Asuka Is A Paper Champion

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Why they even got the title on her if they not going shit with it

She's helping Lana and had lame duck defenses on her ledger since the summer

For all the attention they putting on Shayna/Nia, Shayna should have been champ at this point as she can play the bully character well and you have a bunch of characters for her to make work of in Dana, Mandy and Lana before Asuka became her "real challenge"

Asuka not making it to Mania as champ, just a matter of if Shayna or Charlotte is taking it. Outside chance of Rhea coming in to take the title off Asuka as well 

[Deleted]

Asuka is basically getting her reign up right now doing things that doesn't really matter to the importance of her as champion. The focus isn't even on her, it feels like Lana is the lead face here. It's like Asuka is supposed to be Naruto but Lana's Shikamaru and it's the Immortals Arc if you feel me. Basically, Asuka's just "here" and as a champion it feels like it's only a matter of time if she loses. In some cases yeah, that's great that a champion is helping a support character, I dig that. In other cases it's just counting the time down until someone beats her for the belt. It happens to all champions but there's ways where it can work well and ways where it doesn't work well. It's just padding a reign.

I don't think Asuka's walking out of Mania with that belt at all. I don't know who'll be champion by the end of it but I know it won't be her.

[mistery]

It's probably because Asuka is the biggest star they have right now on RAW. And it's not her fault that her title reign has been pretty flat so far.

Also I think considering how much of a massive push they gave Shayna at the start of the year just for the audience to turn incredibly hard on her, on top of her style being pretty awful for the main roster (joint manipulation stuff will not fly on the main roster) doomed her chances. Doesn't help she didn't even have the support of hardcore fans because her NXT stint almost destroyed the division. If she goes up against Asuka, I fully expect her to lose.

As for if Asuka walks out of Mania or not with the title remains to be seen. It depends on who she is up against. But do also remember that WWE massively values loyalty, and Asuka has been more than willing to work whatever shows they required of her during this pandemic, without complaining. Vince almost certainly appreciates that.

[theironyuppie]

It's not even the first time Asuka has had a relatively long reign without really feeling like a centrepiece, given her reign from TLC 2018 to just before WM 35.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

She’s basically Bret Hart, someone reliable who can hold down the fort while someone they want to push harder is either out or getting the slow build. I don’t know for 100% if they appreciate her for that, but I hope they do.

[BatPunk]

Asuka is the biggest Samoa Joe in the E right now.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Dec 14, 2020 23:37:38 GMT -5 theironyuppie said:

It's not even the first time Asuka has had a relatively long reign without really feeling like a centrepiece, given her reign from TLC 2018 to just before WM 35.

In fairness, it was the Becky show at that point and Asuka despite being champ and tapping out Becky, was not going to mean shit 

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Dec 14, 2020 23:36:51 GMT -5 @kn said:

Asuka is basically getting her reign up right now doing things that doesn't really matter to the importance of her as champion. The focus isn't even on her, it feels like Lana is the lead face here. It's like Asuka is supposed to be Naruto but Lana's Shikamaru and it's the Immortals Arc if you feel me. Basically, Asuka's just "here" and as a champion it feels like it's only a matter of time if she loses. In some cases yeah, that's great that a champion is helping a support character, I dig that. In other cases it's just counting the time down until someone beats her for the belt. It happens to all champions but there's ways where it can work well and ways where it doesn't work well. It's just padding a reign.

I don't think Asuka's walking out of Mania with that belt at all. I don't know who'll be champion by the end of it but I know it won't be her.

Hell, wouldn't even say she is Naruto in the Shikamaru arc

She's more Neji when he died in the War arc. Everyone else matters except her and she's only there to be a fresh face to kill her off to boost up somebody else resume. Luckily for her, Vince has more respect for her then Kishi had for Neji, lol. Would be some shit they have her lose the title to get Lana over like when they killed Neji to get Hinata over 

[mistery]

Dec 14, 2020 23:42:59 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

Dec 14, 2020 23:37:38 GMT -5 theironyuppie said:

It's not even the first time Asuka has had a relatively long reign without really feeling like a centrepiece, given her reign from TLC 2018 to just before WM 35.

