{"id":117377,"date":"2023-01-28T09:00:12","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T14:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=117377"},"modified":"2022-12-27T15:32:01","modified_gmt":"2022-12-27T20:32:01","slug":"asuka-first-ever-womens-royal-rumble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2023\/01\/28\/asuka-first-ever-womens-royal-rumble\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Years Later: Asuka Wins the First-Ever Women’s Royal Rumble"},"content":{"rendered":"

Established in 1988, the Royal Rumble match is regarded as one of the most anticipated bouts among wrestling fans. From the mystery of guessing which participant will enter next to seeing who eliminates the most competitors, it’s easy to see why the Royal Rumble<\/em><\/strong> pay-per-view event is many fans’ favorite of the year. However, prior to 2018, this match was largely exclusive to men’s wrestlers. That year, WWE<\/strong> announced that it would hold the first Women’s Royal Rumble match in history, meaning that two Rumble bouts, instead of one, were to take place on the card. On January 28, 2018, Asuka<\/strong> made it a point to not only enter the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble but create history by going all the way.<\/p>\n

Asuka Wins the First Women’s Royal Rumble<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Asuka
Photo Credit: World Wrestling Entertainment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Path of the Empress<\/h3>\n

Known as \u201cThe Empress of Tomorrow,\u201d Asuka made her WWE debut in September 2015, quickly establishing herself as the most dominant women’s wrestler on the NXT<\/em><\/strong> brand. She built a nigh unshakable winning streak, trumping the likes of Emma<\/strong> and Dana Brooke<\/strong> en route to the NXT Women’s Championship<\/a>, which was held by Bayley<\/strong>. The following year, in April, Asuka defeated Bayley to capture the gold. While a collarbone injury cut her title run, as well as her time in NXT<\/em>, short, she amassed a 510-day reign as champion; this record has, as of this writing, yet to be broken.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t until September 2017 that Asuka made the jump to the main roster. She was assigned to Monday Night Raw<\/em><\/strong>, where her path of dominance continued. Becoming the sole survivor of Team Raw at Survivor Series<\/em><\/strong> in November and besting such names as Emma and Alicia Fox<\/strong> in singles competition, it was clear that the aforementioned collarbone injury did little to hamper her momentum. If anything, it was this very momentum that carried Asuka to the Royal Rumble<\/em> event, where she’d compete in the first-ever 30-woman over-the-top-rope elimination match.<\/p>\n