Becky Lynch and Asuka have essentially switched places

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Bit of a shower thought that's come to mind, based on WWE reposting this match from last year's Survivor Series...



For a long time, Becky Lynch was someone with a lot of talent that was getting the short end of the booking stick (including this match where she was the first woman eliminated two minutes in) and generally not having a lot of major wins over her main roster run before mid-2018, despite being one of the more beloved talents in the women's division since her 2015 main roster debut. Since then, even with a heel turn, she has become one of the hottest talents in the whole company, picking up some massive wins over Charlotte Flair, doing great promo work, getting booked into a blockbuster Champion v Champion match against Ronda Rousey (that is a decent chance of main eventing this year's Survivor Series, in my opinion) and generally developed an aura of badassery that is hard to do in modern times.

On the other hand, Asuka. The sole survivor of the match posted above, things were going great for her as she'd won the first women's Royal Rumble and locked in a championship match at WrestleMania, while maintaining a near-flawless winning record. Unfortunately, she suffered her first singles loss in that title match to Flair, but it was a follow up feud to Carmella where, despite not taking a clean loss, she was falling prey to simple heel tactics (which they specifically hired back James Ellsworth to the company to assist with, ostensibly to PROTECT her ) that was the major blow to her main roster run. Now, she's in the same position that Lynch once was. A beloved talent who has taken some rough booking and is now struggling for featured time and major wins. That said, she hasn't taken a fall in a match since the last match of the Carmella feud, so she has that going for her, at least.

Funnily enough, Lynch herself could end up being Asuka's saviour. Someone's going to have to beat Lynch for her gold eventually, and with Flair looking like the red-hot favourite to win the women's Royal Rumble (if that happens again) and being heavily rumoured to be jumping over to RAW to challenge Rousey, Asuka's arguably next in line for a match WWE have kept in the back pocket, possibly for this specific situation.

[Deleted]

Asuka beating Becky in a decently long, well-booked match at Mania would do a lot to salvage her credibility. The thing is, she shouldn't have to be salvaging her credibility to begin with. Asuka was a legit can't-miss prospect, but due to a combination of shortsightedness and, in all likelihood, racism, her credibility is shot; even a win over Becky wouldn't totally undo the damage that's been done.

[Deleted]

I can see that. Becky has been constantly booked to get others over because she's that good. (Essentially the Natalya/Victoria role.)

Now she's given a time to shine, but somebody needs that rub beating her.

Becky/Asuka was something I wanted since before this past WM.

[anglarite]

Nov 10, 2018 11:08:59 GMT -5 @sandman said:

I can see that. Becky has been constantly booked to get others over because she's that good. (Essentially the Natalya/Victoria role.)

Now she's given a time to shine, but somebody needs that rub beating her.

Becky/Asuka was something I wanted since before this past WM.

I dread that it will be more like "Charlotte needs that win before losing to Rhonda on Wrestlemania..."

[Mid-Carder]

I can't believe, and yet I can, how far Asuka has fallen since her main roster debut. She's just another person on the roster. I think if they have any intention of rehabbing her, they should give her consecutive Rumble wins. Then do Becky v Asuka at WM and they can still do Ronda v Charlotte.

[Bo Rida]

It's crazy, why can't they build multiple credible people at once?

Putting alll your eggs in one basket ends up in situations like Raw's current main event scence.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

Turning heel is the big reason why Becky has been pushed so much more as it's allowed her to switch to a character and in ring style that Vince prefers. She's now more aggressive and actually comes off like of an (l)ass kicker now which Vince likes as in his eyes that's someone that's a star as apposed to before where she would just wrestle the typical face style where she would get beat up and sell the majority of the match and then make her comeback and get her shit (Bexsploder suplexes, boot in corner, flying forearm, Disarmer) before either winning or losing depending on what was booked. I do think that the turn has helped her come off like a bigger deal and a more interesting character but at the same I thought she has really always been a star and just didn't get a fair chance booking wise when she was a face.

Blue collar underdog characters never get pushed to the top anymore because even though a large portion of the fans are going to relate to a character like that, it's not someone Vince is going to relate to. Vince relates to people who are powerful and arrogant which is why the most pushed people in recent years are either overpowered babyfaces who always come off strong or arrogant heels who find ways to wins. Becky actually falls into both of those categories right now with her alignment being so blurred. I mean it's still early and things could change but you could say she's actually becoming a "chosen one" as her booking over the last six months is similar to the "Golden Girls" her character hates her so much. Winning almost all of her matches, beating heavily pushed Charlotte in two straight single PPV maches which has never happened, decisively beating someone making her debut. Since her fluke loss to Mandy Rose in May Becky has only one pinfall/submission on TV with that being when Charlotte pinned her in the triple threat match at Summerslam and that was just done to set up her heel turn after the match. Only other losses were MITB which you can't really count and to Charlotte at Super Showdown in which was only a DQ loss and she also beat up Charlotte after the match to stand tall.

As far as Asuka goes I don't think it has been as doom and gloom for her as a lot of people are making it out be for her. Yeah she's not as big of deal as she could've been but she's still heavily protected as the Charlotte and Carmella losses are still her only three pinfall/submission losses in her WWE career. The fact that she's still being protected shows that they still see value in her and are probably saving her for something down the road. She's been taken care of a lot more then Becky was when she was going through her struggles. On the other hand though I don't think her ceiling is high as Becky just mainly for the fact that she's not going be able to do long promo segements that WWE loves so much due to her English not being so great. Also age isn't her friend as she's 37 which could be another thing that holds her back. Even though I think Asuka/Becky a possibility for Mania I don't think it's a lock either. It seems like they're finally starting the big Mandy Rose push that I think we all knew was inevitable when she debuted. She got mic time on Smackdown and apparently has been getting involved in the Charlotte/Becky house show matches which is a big tell that they have something big planned for her going forward. I'm guessing they are going to do a Charlotte/Mandy feud and that could possibly lead to her going against Becky at Mania with Becky going back to being more of a face.