john84
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Post by john84 on Mar 27, 2023 11:16:36 GMT -5
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. Yeah, there's no way it'll be a squash match unless Bianca does/says something to piss off management before the match and she takes it as her punishment.
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mistery
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Post by mistery on Mar 27, 2023 13:22:44 GMT -5
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. Oh I know that won't be the case, but regardless, Bianca definitely needs a character shift, and soon. It's pretty bad when every other woman (barring Charlotte and Ronda) can change up their character without much effort, but she seems to struggle to do so. Because if she goes over at Mania, then I would honestly go as far to say working with Bianca is a momentum killer and not the big spotlight people seem to think it is. Because no one is even remotely close to being better off after losing to her. There's also the problem of Bianca being out of women to feud with afterwards if she goes over at Mania. It's why Asuka winning is the better choice, especially since they are positioning her as a tweener, she can fit into any alignment, meaning the field of challengers for her is a lot deeper than it is for Bianca.
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XIII
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Post by XIII on Mar 27, 2023 15:44:32 GMT -5
I'm reasonably certain that the only reason that Asuka is doing the Kana style gimmick was to give Bianaca's WM match the smallest level of intrigue without putting much effort into an actual program. I feel like Bianca wins and then Asuka fades back again and somehow becomes regular Asuka along the way.
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Post by häšhtå.gdālėÿ on Mar 27, 2023 15:58:55 GMT -5
Man, when she re-debuted with the new look I was hopeful. But I don’t think Bianca’s gonna lose.
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john84
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Post by john84 on Mar 27, 2023 16:04:16 GMT -5
Man, when she re-debuted with the new look I was hopeful. But I don’t think Bianca’s gonna lose. At this point I'd settle for a countout victory as at least then Asuka would finally, technically, have a win at Mania lol.
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Post by Doo Doo Dickhead on Mar 27, 2023 17:46:11 GMT -5
I really think Bianca's winning. But I'm wrong 80% of the time, so everyone rooting for Asuka (and I'm one of them) can take comfort in that!
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Nosnorb
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Post by Nosnorb on Mar 27, 2023 18:04:42 GMT -5
All the signs point to an Asuka bottle job.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2023 18:29:08 GMT -5
She damn well better because the division (on Raw) would only be healthier for it.
Bianca herself needs a hard f***ing reset...not just away from titles but also possibly just out of the division itself.
The reason Asuka should win IMO and I have said this is because she is not likely to be booked to no sell trounce every single other woman in the division the way Bianca has and that would already be a huge improvement from where we are now and from that perspective alot of especially the newer women would benefit by being able to finally look capable and in some cases threatening in the face of Asukas title reign.
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mistery
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Post by mistery on Mar 27, 2023 20:47:36 GMT -5
Yeah. The video packages tonight presented Asuka in a way better light than it did Bianca. Where with Bianca was just them talking about how she's the EST and how MOTIVATIONAL she is. It was incredibly one note and garbage.
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Post by theironyuppie on Mar 27, 2023 22:48:40 GMT -5
Yeah. The video packages tonight presented Asuka in a way better light than it did Bianca. Where with Bianca was just them talking about how she's the EST and how MOTIVATIONAL she is. It was incredibly one note and garbage. That's Bianca's gimmick in general, though. It's only become more one-note over the course of this reign.
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Mar 27, 2023 22:53:33 GMT -5
Video packages definitely made me feel like Bianca was winning. Hers was all about how inspirational she is, Asuka's was about how unstoppable she is. Put those together and it feels like the narrative's going to be, "The heroic Bianca slayed the dragon!"
