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Post by mistery on Mar 19, 2023 19:52:25 GMT -5
Where with Bianca her reactions have cooled off fairly noticeably, likely due to how stale she is, and her flaws becoming more and more glaring. You’ve made it clear you’re not fond of Bianca which, hey fair enough, and I don’t disagree with some of your grievances. But you constantly say she’s cooling off with fans which just…isn’t fact. She’s consistently one of the most popular acts and has been for a long time now. It’s incredibly impressive that fans haven’t turned against her considering how overly strong she’s been booked and how audiences tend to turn against that. There are valid criticisms of Bianca and her booking, but saying anything about negative crowd reactions isn’t one of them. I mean it's been pretty obvious for months now that she's nowhere near as hot as she was. That's pretty much a fact. And in terms of popularity, Asuka has captured the audience's interest more than Bianca has, going by numerous house show videos and reactions from viewers. There's also the fact that during the build up to their Rumble match, even Alexa was getting a stronger reaction than Bianca, to the point of where even Bianca's own home town was chanting for her to get laid out on the steps one more time. You’ve made it clear you’re not fond of Bianca which, hey fair enough, and I don’t disagree with some of your grievances. But you constantly say she’s cooling off with fans which just…isn’t fact. She’s consistently one of the most popular acts and has been for a long time now. It’s incredibly impressive that fans haven’t turned against her considering how overly strong she’s been booked and how audiences tend to turn against that. There are valid criticisms of Bianca and her booking, but saying anything about negative crowd reactions isn’t one of them. I agree it’s an exaggeration to say fans have turned on her, and credit to her for that, but it genuinely does feel that crowds are less enthusiastic about her than they used to be. They still like her entrance, usually like the ‘Bianca taunts on the turnbuckle and backflips her opponent’ bit, sometimes the KOD still gets a good pop, but it’s not like it used to be when they were going nuts for just about anything she did in her matches. And on the point about whether her run’s been bad for the division, I’d say in some ways it’s been damaging for herself as being locked into this flawless-babyface role hasn’t really let her grow as a performer, and it’s not easy to see the best path forward for trying to rectify that. I think in hindsight a telling moment was her post-Mania Raw promo last year where she lost the crowd despite them going molten for her beating Becky two days before. She hasn’t really had any long solo promos since. Maybe they wouldn’t have worked, but it denied her more chances to work on one of her weaknesses. Yup. And I would say its damaging for the division because she's shown she never actually faced any adversity as champion, and almost never looks weak. It's likely one of the reasons Asuka has come back and is one of the most over stars on the roster right now. She's come back with a new character and has had to overcome adversity to get this match, and now only one person is standing between her and the top of the mountain again. Asuka hasn't looked DOMINANT, but she has been very crafty and opportunistic instead. Where with Bianca she never had to deal with any of that. And it's one of the reasons why I think the audience will likely start to turn on Bianca if she goes over at Mania. She's basically the closest thing to a Mary Sue character that WWE has. She's pretty much a babyface with absolutely no flaws or weaknesses that can be exploited by the people she's feuding with. And non-kayfabe wise, her selling is absolutely atrocious, and while this isn't her fault, the creative surrounding her sucks as well, because I noticed people really started to turn on her after she basically took out Damage CTRL all on her own last year, without Alexa or Asuka needing to be there. It doesn't help that pretty much all of her matches are incredibly formulaic.
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PKO
King Koopa
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Post by PKO on Mar 19, 2023 20:46:56 GMT -5
You’ve made it clear you’re not fond of Bianca which, hey fair enough, and I don’t disagree with some of your grievances. But you constantly say she’s cooling off with fans which just…isn’t fact. She’s consistently one of the most popular acts and has been for a long time now. It’s incredibly impressive that fans haven’t turned against her considering how overly strong she’s been booked and how audiences tend to turn against that. There are valid criticisms of Bianca and her booking, but saying anything about negative crowd reactions isn’t one of them. I mean it's been pretty obvious for months now that she's nowhere near as hot as she was. That's pretty much a fact. And in terms of popularity, Asuka has captured the audience's interest more than Bianca has, going by numerous house show videos and reactions from viewers. There's also the fact that during the build up to their Rumble match, even Alexa was getting a stronger reaction than Bianca, to the point of where even Bianca's own home town was chanting for her to get laid out on the steps one more time. I’ll reiterate my point that Bianca is consistently one of the most popular stars. She’s not as hot as her peak? Ok, because she settled into being one of the most consistently popular stars. That’s not fans “cooling” on her, that’s settling into a groove. A very popular groove. My point has nothing to do with Asuka. Asuka is hot right now. I want Asuka to win at Mania! It’s this narrative that fans are “cooling” on Bianca which just isn’t true. Week in, week out she gets good reactions. Like her, dislike her, indifferent about her, it doesn’t matter - the fans haven’t “cooled” yet.
