NXT Women’s champion Asuka hasn’t been pinned or submitted since joining WWE in 2015. Earlier this year, the company started drawing attention to the number of wins she’s racked up over that time - and making comparisons to Goldberg’s legendary WCW streak - so we decided to follow along.
In late May, after she successfully defended her NXT Women’s title against Ruby Riot and Nikki Cross at TakeOver: Chicago, all involved acknowledged the Empress of Tomorrow as possessing, as Stephanie McMahon put it, “the longest undefeated streak in WWE history”.
One thing they didn’t do, however, was put a number on it. While that gives them some creative flexibility to play around with a kayfabe accomplishment, we hold ourselves to a higher standard here at Cageside Seats (and may have a touch of OCD), so...
On Monday night (June 5), NXT kicked off their United Kingdom tour and the champ returned to the ring for the first time since Chicago. Asuka retained her title with a submission win over Peyton Royce...
And still #NxtWomensChampion @WWEAsuka #NXTAberdeen #NXT pic.twitter.com/ZvmfHhBTac
— Mr_Summer_Knox (@Mr_Summer_Knox) June 5, 2017
And with that, the streak stands at...
178!
Continuing to pad her lead over Bill G’s WWE-acknowledged 1997 - 1998 streak.
NXT is in Leeds, England tomorrow.
See you then.
For more information on what WWE is and isn’t counting in her “undefeated streak”, click here.