Major Update on Asuka's Future in WWE After Emotional Goodbye at Backlash

Tributes have been pouring in from across the wrestling industry after what appeared to be an emotional goodbye from Asuka at WWE Backlash Saturday night.

The Empress of Tomorrow lost a spectacular back-and-forth match-up with her former protégé, IYO SKY, before embracing her center ring with tears in her eyes. She then repeatedly waved to the crowd as the fans inside the Benchmark International Arena showered her with adulation.

In the moment, it certainly appeared as though Asuka had wrestled her final match in WWE, and Big E further fueled the speculation during the Backlash Post Show.

This was such a wholesome moment between Iyo and Asuka

🥹 pic.twitter.com/2AOeqdCrnD
— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) May 10, 2026

"I wonder if this is a goodbye," Big E said. "I haven’t really seen Asuka this emotional. If this is goodbye, I know she will be dearly missed. She has been a pioneer. She has done just 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."

If this is it for Asuka, she walks away as a 4-time WWE Women's Champion, NXT Women's Champion, 5-time Women's Tag Team Champion, Money in the Bank winner and the winner of the inaugural Women's Royal Rumble Match. She's a first ballot WWE Hall of Famer through and through.

While Asuka could very well be done with WWE, a new report indicates that she may not be finished with wrestling entirely.

Asuka is reportedly semi-retired following WWE Backlash

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, people were saying goodbye to Asuka backstage after Backlash went off the air, but details about her future in wrestling remain uncertain.

"The story I heard is that she is semi-retired," Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio. "I haven’t really gotten an exact meaning of what semi-retired means, but I guess people were wishing her goodbye and things like that backstage. So I don’t know if that means she’s going to Japan and still wrestle. I don’t know if that means she’s going to still do stuff here and there, but I was told semi-retired.”

Asuka, now 44-years-old, has been with the company for over a decade. Meltzer and his co-host, Bryan Alvarez, discussed the possibility of Asuka being included in the recent round of roster cuts, but there's no concrete information, at this time, to say that's accurate.

Kairi Sane, Asuka's longtime friend and tag team partner, was among the more than two dozen talents who were trimmed from the roster back on April 24. There was some speculation that she may be in Tampa Saturday night to finish out her part in the rivalry between IYO and Asuka, but she did not appear on the show. The crowd did chant, "We want Kairi" on multiple occasions during their match.

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