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Mar 20, 2023 4:27:22 GMT -5
If I had it my way, both women’s titles would change hands at WM39- I mean, it’s not like I’ve got anything against Asuka, I’d consider her one of my favorite wrestlers of the past decade, gender be damned- but if the plans are “only one new women’s champion that weekend”, then I feel Ripley needs the title win more at this point than Asuka does. One’s already established and a Hall of Fame lock (barring any controversy) and the other is a star rocketing up with purple Judgement Day gasoline.
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Gus Richlen Was Wrong
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Fun while it lasted
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Post by Gus Richlen Was Wrong on Mar 20, 2023 11:14:52 GMT -5
Hell no she won't.
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Post by theironyuppie on Mar 21, 2023 0:28:13 GMT -5
Tonight only reinforced that impression. Bianca got the big KOD spot, before then covering her face with both arms for Asuka's kick.
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Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]
FANatic
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Mar 21, 2023 0:31:10 GMT -5
The longer this feud goes on, the more it feels like they dropped the ball with Asuka, again
It shouldn't be this f***ing hard to book her, and sell this new look and aura as a threat, but WWE and booking Asuka as a threat doesn't mix, even with HHH as head of creative
Doesn't help Bianca is really starting to wear thin on me, her blocking a kick that was supposed to be a death blow, and then selling it anyway was abysmal... how is she getting worse in ring since winning the belt? It's like she's on a bad autopilot.
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Legion
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Post by Legion on Mar 21, 2023 5:57:02 GMT -5
Changed my vote.
Asuka is losing.
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Post by darthobiwan on Mar 22, 2023 9:51:03 GMT -5
I would think at least one of these years Asuka would win ONCE at the grandest stage of them all!
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john84
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Post by john84 on Mar 22, 2023 10:03:04 GMT -5
I would think at least one of these years Asuka would win ONCE at the grandest stage of them all! I'd hope so.
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Post by britishbulldog on Mar 22, 2023 19:54:07 GMT -5
I hope so. Bianca is terrible in my opinion. Great athlete but can’t stand her as a performer
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Post by Andee9001 on Mar 23, 2023 3:24:51 GMT -5
Asuka will win via mist heel turn. She'll get cheered anyway.
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Post by mistery on Mar 23, 2023 14:06:46 GMT -5
Asuka will win via mist heel turn. She'll get cheered anyway. She already turned heel on RAW this past Monday apparently. Didn't get many boos then. The audience clearly doesn't want to boo her, but they are gonna force this heel turn because they want Bianca to be seen as this conquering babyface with no weaknesses at all.
