On the May 11th episode of WWE weekly flagship show, Monday Night Raw, it was announced that a new member of the WWE family would enter the world in a few months. Rebecca Quinn, known as Becky Lynch in the WWE, announced her pregnancy live on Monday Night Raw in front of the empty WWE Performance Center in Orlando, FL. With COVID-19 scares still occurring, the WWE have had all their shows and PPVs take place in their performance center.

It was determined a few weeks prior that then-Raw Women’s Champion Lynch would confront the winner of the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match on the Raw proceeding the PPV. The winner ended up being Asuka and that segment ended up kicking off the show. Lynch came to the ring carrying the MitB briefcase and cut a promo while fighting back tears alone in the ring, talking about her journey from NXT prospect to The Man. She credited and thanked the fans for her success and her source of motivation before stating she would be going away for a while and that the fans deserved to hear it first.

Asuka’s music hits and she storms into the ring, yelling at everyone, including Lynch, that that was her briefcase and was outraged that she had it like a proper bad guy should. Lynch praised Asuka and stated that Asuka didn’t wrestle for an opportunity at the championship, like the briefcase is meant to be. She then opened the briefcase in front of Asuka and the Raw Women’s Championship was inside. Asuka’s look of confusion quickly turned to confidence and swagger as she showed off the belt to the crew, Lynch, and the people at home. When Asuka was done parading and entered the ring, Lynch responded. “You are the champion. Now, as happy as you are to be the champion, I might be a little bit happier” she said. “So, you go and be a warrior because I’m gonna go be a mother”.

It’s important to say at this point that Asuka was told ahead of time that she would get the title in this segment by backstage personnel. However, she was not told why Becky Lynch would be relinquishing the title. When she and the rest of the WWE Universe learned the reason behind Lynch’s foreseeable absence, all kayfabe went out the window. Asuka completely broke her heelish character to hug Lynch and congratulate her on becoming a mother.  Other superstars like Rey Mysterio, Ricochet, Natalya, and R-Truth also showed congratulations to Becky Lynch in a backstage interview promo.

What this means for Asuka’s character moving forward is still up in the air; breaking character like that is a huge deal in the WWE but perhaps she will get a pass as she had just learned of Becky’s pregnancy right then and there. It’s also important to consider what WWE plans to do with Lynch’s spouse, fellow WWE Superstar Seth Rollins. Any long term plans must go out the window as WWE creative will have to work around the event. In any case, congratulations to Lynch and Rollins on their new baby!