and then refusing to show respect to Ronda when she walked out[[note]]to be fair here, some fans felt Ronda walking out at that point was taking Asuka's moment away from her, and Asuka was justified in refusing to respect a woman who'd just been so disrespectful to her[[/note]]. And that was as far as the [=Asuka/Rousey=] angle went. Asuka's streak was broken by Wrestling/CharlotteFlair and she went to Smackdown, Rousey went to Raw, and the closest the two ever came to crossing paths again was Ronda screwing Becky and Charlotte out of a Smackdown Women's Championship ladder match in which Asuka just happened to be the third competitor and thus able to capitalize.
** Her feud with Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville for the Smackdown women's title was also this. Mandy actually managed to get a match against her in [=FastLane=] 2019, however the whole feud was aborted once Charlotte Flair took the title from Asuka on a Smackdown show in order to have the Flair as champion for the Wrestlemania 35 main event. Later it was revealed in a documentary that the planned match for Wrestlemania 35 was gonna be Sonya vs Asuka for the title.
* TheAce: The first female ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'' winner, the second female Wrestling/GrandSlamChampion (after Bayley) ,and is highly respected by the fans and her colleagues. And that's just in Wrestling/{{WWE}}. Miro (formerly WWE's Rusev) has on his Youtube channel called her the best wrestler in the ''world'', between women and men.

* AntiVillain: Asuka's heel persona in the main roster is presented as the middle ground between full-fledged heroes like Becky Lynch and complete monsters like Shayna Baszler. Never insults the fans and is appreciative of hers, is full of spirit to never give up, and is very protective of her little sister Kairi; yet she's ruthless, disrespectful in the mic to her opponents, and willing to cheat if necessary.

* DarkerAndEdgier: A visual change to go along with a metaphorical one. Following their heel turn to secure the Women's Tag Team Championship, Asuka and Kairi traded out their characteristic colorful gear for all-black ring attire. For Asuka, this would eventually include a ripped black tee, evoking some serious pastel goth aesthetic
** Taken even further with her Royal Rumble 2023 return. She comes back with darker hair, a new menacing mask, a DarkReprise of her theme and menacing Monster clown face paint.

** She actually did this by managing to make Becky Lynch tap out clean when her "The Man" monster push was in full effect. A year later the tables turned around and she '''became''' this for Becky.
** Asuka ended Bianca Belair reign as Raw Women's Championship at ''Night of Champions 2023''. Prior to this, Bianca Belair has been unstoppable for two years since winning the [=SmackDown=] Women's Championship at ''[=WrestleMania=] 32'' with the only person to defeat her being Becky Lynch and even that requires a cheap shot. After avenging her defeat at the next ''Mania'', she goes on to carry the Raw Women's Championship for a whole year, surpassing Becky's first reign.

** She was on the receiving end of this in some occasions after debuting in the WWE Main Roster. The most infamous one was her two defeats against Carmella who had just won the SmackDown Women's championship and needed a big win to establish herself as champion, so she ended up beating Asuka twice. Asuka was also used as a sacrifice to build Shayna Baszler credibility on her road to face Becky Lynch at Wrestlemania 36.

** In her WWE NXT run Wrestling/EmberMoon is one of the few people she treats as an equal. They had history prior to WWE as Kana and Athena, Ember came the closest to beating her, and injured her to the point of her having to relinquish the title. When the two met at the Royal Rumble 2018 Asuka was delighted.

* BareYourMidriff: As is typical with female wrestlers.

* DarkerAndEdgier: A visual change to go along with a metaphorical one. Following their heel turn to secure the Women's Tag Team Championship, Asuka and Kairi traded out their characteristic colorful gear for all-black ring attire. For Asuka, this would eventually include a ripped black tee, evoking some serious pastel goth aesthetic.

* KabukiTheatre: Invoked with Asuka, with her tag team of "The Kabuki Wariors" with Kairi Sane. She has used some theatrical mannerism since her time in Joshi Puroresu as Kana.

In July 2015, Kana revealed her plans to retire from professional wrestling and try new things after an upcoming Kana-Pro event in September. However, this would be misdirection, as she signed with Wrestling/{{WWE}} the following month, later taking on the ring name Asuka when she officially debuted on the [[Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}} NXT]] developmental brand. At NXT Takeover: Dallas, the first big show of 2016's Wrestling/WrestleMania weekend, she defeated Wrestling/{{Bayley}} for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-nxt-wm.html NXT Women's Championship]]. On NXT she became the longest reigning champion withing a single run in history.[[note]]Shayna Baszler surpassed her in total number of days in 2020 but divided between two reigns[[/note]] The next year would see Asuka move up to the ''Raw'' main roster, soon claiming two landmark victories as a Sole Survivor in a Wrestling/SurvivorSeries elimination match in 2017 and the first ever winner of the Women's Wrestling/RoyalRumble match in 2018. By the end of 2018, she captured the [=SmackDown=] women's title for the first time ever and defended it successfully for 100 days, a reign where she notably became the only person to cleanly defeat Wrestling/BeckyLynch in her "The Man" era (by making her tap out, no less).