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BRV
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
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Post by BRV on Mar 23, 2023 14:42:38 GMT -5
Asuka will win via mist heel turn. She'll get cheered anyway. They're doing a good job playing up the mist. Granted, it's the only thing they're doing right with this feud, but they are handling it well. From the moment this rivalry started after Elimination Chamber, Asuka leaking from the mouth has been an ever-present reminder that she has the mist in her arsenal and can use it to her advantage. She's used it on the likes of Carmella and Chelsea Green, but never on Bianca. But you see the seeds of doubt being sown in Bianca's face any time Asuka has that blue mist dribbling on her chin. It's not been said explicitly, but the subtext is that Bianca knows if Asuka hits her with the mist, that's the end of her title reign. I think Asuka absolutely mists Bianca, the question is if it'll be done during the match to set the stage for a heel championship run, or after a loss to turn Asuka heel. But it's coming. They haven't been playing it up for the past several weeks to not pay it off at WrestleMania.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Mar 23, 2023 14:57:06 GMT -5
Asuka will win via mist heel turn. She'll get cheered anyway. They're doing a good job playing up the mist. Granted, it's the only thing they're doing right with this feud, but they are handling it well. From the moment this rivalry started after Elimination Chamber, Asuka leaking from the mouth has been an ever-present reminder that she has the mist in her arsenal and can use it to her advantage. She's used it on the likes of Carmella and Chelsea Green, but never on Bianca. But you see the seeds of doubt being sown in Bianca's face any time Asuka has that blue mist dribbling on her chin. It's not been said explicitly, but the subtext is that Bianca knows if Asuka hits her with the mist, that's the end of her title reign. I think Asuka absolutely mists Bianca, the question is if it'll be done during the match to set the stage for a heel championship run, or after a loss to turn Asuka heel. But it's coming. They haven't been playing it up for the past several weeks to not pay it off at WrestleMania. I'm pretty sure Asuka is already supposed to be heel... Except she's always kinda been cheered even when a heel
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Post by mistery on Mar 23, 2023 15:02:34 GMT -5
Yeah like I mentioned above, WWE is massively misjudging their audience if they think this Asuka heel turn is going to work. Especially if they fully commit to it at Mania. There's already a perception that Asuka is one of the most undervalued women in the company, and her misting and beating (or losing and then misting) the face of the women's division who has been shoved down people's throats for almost three years now likely isn't gonna get her booed as much as WWE wants it to.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2023 20:10:32 GMT -5
Yes. As much as I love Bianca and think that she's dope, it's time for Asuka to get her big 'Mania moment. Going from an unstoppable, undefeated badass woman who never loses to having a losing streak at the grandest stage of them all is mind-boggling to me.
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Post by yokohamacpfc on Mar 26, 2023 23:59:54 GMT -5
She's going to narrowly lose and beat the crap out of Bianca post-match turning fully heel and taking the evil clown character even further. That's the way these things usually go. Personally, I'd have turned her heel before the match make her look unstoppable, and have Bianca overcome the odds or pull something new off to give her a bit of character development.
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Hypnosis
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Post by Hypnosis on Mar 27, 2023 8:02:28 GMT -5
She's going to narrowly lose and beat the crap out of Bianca post-match turning fully heel and taking the evil clown character even further. That's the way these things usually go. Personally, I'd have turned her heel before the match make her look unstoppable, and have Bianca overcome the odds or pull something new off to give her a bit of character development. Can't wait for Asuka to low blow Belair numerous times, and still failing to beat her in future title matches.
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Post by mistery on Mar 27, 2023 8:56:55 GMT -5
She's going to narrowly lose and beat the crap out of Bianca post-match turning fully heel and taking the evil clown character even further. That's the way these things usually go. Personally, I'd have turned her heel before the match make her look unstoppable, and have Bianca overcome the odds or pull something new off to give her a bit of character development. Eh. At this point expecting Bianca to be flexible character wise is a fools errand. Even in NXT which gave performers a lot more flexibility creatively, she kept sticking with the "Undefeated" gimmick for way too long, and then shifted to the EST gimmick which hasn't evolved in four years. Also having Bianca overcome the odds would be incredibly dumb at this point since she has done that already and caused irreparable harm to quite a few women in the process. If anything, WWE needs to go the Cena/Lesnar Summerslam route at Mania and have her absolutely get humbled by Asuka in a short match. Have Asuka completely dominate her, forcing a character shift.
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Post by theironyuppie on Mar 27, 2023 9:58:24 GMT -5
She's going to narrowly lose and beat the crap out of Bianca post-match turning fully heel and taking the evil clown character even further. That's the way these things usually go. Personally, I'd have turned her heel before the match make her look unstoppable, and have Bianca overcome the odds or pull something new off to give her a bit of character development. Eh. At this point expecting Bianca to be flexible character wise is a fools errand. Even in NXT which gave performers a lot more flexibility creatively, she kept sticking with the "Undefeated" gimmick for way too long, and then shifted to the EST gimmick which hasn't evolved in four years. Also having Bianca overcome the odds would be incredibly dumb at this point since she has done that already and caused irreparable harm to quite a few women in the process. If anything, WWE needs to go the Cena/Lesnar Summerslam route at Mania and have her absolutely get humbled by Asuka in a short match. Have Asuka completely dominate her, forcing a character shift. Even if Asuka wins (which I kinda doubt), I reckon there's no way they'd have her squash Bianca on the Mania stage. It'd likely be very protected.
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