Two Stars Bring Back Former Gimmicks At WWE Royal Rumble 2023
The Empress of Tomorrow was amongst two stars revisiting gimmicks of yesteryear.
While this year's Royal Rumble PLE saw several names make surprise appearances or return to action, two such talents who returned after absences from WWE programming were Asuka and the now-former-Doudrop.
Both entrants in the women's Royal Rumble, these two stars have reverted to gimmicks of yesteryear.
In the case of Doudrop, she has now thankfully dropped that awful moniker in favour of the Piper Niven name by which she went during her time with NXT UK. Complete with that name change, Niven has also changed up her ring gear to something more in tune with that NXT UK spell and her time competing on the independent scene prior to signing with the market leader.
As for Asuka, after several teases, the Empress of Tomorrow's appearance at the Rumble saw her sporting a look that was extremely reminiscent of her time performing in Japan and across the world as Kana. Dubbed the Murder Clown, Kana was a little darker and more sinister than 'Asuka', and the star was famed for wearing often Joker-esque face paint and for spitting pink mist at opponents.
Interestingly, both of these talents entered the women's Rumble bout back-to-back, with Asuka entering the match at #17 and Piper Niven arriving at #18. Niven would eventually be eliminated by Raquel Rodriguez after a stellar 28-minute outing, whilst Asuka would make it to the match's final - where she was eliminated by eventual winner Rhea Ripley.