10 Wrestlers The Fans Did A Complete 180 On

Asuka's relationship with WWE fans has essentially been ten years of unbroken adoration. Even when booked horribly, WWE fans have always rallied around Asuka due to her selfless attitude, unbridled charisma and world-class wrestling ability.

Which makes it somewhat of a shock to discover that the wrestling community in her home country used to have a very dim view of her.

Asuka's problems in Japan started in 2010, when wrote an open letter to the joshi (female wrestler) community in Japan. In the letter, she essentially said the current crop of joshis were boring, fake and more interested in being idols than wrestlers. Unfortunately, despite the letter being blatantly written under the guise of her heel character, the wrestling community in Japan adopted the Michael Jordan approach in their reaction and took it personal. Very personal.

Asuka herself has since blasted the way she was treated by the media in her home country afterwards, saying that they did everything they could to distort fans' perception of her. As an example, Asuka pointed out that after she became a champion in WWE, said one prominent Japanese publication asked its readers if they really believed her to be a worthy of the honour.

Fortunately, the answer came back in WWE's latest tour of Japan. Discussing the event on her YouTube channel, Asuka said she was hugely moved by the overwhelmingly positive reaction she received from her fellow countrymen and women, as all the negative backlash provoked by the Japanese media was washed away in a tidal wave of support and positivity.

Like so many before them, the haters weren't ready for Asuka.