Japanese Star Kana Has Her WWE Name, And It’ll Be Familiar To Joshi Fans

Spoilers for the 9/10 NXT tapings, obviously.

Japanese women’s wrestling superstar Kana made a surprise appearance in the crowd at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, sitting in the front row alongside Sgt. Slaughter and “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, two people you’d never expect to see sitting next to Kana. WWE spelled her name “Kanna,” leading to speculation that maybe they were interested in signing her and that was her “new name.” A few days later, Japanese wrestling reporter Enuhito reported that Kana had indeed been signed, and WWE made it official earlier this week.

So, is she “Kanna?”

According to spoilers from Thursday’s NXT tapings, no. That was a typo. Most Dangerous Kana will go through the same name acknowledgment/transformation that turned KENTA into Hideo Itami and Prince Devitt into Finn Bálor and become ASUKA

Longtime joshi fans will instantly recognize that name via Lioness Asuka, one half of The Crush Gals, a 2-time All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling Champion and easily one of the greatest Japanese women’s wrestlers of all time. Along with long-time tag team partner Chigusa Nagayo, Asuka was a cultural icon who helped change how female fans viewed pro wrestling. As names go, Kana could do a lot worse.

Now what do we have to do to get Eva Marie’s name changed to “Dump?”