Giulia conquering the NXT Women’s championship is far from the first title victory in WWE by a Japanese woman. Joshi wrestlers have held gold in America since the days of the World Wrestling Federation, from the Golden Era to the most recent Renaissance Era.

Some have been epic and others have been forgettable. From exciting matches and memorable moments to rare weak outings, let’s see how the biggest wrestling company in the world has treated its joshi Superstars.

The Jumping Bomb Angels – WWF Women’s Tag Team Championship

The decade of the 1980’s was the beginning of what many would call a Golden Era of joshi wrestling in Japan, so it was easy to think some talent would start to perform outside the country to get exposure. It was in 1987 when the team of Itsuki Yamazaki and Noriyo Tateno, known collectively as “The Jumping Bomb Angels”, debuted in the then WWF facing the Glamour Girls (Judy Martin and Leilani Kai).

After wrestling at several house shows and the Survivor Series PPV, The JBA challenged Martin and Kai for the Women’s Tag Team Championship at the inaugural Royal Rumble PPV in January of 1988 where they would win the titles in a 2-out-3 falls match, ending the longest reign in the belt’s history at 906 days.

They would remain undefeated in title matches for 136 days until they unceremoniously dropped the championships back to the Glamour Girls at a AJW show in Japan, having the shortest reign in history. The Japanese duo would leave the company and the title would be deactivated due to the lack of female teams in the company, a problem the WWE also seems to be having nowadays.

Bull Nakano – WWF Women’s Championship

Talking about Bull Nakano’s tenure in WWE is almost unfair, as she was in the company during that weird time period between 1993 and 1995 when the Federation didn’t feature many women in the ring, not even as eye candy.

After debuting as an associate of Luna Vachon, Nakano had her first televised match at Summerslam 1994, losing in a title match against Alundra Blayze, which was arguably the best WWF women’s match of the 90’s. It wasn’t until November that same year that Nakano was finally able to defeat Blayze for the belt at AJW Big Egg Wrestling Universe, held in the legendary Tokyo Dome.

In 1995, both women would be left off the WrestleMania XI card, but had their rematch at Raw the next night, with Bull losing the title to Blayze after 134 days as champion.

Unfortunately, the Japanese legend wouldn’t last much longer in the WWF, as she was fired that same year for allegedly being found in possession of cocaine. Plus, the WWF Women’s title was deactivated following that infamous WCW segment with Alundra Blayze (then called Madusa).

One can’t help but wonder what would’ve had happened if WWF would have taken women’s wrestling more seriously during the time, and Bull Nakano would’ve had been in a better state of mind.

Asuka – NXT Women’s, Smackdown Women’s, Raw Women’s (later WWE Women’s) and WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships

In the mid 2010’s, WWE started treating women’s wrestling more fairly (sometimes acting like they invented the whole thing), showcasing the talent they already had and signing wrestlers to join its rosters,

One of the new names that made the most noise was KANA, who would now be called “Asuka”, joining the NXT women’s division. After debuting at NXT Respect in October of 2015, Asuka was THE unstoppable force of NXT, which inevitably led to a NXT Women’s title match against then champion Bayley at NXT Takeover Dallas.

Asuka had a great 510-day reign with 10 televised defenses. She unfortunately had to vacate the title due to an injury.

Asuka would debut on the main roster to challenge Emma at TLC in October of 2017, and after a year of highs like winning the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble match, and lows like losing her undefeated streak, she would finally win gold in the form of the Smackdown Women’s championship in a triple threat TLC match in December of 2018, defeating none other than Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. But Ronda Rousey unfairly overshadowed her by being the one that cost the Man and the Queen the match.

Asuka would have an uneventful 100-day reign before dropping it to Charlotte Flair in an impromptu match on SmackDown just days before WrestleMania 35.

The Empress of Tomorrow was joined by the recently called-up Kairi Sane to form The Kabuki Warriors, with Paige as their manager. They would accumulate wins and become the number one contenders for the Women’s Tag Team titles, belts that were reactivated in early 2019, at the infamous Hell in a Cell PPV. Asuka and Sane then took the titles from the team of Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.

The team defended the belts in both the main roster and NXT, including the train wreck that was their TLC match against Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. WrestleMania 36 – Night 1 would see the end of the reign after Bliss and Cross won them back after 171 days.

Asuka would have two forgettable runs with the belts in 2021, teaming with Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, holding them for 42 and five days, respectively. The Kabuki Warriors would win the titles once more in 2024 when they defeated Kayden Carter and Katana Chance, although the reign seemed that it only existed to get heat on Damage CTRL, the faction she is a part of as of today. They would ultimately lose them to Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill after 99 days.

