Asuka is a after thought now. Isn't she

[BigAl]

I'm not trying to stir any accusations here but I can't think of any other wrestlers, male or female ,who had such huge things going coming in to the main roster, by having this HUGE undefeated streak, and they did a good job introduce her to people who don't watch NXT by having video packages of other wrestlers afraid of her, only for her to appear and get insulted by Alexa Bliss Ad nauseam over her poor English then she goes 50/50 with Emma, bounces back by winning the Royal Rumble, then loses the Charlotte. kisses her butt, loses to Camella who might be the worst female wrestler to ever hold that belt in this generation, and now continues to lose like she did today to Charlotte by submitting or just appears as "one of the girls". I can't think of any other wrestler, male or female, whose has fallen this fast. Is anybody else? I love Kairi Sane but I just know she'll get it even worse when she gets called up

[Deleted]

She's probably getting the belt within the next 4 months. Becky is winning the Rumble and picking Ronda so Asuka is probably next up.

[Deleted]

Let's be fair, it's not like Mixed Match Challenge even slightly matters or will ever be referenced outside of it.

[ayumidah]

I think the worst part of it is, as you can tell by the general crowd response, they WANT to support her, she generally gets more of a response than most of the women in the ring... it's just not enough for WWE for some reason.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Something that's hurt Asuka more than anything (except probably those weird Carmella matches)... Honestly, it's Becky Lynch catching fire. Because of Lynch getting all the female TV time (along with a feuding rival, which has mostly been Charlotte), Asuka's been relegated to being among the secondary women, and they as a whole struggle to get consistent TV time with the current layout of SmackDown TV. Carmella's the only one that kind of gets her head above water in that regard, and that's mostly been by latching herself to R-Truth.

It won't take much to fix Asuka beyond a bit of time and care, especially since she still has the crowd reactions on her side by some small miracle. She's only dropped two clean falls in three years after all, it's hard to buy her career flatlining on the table based solely on that.

[Deleted]

Nah, they had her pegged and ready to take that title away from Becky at Wrestlemania. It was the obvious plan after Evolution. She would face Carmella, Naomi, etc only to be left with Asuka at Mania.

Now, with the rumors of Becky facing Ronda? Everything is up in the air at this point.

[theironyuppie]

Its probably worth remembering that if Ronda was more experienced, they could easily have run Asuka/Rousey as the Survivor Series match. Unlike Charlotte though, they havevn't trained together, and the language barrier is probably more of an issue than it otherwise would be due to Ronda's inexperience. My guess is that we'll see Asuka become #1 contender after Survivor Series though, depending on how bad Becky's injury is.

[auph10imitated]

I think Asuka may eventually be used temporarily in NXT to do a Sane/Shirai/Asuka vs Baysler/Shafir/Duke angle. Which would give her something new to sink her teeth in while she isnt exactly doing anything.

[Pushed to the Moon]

An Asuka thought.

[BigAl]

Nov 14, 2018 5:35:05 GMT -5 Pushed to the Moon said:

An Asuka thought.

She could be my waifu but I like Kairi more

[schma]

The crowd went nuts when Becky looked at her tonight while considering who to take her spot. She's still over and it won't take much to catapult her again but right now, yeah she's stuck feuding with the Iconics because reasons.

[HMARK Center]

I think a huge issue, and I'm not breaking any new ground here, is the company's 50/50 booking.

A lot of wrestling companies thrive on having "tiers" their performers exist on; obviously, the higher a wrestler's tier, the less likely they are to lose a normal match/more likely they are to end a match looking strong, often at the expense of those lower on the tier list.

While WWE often has a tip-top tier that they protect (Cena was on it, as was Roman, Brock is, etc.), they don't have much of a set list beyond that until you get down to people who are used straight up as jobbers to the stars; instead it's a hodge-podge where everybody needs to "get their win back", where screwy booking has to happen all the time, and ultimately where even a big, initially heavily pushed talent like Asuka is stuck blending in with everyone else.

It's true that she's still over and probably just needs a good angle to get her going, but the bigger issue is that it should never have to get to that point. Sure, not everyone can be in a feud for a top title all the time, but those outside of a title feud shouldn't just be left looking like they're twiddling their thumbs and trading wins with wrestlers not booked to be as strong as they are.

[A damn road sign]

This is why UNDEFEATED STREAKS~ are always lame though. They only hamper you in the aftermath of finally being beat because there’s nowhere to go after that, really. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Juice]

Nov 14, 2018 4:42:27 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Let's be fair, it's not like Mixed Match Challenge even slightly matters or will ever be referenced outside of it.

Winners get 30 at rumble

[This Player Hating Mothman]

Nov 14, 2018 4:49:08 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

Something that's hurt Asuka more than anything (except probably those weird Carmella matches)... Honestly, it's Becky Lynch catching fire. Because of Lynch getting all the female TV time (along with a feuding rival, which has mostly been Charlotte), Asuka's been relegated to being among the secondary women, and they as a whole struggle to get consistent TV time with the current layout of SmackDown TV. Carmella's the only one that kind of gets her head above water in that regard, and that's mostly been by latching herself to R-Truth.

It won't take much to fix Asuka beyond a bit of time and care, especially since she still has the crowd reactions on her side by some small miracle. She's only dropped two clean falls in three years after all, it's hard to buy her career flatlining on the table based solely on that.

I wouldn't pin that on the Becky thing at all; Becky winning the title was clearly the plan and had nothing to do with the fire she caught, and Asuka had just been through that interminably bad Carmella feud, so she was always going to get downplayed and shunted off of TV once it was over because Smackdown sucks at time management and using the women well.

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

That pop last night proves how out of touch Vince is.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

I mean she was on top from day 1 she got here

A few months of down the card was going to happen, she will be fine

[Captain Patren Fenderbaum-X]

With Becky seemingly back to being a face now...they not so subtley pretty much told everyone Asuka is going to turn heel once she was not picked.

And it will be done by her kicking AJ in the dick

[mistery]

Yeah. Dave talked about this on WOR last night, and he thinks Asuka is turning heel soon. With Becky turning face again last night (at least from a storytelling perspective), Smackdown lacks a top female heel. I don't think they are turning Charlotte any time soon. So barring a major callup from NXT like Shayna, the only person on Smackdown who can benefit from that is Asuka.

Assuming Becky is cleared in time for TLC, I would have her drop the title to Asuka there in a dubious fashion (when I mean dubious, I mean think along the lines of the Ember/Asuka match from Takeover: Orlando, where Asuka shoved the ref into the top rope to cause Ember to lose her balance, letting Asuka capitalize with a roundhouse kick for the win). You could then have Becky lose her rematch after Asuka more blatantly cheats. And then win the Royal Rumble and go after Ronda.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Nov 14, 2018 17:24:22 GMT -5 mistery said:

Yeah. Dave talked about this on WOR last night, and he thinks Asuka is turning heel soon. With Becky turning face again last night (at least from a storytelling perspective), Smackdown lacks a top female heel. I don't think they are turning Charlotte any time soon. So barring a major callup from NXT like Shayna, the only person on Smackdown who can benefit from that is Asuka.

Assuming Becky is cleared in time for TLC, I would have her drop the title to Asuka there in a dubious fashion (when I mean dubious, I mean think along the lines of the Ember/Asuka match from Takeover: Orlando, where Asuka shoved the ref into the top rope to cause Ember to lose her balance, letting Asuka capitalize with a roundhouse kick for the win). You could then have Becky lose her rematch after Asuka more blatantly cheats. And then win the Royal Rumble and go after Ronda.

Biggest question...

Who does she kick in the groin?