In fairness, it was the Becky show at that point and Asuka despite being champ and tapping out Becky, was not going to mean shit 

I mean yeah. But with Becky saying that Asuka deserves the spotlight and her time in the sun, along with Charlotte also mentioning how Asuka deserves a real chance at the top, it's not really shocking that she's treated as a big deal. All of the WWE 4HW are very close to her and do nothing but sing her praises. A lot of the other women do as well.

Asuka also moves an absurd amount of merchandise. I think if you omit Becky right now due to her being out, she moves the second biggest amount of merch behind Sasha, at least for the women.

The booking is entirely on WWE. Not the performer. And right now, there is no one on RAW outside of Asuka actually worthy of being champion. Shayna has crashed and burned, due to a combination of WWE booking, and virtually no fan support. Like she's a decent wrestler, but her style is...not great for main roster viewers, and that's ignoring her horrendous NXT reigns which went on for way too long and elevated no one except Rhea. It's pretty clear she was a Paul Heyman project on the main roster, and completely failed. I would absolutely not be shocked if she ends up in catering or wrestling almost exclusively on Main Event once she drops the tag titles.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Dec 14, 2020 23:49:34 GMT -5 mistery said:

Dec 14, 2020 23:42:59 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

In fairness, it was the Becky show at that point and Asuka despite being champ and tapping out Becky, was not going to mean shit 

I mean yeah. But with Becky saying that Asuka deserves the spotlight and her time in the sun, along with Charlotte also mentioning how Asuka deserves a real chance at the top, it's not really shocking that she's treated as a big deal. All of the WWE 4HW are very close to her and do nothing but sing her praises. A lot of the other women do as well.

Asuka also moves an absurd amount of merchandise. I think if you omit Becky right now due to her being out, she moves the second biggest amount of merch behind Sasha, at least for the women.

The booking is entirely on WWE. Not the performer. And right now, there is no one on RAW outside of Asuka actually worthy of being champion. Shayna has crashed and burned, due to a combination of WWE booking, and virtually no fan support. Like she's a decent wrestler, but her style is...not great for main roster viewers, and that's ignoring her horrendous NXT reigns which went on for way too long and elevated no one except Rhea. It's pretty clear she was a Paul Heyman project on the main roster, and completely failed. I would absolutely not be shocked if she ends up in catering or wrestling almost exclusively on Main Event once she drops the tag titles.

Don't get me wrong, this should be Asuka time. Early on during the start of the pandemic she was the best thing going but right now they are just padding things out cause they have no real plans for her. Charlotte and Becky especially have always talked about wanting to return the favor to Asuka for as much as they respect her 

Shayna can be champion. She is one of the best women going in the company and nothing she did in NXT matters anyway. If she was a Paul Heyman project she wouldn't still be champ with Nia. Whatever Vince didn't see in her, he sees it now 

[Deleted]

Shayna should've beat Becky for the title at Mania.

I get they probably didn't know she was pregnant at that moment... But even still, that was a wasted opportunity. You strike when the iron is hot and Shayna was fresh out of NXT, came 2nd last in the Rumble and dominated the Elimination Chamber.

It reeks of Alberto vs Edge at Mania. They gave him the title at Summerslam and no one give a shit because they waited too long to pull the trigger.

This will be the same situation.

It was up to me, I would put Shayna in the Hurt Business (or at least just make MVP her promoter/manager) and get her away from Nia. Those Women's Tag Titles should've never been created. Not because I don't want Women's Tag Titles but because there is no Women's Tag Teams. It was a terrible idea.

[mistery]

Dec 14, 2020 23:53:57 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

Dec 14, 2020 23:49:34 GMT -5 mistery said:

I mean yeah. But with Becky saying that Asuka deserves the spotlight and her time in the sun, along with Charlotte also mentioning how Asuka deserves a real chance at the top, it's not really shocking that she's treated as a big deal. All of the WWE 4HW are very close to her and do nothing but sing her praises. A lot of the other women do as well.

Asuka also moves an absurd amount of merchandise. I think if you omit Becky right now due to her being out, she moves the second biggest amount of merch behind Sasha, at least for the women.