After losing the [=SmackDown=] title, she moved to the TagTeam division with fellow Japanese wrestler Kairi Sane as the Kabuki Warriors. First debuting with Wrestling/{{Paige}} as their manager but later they got rid of her after turning heel. Eventually they managed to defeat Wrestling/AlexaBliss and Wrestling/NikkiCross to become the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions and elevate that title higher than any other wrestler had done before, going as far as to secure the main event spot of ''TLC'' 2019 in a TLC match against Becky and Wrestling/CharlotteFlair.

In 2020, she won the Women's Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank briefcase; the next night, it was revealed that inside the case was the Raw Women's Championship, because Becky vacated the title due to pregnancy. This made Asuka the second female WWE Wrestling/GrandSlamChampion and the first woman on the roster to win both the Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank briefcase. After this she went on to main event RAW for months as she feuded with the remaining three Horsewomen. At the end of the year, she won the tag team titles a second time while still holding the RAW Women Championship, making her the fourth-ever female double champion in history, and the first woman ever to win the tag team titles with different partners.

Becky Lynch, who never again thought of any opponent as being at her level after becoming The Man, admitted Asuka was the only wrestler she needed to fight out of [[WorthyOpponent personal desire]]. And that's not a light statement; Asuka is considered to be pretty much the FinalBoss of the whole WWE women's division. Many wrestlers (from Ember Moon to Natalya to Charlotte Flair) have stated that working with Asuka was one of, if not the highest point of their careers. Her career even transcends any female division, with plenty of male wrestlers like [[Wrestling/YoshihiroTajiri Tajiri]], Wrestling/KennyOmega, Wrestling/TripleH, and [[Wrestling/AlexanderRusev Rusev]] calling her one of the greatest overall wrestlers of all time. Weekly Puroresu magazine has featured her in the cover plenty of times, and famed journalist [[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Dave Meltzer]] called her one of the best overall wrestlers in WWE today. Hell, she even [[BeyondTheImpossible got the respect]] of none other than Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki himself.

Kanako Urai (浦井 佳奈子, ''Urai Kanako'', born September 26, 1981) is a Japanese {{professional wrestl|ing}}er currently signed to Wrestling/{{WWE}}, although she's also worked as a gravure idol, video game journalist, entrepreneur, graphic designer and mocap actor.

In April she held the first of several Kana Pro self-produced events, and by summer 2010 she began working regularly for SMASH, Wrestling/YoshihiroTajiri's follow-up replacement for Wrestling/FightingOperaHUSTLE. She quickly developed an arrogant, power-hungry character in which she became the top {{heel}} first for SMASH, then for ''joshi puroresu'' in general, as well as the leader of a stable called Triple Tails in both SMASH and Pro Wrestling Wave, which she joined following the folding NEO at the end of the year. When SMASH folded in 2012 to be replaced by Wrestling New Classic, Kana signed a home promotion contract with WNC, ostensibly ending her days as a freelancer, though this didn't work out in practice — not only did she appear several times for Wrestling/DramaticDreamTeam in addition to her Wave commitments and Kana-Pro events, and she wound up quitting WNC at the end of the year due to late payment issues. During her time in these promotions she became the inaugural and first two-time SMASH Diva Champion, a two-time Wave Tag Team Champion[[note]]with Triple Tails teammates Ayumi Kurihara and Mio Shirai[[/note]], and five-time [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/japan/ddt/ironman-hm.html DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion]][[note]]a parody of the 24/7 championship concept, whose "champions" have included inanimate objects such as ladders, toy dolls, and even the title belt itself[[/note]].

Becky Lynch, who never again thought of any opponent as being at her level after becoming The Man, admitted Asuka was the only wrestler she needed to fight out of [[WorthyOpponent personal desire]]. And that's not a light statement; Asuka is considered to be pretty much the FinalBoss of the whole WWE women's division. Many wrestlers (from Ember Moon to Natalya to Charlotte Flair) have stated that working with Asuka was one of, if not the highest point of their careers. Her career even transcends any female division, with plenty of male wrestlers like [[Wrestling/YoshihiroTajiri Tajiri]], Wrestling/KennyOmega, Wrestling/TripleH, and [[Wrestling/AlexanderRusev Rusev]] calling her one of the greatest overall wrestlers of all time. Weekly Puroresu magazine has featured her in the cover plenty of times and famed journalist [[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Dave Meltzer]] called her one of the best overall wrestlers in WWE today. Hell, she even [[BeyondTheImpossible got the respect]] of none other than Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki himself.

Oh, and [[HiddenDepths she also has]] [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFzfw5Idu6qC1ub3eVl2YA a Youtube channel]].

