4-time WWE Women’s Champion gets ‘semi-retired’ update after Backlash match

Just like that, another legend may have retired, as former four-time WWE Women’s Champion Asuka might be heading into retirement after her match against Iyo Sky at Backlash 2026.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that Asuka is now considered “semi-retired” following her loss to Sky. Talent backstage was reportedly wishing her “goodbye” after the match.

“So the story I heard is that she is semi-retired,” said Meltzer. “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.”

He conceded that he doesn’t know what the future may hold. Meltzer noted the possibility of her returning to Japan to wrestle or still doing “stuff here and there” for WWE.

Is Asuka retired from WWE after Backlash?

Fans will have to wait and see if Asuka is really “semi-retired” following Backlash. “Semi-retired” gives her the out to return at any point. It’s possible that she is just done with WWE and not wrestling altogether.

Either way, fans will have to monitor the situation. She has been with WWE since 2015, going on a long 914-day undefeated streak in NXT before Charlotte Flair snapped it at WrestleMania 34.

Throughout her career, Asuka was a three-time Women’s Champion and one-time SmackDown Women’s Champion. Additionally, she won the NXT Women’s Championship once.

While largely a singles competitor, Asuka was also a standout tag team Superstar. She was one-half of the Kabuki Warriors with the recently released Kairi Sane, winning the Women’s Tag Team Championship three times with her. Asuka also won the Women’s Tag Team Championship with Flair and Alexa Bliss, making her a five-time champ.

Her other accolades include becoming the first Women’s Royal Rumble winner in 2018. Asuka also won a Money in the Bank ladder match in 2020, and she is the second-ever Women’s Grand Slam Champion and third-ever Women’s Triple Crown Champion.

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