The booking is entirely on WWE. Not the performer. And right now, there is no one on RAW outside of Asuka actually worthy of being champion. Shayna has crashed and burned, due to a combination of WWE booking, and virtually no fan support. Like she's a decent wrestler, but her style is...not great for main roster viewers, and that's ignoring her horrendous NXT reigns which went on for way too long and elevated no one except Rhea. It's pretty clear she was a Paul Heyman project on the main roster, and completely failed. I would absolutely not be shocked if she ends up in catering or wrestling almost exclusively on Main Event once she drops the tag titles.

Don't get me wrong, this should be Asuka time. Early on during the start of the pandemic she was the best thing going but right now they are just padding things out cause they have no real plans for her. Charlotte and Becky especially have always talked about wanting to return the favor to Asuka for as much as they respect her 

Shayna can be champion. She is one of the best women going in the company and nothing she did in NXT matters anyway. If she was a Paul Heyman project she wouldn't still be champ with Nia. Whatever Vince didn't see in her, he sees it now 

I don't think he sees it in her, he just sees it as a way to keep Nia on TV without fans revolting about her being in a singles title picture. Shayna isn't going to be a singles champion on the main roster right now. Or on the off chance Vince does put the title on her, she'll lose it like a couple of weeks later. Because her wrestling actively pisses off viewers, and not in the good way. Even Vince realized that. Let's break down Shayna's stint on the main roster so far:

1) Turned up on RAW after the Royal Rumble, and bit Becky in the back of the neck. Everyone started cracking vampire jokes. Becky no sold the attack by returning later in the evening to bury Shayna 10 feet under in a promo.

2) Showed up at a contract signing for the Elimination Chamber match, got promptly dunked on by every other woman in the promo.

3) Wrestled Kairi Sane (who was supposed to be a heel) on the RAW before the Elimination Chamber. Crowd started chanting for Kairi who was trying her hardest to get booed. Didn't work.

4) Bulldozed through the Chamber with the only thing stopping the audience from throwing garbage into the ring being the chamber itself. Widely considered the absolute worst elimination chamber match of all time.

5) Got destroyed by Becky even more leading up to Wrestlemania in the promo department, with Shayna only coming out on top once in the feud.

6) Lost to Becky at Wrestlemania, despite rumors of her pushing to put Shayna over, Vince decided against it.

7) Looked like a complete loser at MITB, not even making it to the roof and getting knocked out in a completely random spot in the match and never showing up again.

8) She was then off of TV for almost 4-5 months until she showed back up to feud with Nia for a bit, before they won the tag titles shortly after.

9) Outside of tonight (and even then its questionable considering she was on the verge of losing to Dana Brooke), is basically the pin eater in their team, and is portrayed as dumber than the babyfaces. And if Charlotte does return at TLC, my money is on Shayna being the one to tap out if her and Nia lose.

So yeah. That's Shayna's main roster career in a nutshell right now. I don't think Vince respects or cares about her, and I can understand why (for once). She doesn't appeal to audiences in any sort of department unless you want really technical wrestling. Which doesn't mesh well with the majority of western fans (no matter what western promotion and its fanbase is).

[theironyuppie]

Dec 15, 2020 0:07:26 GMT -5 mistery said:

Dec 14, 2020 23:53:57 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

Don't get me wrong, this should be Asuka time. Early on during the start of the pandemic she was the best thing going but right now they are just padding things out cause they have no real plans for her. Charlotte and Becky especially have always talked about wanting to return the favor to Asuka for as much as they respect her 

Shayna can be champion. She is one of the best women going in the company and nothing she did in NXT matters anyway. If she was a Paul Heyman project she wouldn't still be champ with Nia. Whatever Vince didn't see in her, he sees it now 

I don't think he sees it in her, he just sees it as a way to keep Nia on TV without fans revolting about her being in a singles title picture. Shayna isn't going to be a singles champion on the main roster right now. Or on the off chance Vince does put the title on her, she'll lose it like a couple of weeks later. Because her wrestling actively pisses off viewers, and not in the good way. Even Vince realized that. Let's break down Shayna's stint on the main roster so far:

1) Turned up on RAW after the Royal Rumble, and bit Becky in the back of the neck. Everyone started cracking vampire jokes. Becky no sold the attack by returning later in the evening to bury Shayna 10 feet under in a promo.