2020 was a bizarre year for all WWE wrestlers, and Asuka was no exception. She competed in and won the strangest Money in the Bank match of all time, which granted her not only a chance for a title, but the title itself after the champion Becky Lynch gave it to her due to her pregnancy. Asuka became both a Triple Crown and Grand Slam champion in the process.

During the summer, she would feud with Sasha Banks over the belt, dropping it to The Boss on Raw and winning it back at SummerSlam. She would defend it successfully for the rest of the year until Royal Rumble winner Rhea Ripley would defeat her at WrestleMania 37 – Night 2.

In 2023, she challenged champion Bianca Belair for the title at WrestleMania 39 – Night 2, a match that she would lose, only to finally win it at Night of Champions the next month. It was during this reign that WWE would change the titles name to WWE Women’s championship, awarding Asuka a brand new belt. She would once again lose it to Belair at SummerSlam in a Triple Threat Match, also involving Charlotte Flair.

Kairi Sane – NXT Women’s and WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships

The first Mae Young Classic gave WWE fans an example of what women’s wrestling was like outside their system, and Stardom alumni Kairi Hojo (now named Kairi Sane) was the most outstanding performer of the tournament.

Having signed with the company in mid-2017, Sane would win said competition, which helped her to earned a shot for the vacant NXT Women’s title, but was unsuccessful. Takeover Brooklyn IV was the show that saw the Pirate Princess win the championship after defeating Shayna Baszler. The way she carried her belt inside a treasure chest was, unfortunately, the highlight of her reign as she lost it back to Baszler at Evolution after just 71 days in what was arguably the best match of her WWE run.

As we saw earlier, Kairi Sane would also win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships two times alongside Asuka.

Iyo Sky – NXT Women’s, WWE Women’s, NXT Women’s Tag Team and WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships

In 2017, it was well known that Io Shirai was in talks with WWE, she was even set to participate in the inaugural Mae Young Classic, but she sustained an injury and it was the tournament’s second edition that saw the debut of the youngest Shirai in WWE.

Even when she was recognized as the best female wrestler of the world at the time, the first year in the company was a rough one. She was unsuccessful in winning the NXT Women’s title in various occasions, losing three times to Shayna Baszler in 2019, but delivering great performances each time.

It wasn’t until 2020 when she earned another shot at the championship, this time held by Charlotte Flair, winning it in the main event of TakeOver: In Your House. She would proceed to have an excellent reign with several defenses at NXT’s home arena, being one of the highlights of the Black and Gold brand’s pandemic era. At Stand & Deliver 2021, she would be defeated by Raquel González, ending the reign at the 304-day mark.

In mid-2021, she would join Zoey Stark to form an odd tag team and randomly win the newly established NXT Women’s championships from The Way (Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell) at that year’s The Great American Bash. After successful defenses against the team of Kacy Katanzaro and Kayden Carter and Toxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin and Jayce Jane), they would lose the belts in a rematch with the latter in a triple threat Scareway to Hell Ladder Match, also involving the team of Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta.

After returning from an injury in August 2022, and being now a part of Damage CTRL, she won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships with Dakota Kai, defeating Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez on an episode of Raw. Their 49-day reign came to an end after the previously mentioned team of Asuka and Alexa Bliss won the belts, only to regain them five days later at November’s Crown Jewel.

They would only have one successful defense against Liv Morgan and Tegan Nox before losing the belts to Becky Lynch and a returning Lita in February 2023.

Winning a singles championship was a matter of when, not if, and that would finally happen at SummerSlam 2023 after Iyo cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase on Bianca Belair who won the title that same night from Asuka. Iyo defended the title successfully before Bayley, her stablemate, won the 2024 Royal Rumble match and challenged her for the title at WrestleMania XL, ending the reign after 246 days.

Meiko Satomura – NXT UK Women’s Championship

In 2018, the second Mae Young Classic saw the debut of the then 23-year-veteran Meiko Satomura. The founder of Sendai Girls reached the semifinals but failed to win the tournament before losing to eventual winner Toni Storm. I

n 2021, and more than two years after her last appearance for WWE, she debuted at the NXT UK brand. She would unsuccessfully challenge the NXT UK Women’s champion Kay Lee Ray for the title, but ultimately win it in a rematch on the June 10^th episode of NXT UK, ending Ray’s monumental 649-day reign, the longest in the title’s history.

With nine successful defenses (all of them on NXT UK weekly shows), she would lose it to Mandy Rose at Worlds Collide 2022 in a Triple Threat Match, also involving Blair Davenport. The NXT Women’s championship would be unified with Rose’s NXT Women’s Championship, ending the title linage with Meiko’s 451- day reign.