* ActionMom: It has been stated by several of her colleagues in interviews that she's a wife and mother, though not much is known in her personal life since she's adamant in keeping it private.

* {{Corpsing}}: [[spoiler:She came to the ring in-character when Wrestling/BeckyLynch relinquished the Raw Women's Title to her. But once Becky reveals her pregnancy, Asuka couldn't contain her happiness and breaks character.]]

** At WWE, she was convinced by Page to form The Kabuki Warriors with Kairi Sane. Notable for taking some poorly introduced and managed titles from the C-show ''Main Event'' to the '''actual''' main event of a PPV (TLC 2019).

** To Wrestling/BrockLesnar, as the beastly uber-dominant athlete who represents SomethingCompletelyDifferent to the usual sports-entertainment fare of WWE and seems utterly brutal and unbeatable as a result, and who it is a [[TemptingFate horrible idea]] to [[DoNotTauntCthulhu taunt]] or [[BullyingADragon provoke]]. Her cutesy demeanor and bugeisha look is the only aspect of her that seems like it may defy this trope…except it actually enhances the ''distaff'' part.

* BrokenWinLossStreak: Her undefeated streak in WWE was broken (cleanly) by Wrestling/CharlotteFlair at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 34''.

* TropeCodifier: The most popular and successful joshi in WWE history.

** Immediately did this to both Wrestling/SaraDelRey and Wrestling/CheerleaderMelissa in SHIMMMER. Melissa got hers back [[CurbStompBattle with gusto]]. Sara didn't, but beat her most of they time when they wrestled elsewhere.

** In her WWE NXT run Wrestling/EmberMoon is one of the few people she treats as an equal. Ember came the closest to beating her and injured her to the point of her having to relinquish the title. When the two met at the Royal Rumble 2018 Asuka was delighted.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Has been dyed red, bright pink, red and green. She's nothing if not eclectic.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The Kabuki Warriors turned on Paige with a mist to the face a couple of weeks after turning heel.

* MultiColoredHair: She tends to have dye her hair multiple colors with red being the most dominant.

* WardrobeMalfunction: Has managed to avoid these over the course of her career, which is amazing consider her attires, but ultimately fell victim to this trope on the Feb 19, 2018 edition of Monday Night Raw, when her top came loose and exposed a good part of her left breast, including her ([[NippleAndDimed rock hard]]) nipple.

More on her career [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asuka_(wrestler) here]].

* BadassAdorable: While in WWE as a face she would always smile, dance, play, and get excited quickly in interviews. Even as a heel she has a tendency to act very childish and innocent with a very cute voice when introducing herself. But if you get into a ring with her, you'll be lucky if you survive 5 minutes. Also extends to real life, where she has a reputation of being one of the greatest female workers in the world, but also loves to squee on her [=YouTube=] channel about food, video games, and her own merchandise.

* BadassAdorable: While in WWE as a face she would always smile, dance, play, and get excited quickly in interviews. Even as a heel she has a tendency to act very childish and innocent with a very cute voice when introducing herself. But if you get into a ring with her, you'll be lucky if you survive 5 minutes.

Kanako Urai (浦井 佳奈子, ''Urai Kanako'', born September 26, 1981) is a Japanese {{professional wrestl|ing}}er, gravure idol, video game journalist, entrepreneur, graphic designer and mocap actor.

In 2020, she won the Women's Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank briefcase; the next night, it was revealed that inside the case was the Raw Women's Championship, because Becky vacated the title due to pregnancy. This made Asuka the second female WWE Wrestling/GrandSlamChampion and the first woman on the roster to win both the Royal Rumble and Money in The Bank briefcase. After this she went on to main event RAW for months as she feuded with the remaining three Horsewomen. At the end of the year she won the tag team titles a second time while still holding the RAW Women Championship, making her the fourth ever women double champion in history and the first woman ever to win the Tag Team Titles with different partners.

Becky Lynch, who never again thought of any opponent as being at her level after becoming The Man, admitted Asuka was the only wrestler she needed to fight out of [[WorthyOpponent personal desire]]. And that's not a light statement. Asuka is considered to be pretty much the FinalBoss of the whole WWE women division. Many wrestlers (from Ember Moon to Natalya to Charlotte Flair, the list goes on...) acknowledged that working with Asuka was one of the, if not the highest point of their careers. Her career even trascends any female division with plenty of male wrestlers like [[Wrestling/YoshihiroTajiri Tajiri]], Wrestling/KennyOmega, Wrestling/TripleH, or [[Wrestling/AlexanderRusev Rusev]] calling her one of the greatest overall wrestlers of all time. Weekly Puroresu magazine has featured her in the cover plenty of times and famed journalist [[Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter Dave Meltzer]] called her one of the best overall wrestlers in WWE today. Hell she even [[BeyondTheImpossible got the respect]] of none other than Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki himself.