WWE SmackDown Star Teases Return Of Old Gimmick

Could this blue brand star be reverting to a prior gimmick?

by Andrew Pollard
Xia Li
WWE.com

Taking to Twitter, current WWE SmackDown star Xia Li has seemingly teased that she could be returning to the Tian Sha gimmick of her time in NXT.

Li posted a video captioned "Either I will find a way, or I will make one". While the footage in itself is largely generic two-minute montage of the badass working out, it's the final few seconds of this video that's of major interest. There, Xia is shown sporting some face paint that is extremely reminiscent of her Tian Sha cohort Mei Ying.

Could this mean that Xia Li will soon be pulling inspiration from her time in Tian Sha? Could this merely be a video that the superstar has put out on her own, without any particular WWE blessing or plan?

Arriving on SmackDown earlier this year under her Protector gimmick, Li has been noticeably absent from in-ring action lately. In fact, the 33-year-old's most recent TV match as of this writing was on the 25 February episode of Smackers - and that somewhat surprisingly stands as her only main roster bout to date, with Xia picking up a win over Natalya on that night.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.