One of WWE’s Biggest Superstars Finally Returning After More Than a Year

WWE’s Monday Night Raw was full of surprises, but one of the biggest was the return of one of its biggest superstars. During tonight’s broadcast, Michael Cole and Wade Barrett revealed the bracket for the Queen of the Ring tournament, and that included the shocking inclusion of Asuka, and she will be making her long-awaited return on next week’s Monday Night Raw. It’s been over a year since Asuka has been in a ring or on WWE TV due to a substantial knee injury, but now the Empress of Tomorrow is finally set to make her grand return.

Not only will Asuka make her return on next week’s Monday Night Raw, but she will be involved in a Queen of the Ring qualifying match that is also a preview of a dream match. Asuka will be battling Ivy Nile, Raquel Rodriguez, and the hottest rising star in WWE, Stephanie Vaquer. Regardless of who wins, fans will assuredly lose their minds when Asuka and Vaquer face each other one-on-one at some point during the match.

If Asuka does move into the next round, she will join Roxanne Perez, who was able to pin Kairi Sane in a match that also featured Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley. There are two additional Fatal 4-Ways happening to decide the other two opponents ahead of Night of Champions, which will see a Queen of the Ring finally crowned.

A Long-Awaited Return

Asuka has been out of action since May of last year, as she was pulled from the Queen of the Ring tournament and replaced by Dakota Kai. It was reported at the time that her injury actually happened in March ahead of WrestleMania 40, and that’s why Asuka and Kairi Sane didn’t defend their Women’s Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania. They would eventually lose their Titles at Backlash to Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair, and since then, Asuka’s been out of action.

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Asuka would have to undergo surgery for her injured knee, and since then, fans have wondered when she might be back. There were some rumors she could return earlier this year, but nothing came of those at either the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania 41. Now it seems she is finally back in action, and with Sane also being fully recovered from a previous injury, we could either see a return to their Tag Team success or a full singles run for each of them, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Here’s the full rundown on the Queen of the Ring tournament.

• Qualifier 1: Roxanne Perez def. Liv Morgan, Kairi Sane, and Rhea Ripley
• Qualifier 2: Asuka vs. Stephanie Vaquer vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Ivy Nile
• Qualifier 3: Jade Cargill vs. Michin vs. Piper Niven vs. Nia Jax
• Qualifier 4: Charlotte Flair vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Chelsea Green vs. Candice LeRae

Are you excited for Asuka’s return to WWE, and what do you hope to see from her upcoming run? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!