WWE legend suddenly returns after 7 years; involved in heated conversation backstage also featuring The Rock's daughter Ava

By Sunil Joseph

Modified Sep 11, 2024 02:50 GMT

Ava is the current GM of NXT (Source: Ava's X account)

A WWE legend made a sudden appearance after 7 years tonight on WWE NXT. He was featured in a backstage segment along with The Rock's daughter Ava.

Funaki is one of the most well-known Japanese wrestlers to compete for WWE. He competed in the Stamford-based promotion during the early 2000s and formed a successful tag team with Taka Michinoku, called Kai En Tai. Although they were a popular tag team, they never won the tag titles.

Over the years, Funaki would play many roles for the WWE, most notably serving as a Japanese commentator. However, he hasn't made an onscreen appearance for the promotion since 2017 when he served as an interpreter for Kairi Sane after the finals of the Mae Young Classic Tournament.

Tonight on NXT, Funaki made another appearance for the Stamford-based promotion - this time serving as Giulia's interpreter during her interaction with the NXT GM Ava. Roxanne Perez interrupted them and was as arrogant as usual. However, Giulia stopped her by claiming the NXT Women's Champion was scared of facing her. While this was happening, Ava and Funaki stood in the background, observing the proceedings.

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It will be interesting to see if Giulia will have an impressive run in NXT during her time in the developmental brand.

About the author

Sunil is a pro wrestling journalist, covering AEW and WWE news stories at Sportskeeda. He holds an MBA degree in Marketing, and has nearly 7 years of experience. A wrestling aficionado since childhood, Sunil used to imitate his favorite wrestlers as a young kid, and started writing professionally about the sport via Sportskeeda’s revenue-sharing opportunity.

Sunil admires former world champions AJ Styles, Will Ospreay, and Kenny Omega for their ability to consistently deliver great matches as well as entertain crowds with their mic skills.

If ever given a chance to change a storyline, Sunil would have booked Roman Reigns to end The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak instead of Brock Lesnar. According to him, The Tribal Chief needed the victory more than Brock Lesnar, as the latter was already an established performer when he defeated ‘Taker. He would’ve also made that as Taker’s final match.

Always focused on making his work accurate and reliable, Sunil thoroughly checks his facts before writing his articles. When not writing for pro wrestling, he spends his time watching cricket.

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Edited by Harish Raj S