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mistery
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Post by mistery on Mar 27, 2023 23:00:41 GMT -5
Video packages definitely made me feel like Bianca was winning. Hers was all about how inspirational she is, Asuka's was about how unstoppable she is. Put those together and it feels like the narrative's going to be, "The heroic Bianca slayed the dragon!" Which is sad because anyone who follows the show knows Asuka hasn't been an unstoppable force for quite some time. If anyone is the "unstoppable force" its Bianca. And you can notice it on social media as people are overwhelmingly hoping Asuka wins the title. This new character repackage is the first time Asuka has felt like a huge threat in quite some time, and if they kill it off just to pad Bianca's run as champion, I honestly don't think she'll ever recover, because this seems like the last bullet in the chamber for Asuka's chances at a world title. I've seen some people say that "oh well Bianca can win at Wrestlemania and then drop it at Backlash to Asuka" not realizing that the damage would have been done by that point. I would also go as far to say that Asuka as champion opens up a lot more possibilities for challengers/feuds as well. The pool is significantly deeper than it is with Bianca. And Asuka's popularity is quickly approaching that, if not exceeding Bianca at live events. Hell at both the house shows this week, Asuka got a significantly louder and more positive reaction than Bianca. You can sense the fatigue starting to set in with Bianca's booking because it's overly oppressive and its the same damn thing every single feud she has. I've beaten this to death multiple times over, but Bianca as champion is actively harming the division at this point because she can't sell worth a damn, her promos are incredibly one-note and uninspiring, and everyone who feuds with her ends up coming out of it significantly worse.
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Post by Super Duper Dragunov on Mar 27, 2023 23:22:47 GMT -5
Video packages definitely made me feel like Bianca was winning. Hers was all about how inspirational she is, Asuka's was about how unstoppable she is. Put those together and it feels like the narrative's going to be, "The heroic Bianca slayed the dragon!" Which is sad because anyone who follows the show knows Asuka hasn't been an unstoppable force for quite some time. If anyone is the "unstoppable force" its Bianca. And you can notice it on social media as people are overwhelmingly hoping Asuka wins the title. This new character repackage is the first time Asuka has felt like a huge threat in quite some time, and if they kill it off just to pad Bianca's run as champion, I honestly don't think she'll ever recover, because this seems like the last bullet in the chamber for Asuka's chances at a world title. I've seen some people say that "oh well Bianca can win at Wrestlemania and then drop it at Backlash to Asuka" not realizing that the damage would have been done by that point. I would also go as far to say that Asuka as champion opens up a lot more possibilities for challengers/feuds as well. The pool is significantly deeper than it is with Bianca. And Asuka's popularity is quickly approaching that, if not exceeding Bianca at live events. Hell at both the house shows this week, Asuka got a significantly louder and more positive reaction than Bianca. You can sense the fatigue starting to set in with Bianca's booking because it's overly oppressive and its the same damn thing every single feud she has. I've beaten this to death multiple times over, but Bianca as champion is actively harming the division at this point because she can't sell worth a damn, her promos are incredibly one-note and uninspiring, and everyone who feuds with her ends up coming out of it significantly worse. Another problem I have with the "oh Asuka can just win it at Backlash" beyond the damage it might do, is well, the backlash, and that the crowd's LOVE Asuka. I've seen it said that Asuka is going to lose and turn heel after by misting Bianca in the face. ASUKA WILL GET CHEERED FOR THIS. Bianca will get booed for winning, and it will be like Roman Reigns all over again with the crowd starting to turn due to bad booking, and "YOU WILL LIKE THIS DAMMIT!" If this is the way it goes down, and they are determined to make Asuka the heel (which she won't be) and Bianca the face (which I can see the crowds being done with after vanquishing Asuka at WM) I'm going to put all of my chips in on Vince is back in creative control but no one's allowed to go public with that news due to the...well....backlash. The WM card was looking pretty damn solid, and then since the Rumble it's been Vince's M.O. all over shit. And we all know he sees Asuka vs. how HHH does. I dunno, just spitballing.
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HonkyTonkMan
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Post by HonkyTonkMan on Mar 27, 2023 23:28:52 GMT -5
Asuka is by far, my favorite current WWE female superstar. I really do hope that Asuka will be the one that finally ends Bianca Belair's RAW Women's Championship reign. I'm so outraged that Asuka is 0-4 at WrestleMania heading into WrestleMania 39. It's a absolute travesty that Asuka has thus far, always been a jobber on the grandest stage of them all, WrestleMania. In my opinion, Bianca Belair will sadly be walking out of WrestleMania 39 still the RAW Women's Champion.
Seconds after Asuka's expected loss to Bianca at WrestleMania 39, I believe that Asuka will be retaliating in pure rage by spitting green or blue mist into Bianca's eyes and then viciously assaulting Bianca, assuring herself a rematch opportunity against Bianca at Backlash which will be occurring on May 6, 2023 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and then walking out of that particular premium live event as the new RAW Women's Champion after dethroning Bianca.
I'm subscribed to Asuka's official YouTube channel. Asuka is so awesome and her YouTube videos are so much fun to watch and her YouTube videos are also very unique.
Even if Asuka never wins a match at WrestleMania or never has another title reign in WWE ever again at any point in the future, she's still a guaranteed future WWE Hall of Fame inductee.
Out of Asuka's four WrestleMania losses, the loss that angers me the most is her loss to Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34 in 2018. Asuka really should have been booked to defeat Charlotte Flair on that evening.
I completely blame Vincent Kennedy McMahon for Asuka being 0-4 at WrestleMania. Vince has already proven to me that he isn't one of Asuka's biggest fans. Vince has thus far, always refused to let Asuka truly shine at WrestleMania.
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john84
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Post by john84 on Mar 27, 2023 23:32:54 GMT -5
In my heart of hearts I think out of the first 4 matches she's had at Mania, her most ''realistic'' chance of winning was in the tag match against Bliss/Cross, MAYBE the Royale one.
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Post by theironyuppie on Mar 27, 2023 23:40:01 GMT -5
Video packages definitely made me feel like Bianca was winning. Hers was all about how inspirational she is, Asuka's was about how unstoppable she is. Put those together and it feels like the narrative's going to be, "The heroic Bianca slayed the dragon!" Which is sad because anyone who follows the show knows Asuka hasn't been an unstoppable force for quite some time. If anyone is the "unstoppable force" its Bianca. And you can notice it on social media as people are overwhelmingly hoping Asuka wins the title. This new character repackage is the first time Asuka has felt like a huge threat in quite some time, and if they kill it off just to pad Bianca's run as champion, I honestly don't think she'll ever recover, because this seems like the last bullet in the chamber for Asuka's chances at a world title. I've seen some people say that "oh well Bianca can win at Wrestlemania and then drop it at Backlash to Asuka" not realizing that the damage would have been done by that point. I would also go as far to say that Asuka as champion opens up a lot more possibilities for challengers/feuds as well. The pool is significantly deeper than it is with Bianca. And Asuka's popularity is quickly approaching that, if not exceeding Bianca at live events. Hell at both the house shows this week, Asuka got a significantly louder and more positive reaction than Bianca. You can sense the fatigue starting to set in with Bianca's booking because it's overly oppressive and its the same damn thing every single feud she has. I've beaten this to death multiple times over, but Bianca as champion is actively harming the division at this point because she can't sell worth a damn, her promos are incredibly one-note and uninspiring, and everyone who feuds with her ends up coming out of it significantly worse.
It's maybe not fair because Iyo hadn't been back for as long then, but the difference between the Bianca/Iyo matches and the Becky/Iyo one tonight was conspicuous. Iyo lost all three, but only tonight's made her look good.
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clc
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Post by clc on Mar 29, 2023 9:55:07 GMT -5
I don't think she will win. I want her to win. She's my favorite wrestler. I highly doubt she will.
Once Rhea picked Charlotte, I knew that meant Bianca will be winning at Wrestlemania. The match everyone wanted and they have been hinting at is Bianca vs Rhea. There's a reason it's not happening, and that reason is "Bianca wins lol". I think the whole 'revenge on Charlotte' story they gave Rhea works so much better with Asuka. Charlotte ruined Asuka's Wrestlemaina several times. Charlotte screwed Asuka way more than she has Rhea. Asuka finally getting a Wrestlemania win and it being over Charlotte is a no brainier story that tells itself. So, to protect Bianca what we are getting is two weak stories instead of the two more obvious, better stories. If they planned on Asuka ending her Mania losing streak, and Bianca losing her belt, Charlotte vs Asuka and Rhea vs Bianca was the better choices.
People say Asuka losing will damage her new character. I don't think they care about her new character beyond feeding Bianca someone that could put on a good match. The new character was necessary because Asuka spent most of last year jobbing to Becky, Bianca, and Rhea. She had one singles match win, and that was an unclean win over Becky via mist. Then she lost every other singles match absolutely clean. Her only highlight is a very short tag title win. Then, look at how her new character is presented compared to Bianca. Asuka is weak. She won the chamber, but needed help to eliminate people. This shows that they wanted to protect those people, and don't view Asuka as head and shoulders above. After the chamber, Asuka had some singles matches where she struggled to get wins. Now, I actually like keeping people competitive; however when you compare it to how they present Bianca it shows who they care about protecting. Bianca absolutely stomps everyone no matter what. She barely sells anything, and even wins when people try to cheat or the odds are 3 on 1. (My opinion, Bianca's character has been harmful to the entire division, she makes everyone working with her look bad)
Also, they mentioned Bianca potentially going 3-0 at Wrestlemania. They mentioned her closing in on a record breaking reign. They made no mention of Asuka's Wrestlemania losing streak.
All things point to a Bianca win. I hope I'm wrong!
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Post by theironyuppie on Mar 29, 2023 10:51:46 GMT -5
I don't think she will win. I want her to win. She's my favorite wrestler. I highly doubt she will. Once Rhea picked Charlotte, I knew that meant Bianca will be winning at Wrestlemania. The match everyone wanted and they have been hinting at is Bianca vs Rhea. There's a reason it's not happening, and that reason is "Bianca wins lol". I think the whole 'revenge on Charlotte' story they gave Rhea works so much better with Asuka. Charlotte ruined Asuka's Wrestlemaina several times. Charlotte screwed Asuka way more than she has Rhea. Asuka finally getting a Wrestlemania win and it being over Charlotte is a no brainier story that tells itself. So, to protect Bianca what we are getting is two weak stories instead of the two more obvious, better stories. If they planned on Asuka ending her Mania losing streak, and Bianca losing her belt, Charlotte vs Asuka and Rhea vs Bianca was the better choices. People say Asuka losing will damage her new character. I don't think they care about her new character beyond feeding Bianca someone that could put on a good match. The new character was necessary because Asuka spent most of last year jobbing to Becky, Bianca, and Rhea. She had one singles match win, and that was an unclean win over Becky via mist. Then she lost every other singles match absolutely clean. Her only highlight is a very short tag title win. Then, look at how her new character is presented compared to Bianca. Asuka is weak. She won the chamber, but needed help to eliminate people. This shows that they wanted to protect those people, and don't view Asuka as head and shoulders above. After the chamber, Asuka had some singles matches where she struggled to get wins. Now, I actually like keeping people competitive; however when you compare it to how they present Bianca it shows who they care about protecting. Bianca absolutely stomps everyone no matter what. She barely sells anything, and even wins when people try to cheat or the odds are 3 on 1. (My opinion, Bianca's character has been harmful to the entire division, she makes everyone working with her look bad) Also, they mentioned Bianca potentially going 3-0 at Wrestlemania. They mentioned her closing in on a record breaking reign. They made no mention of Asuka's Wrestlemania losing streak. All things point to a Bianca win. I hope I'm wrong!
The Chamber also got devalued by Bianca taking out the entire field by tossing Iyo at them on the go-home Raw.
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mistery
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Post by mistery on Mar 29, 2023 11:31:12 GMT -5
I don't think she will win. I want her to win. She's my favorite wrestler. I highly doubt she will. Once Rhea picked Charlotte, I knew that meant Bianca will be winning at Wrestlemania. The match everyone wanted and they have been hinting at is Bianca vs Rhea. There's a reason it's not happening, and that reason is "Bianca wins lol". I think the whole 'revenge on Charlotte' story they gave Rhea works so much better with Asuka. Charlotte ruined Asuka's Wrestlemaina several times. Charlotte screwed Asuka way more than she has Rhea. Asuka finally getting a Wrestlemania win and it being over Charlotte is a no brainier story that tells itself. So, to protect Bianca what we are getting is two weak stories instead of the two more obvious, better stories. If they planned on Asuka ending her Mania losing streak, and Bianca losing her belt, Charlotte vs Asuka and Rhea vs Bianca was the better choices. People say Asuka losing will damage her new character. I don't think they care about her new character beyond feeding Bianca someone that could put on a good match. The new character was necessary because Asuka spent most of last year jobbing to Becky, Bianca, and Rhea. She had one singles match win, and that was an unclean win over Becky via mist. Then she lost every other singles match absolutely clean. Her only highlight is a very short tag title win. Then, look at how her new character is presented compared to Bianca. Asuka is weak. She won the chamber, but needed help to eliminate people. This shows that they wanted to protect those people, and don't view Asuka as head and shoulders above. After the chamber, Asuka had some singles matches where she struggled to get wins. Now, I actually like keeping people competitive; however when you compare it to how they present Bianca it shows who they care about protecting. Bianca absolutely stomps everyone no matter what. She barely sells anything, and even wins when people try to cheat or the odds are 3 on 1. (My opinion, Bianca's character has been harmful to the entire division, she makes everyone working with her look bad) Also, they mentioned Bianca potentially going 3-0 at Wrestlemania. They mentioned her closing in on a record breaking reign. They made no mention of Asuka's Wrestlemania losing streak. All things point to a Bianca win. I hope I'm wrong! I do think it's worth noting it's not like Bianca hasn't struggled to put people away either over the past few months. Triple H for better or worse really doesn't seem to like squash matches for non-big men. And as for Asuka's booking in the Chamber, part of her NXT character wasn't running through people like a buzzsaw, but how crafty she was (and they've been pushing about how this is a return of NXT Asuka). Pretty much all of her eliminations were taking advantage of cracks in the opponents armor. And outside of Kevin Patrick's throwaway line (and it was literally one line), they haven't mentioned Bianca almost setting a record breaking reign either. This also feeds into the problem that despite Asuka having all of these accolades, it's even more clear that she's never won at Wrestlemania, despite being one of, if not the hardest working woman in the division. And fans are overwhelmingly starting to recognize that. If she loses at this year's Mania, it's hard to ever see her winning a major title at Wrestlemania, let alone ever again (or ever winning at Mania). And Bianca going over could result in the audience revolting against her and the company. And it would be a pretty nasty one at that. That would also add fuel to the speculation that WWE has a problem with Asians whose first language isn't English either. No other sports/sports entertainment level company has problems on the same level WWE has with giving them center stage or a prominent spotlight. The story behind this feud sucks, but let's just be straight up honest here. All of Bianca's feuds have been absolutely terrible for a really long time now. She has no real flexibility on the mic, and like you mentioned, harms everyone she feuds with. And it's not all on WWE either.
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clc
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Post by clc on Mar 29, 2023 12:24:18 GMT -5
The Chamber also got devalued by Bianca taking out the entire field by tossing Iyo at them on the go-home Raw.
Yes!
That was during that bizarre match where they could have added some more star power to the chamber but then didn't.
Usually when they have a stipulation of, "You will be added to X if you win Y" the person wins. Audiences would feel cheated if the addition is teased but then not given.
So, they had the Bayley vs Becky vs Bianca match. With the winner being added to the chamber, unless Bianca wins. Adding Bayley or Becky would have added a lot of gravitas to the chamber. Instead they just have Bianca win. It did nothing for anyone, except make Bianca look ridiculously OP. I know we like clean wins; but that was a perfect storm scenario for some sort of shenanigans win for either Bayley or Becky. It's a 3-way so no DQs. You don't even need to pin Bianca. There's like 8 other women out there that could have set up a distraction roll up...nope, "Bianca wins lol".
Yeah, Asuka winning the Chamber by eliminating Bayley or Becky would have given a lot more heft.
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