2) Showed up at a contract signing for the Elimination Chamber match, got promptly dunked on by every other woman in the promo.

3) Wrestled Kairi Sane (who was supposed to be a heel) on the RAW before the Elimination Chamber. Crowd started chanting for Kairi who was trying her hardest to get booed. Didn't work.

4) Bulldozed through the Chamber with the only thing stopping the audience from throwing garbage into the ring being the chamber itself. Widely considered the absolute worst elimination chamber match of all time.

5) Got destroyed by Becky even more leading up to Wrestlemania in the promo department, with Shayna only coming out on top once in the feud.

6) Lost to Becky at Wrestlemania, despite rumors of her pushing to put Shayna over, Vince decided against it.

7) Looked like a complete loser at MITB, not even making it to the roof and getting knocked out in a completely random spot in the match and never showing up again.

8) She was then off of TV for almost 4-5 months until she showed back up to feud with Nia for a bit, before they won the tag titles shortly after.

9) Outside of tonight (and even then its questionable considering she was on the verge of losing to Dana Brooke), is basically the pin eater in their team, and is portrayed as dumber than the babyfaces. And if Charlotte does return at TLC, my money is on Shayna being the one to tap out if her and Nia lose.

So yeah. That's Shayna's main roster career in a nutshell right now. I don't think Vince respects or cares about her, and I can understand why (for once). She doesn't appeal to audiences in any sort of department unless you want really technical wrestling. Which doesn't mesh well with the majority of western fans (no matter what western promotion and its fanbase is).

That Kairi/Shayna match still strikes me as strange and damaging booking. The two had showed obvious chemistry in their NXT work back when Kairi was a face, and they wanted to build up Shayna, so for some reason they decided to go with a 10 minute + back-and-forth heel/heel match?

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

The title has had a weird hear after Becky left. Asuka got it in the MITB match and then lost it via countout and now there's been nothing but blah defenses against people who don't deserve it.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

WWE have never known how to book her as champion, and it's pathetic. She's so easy to book and they've had multiple tries at it, and they still whiff. It's just sad and she deserves better. I mean, she's a multiple time women's champion, rumble winner, tag champion, NXT Women's Champion which she ended undefeated, so it's hard for me to say she "Deserves better" when she's an easy Hall of Famer at this point, but when it comes to main roster title reigns? They could stand to do better by her.

[mistery]

Dec 15, 2020 0:16:15 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

The title has had a weird hear after Becky left. Asuka got it in the MITB match and then lost it via countout and now there's been nothing but blah defenses against people who don't deserve it.

I mean the main roster women's divisions on both RAW and Smackdown are pretty dire as it stands. RAW, the only woman worth caring about is Asuka. On Smackdown, the field is a bit deeper, but not by much. Carmella is basically a filler challenger, and Sasha has already went through Bayley. So in theory the only people left for Sasha to face after she gets done with Carmella are Natalya (who is as bland as plain oatmeal) and Bianca (who probably has a 50/50 chance of dethroning Sasha, at best).

I would say the main roster needs more women, but right now its way too bloated with...women well below the standards people have come to expect, at least for credible challengers or title holders.

[Deleted]

Asuka's in such a weird position because they're clearly higher on her than people think, yet for all the accolades they've given her (first Women's Rumble winner, Raw Women's Champ, SD Women's Champ, Women's Tag Champ, beat Becky via submission when Becky was at her most popular) there's still that feeling they don't know how to properly book her.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Dec 15, 2020 0:29:35 GMT -5 @dax said:

Asuka's in such a weird position because they're clearly higher on her than people think, yet for all the accolades they've given her (first Women's Rumble winner, Raw Women's Champ, SD Women's Champ, Women's Tag Champ, beat Becky via submission when Becky was at her most popular) there's still that feeling they don't know how to properly book her.

The main roster isn’t structured in such a way that she can run through everyone and go undefeated for a year and a half like in NXT. The insistence on having her on every week, the reluctance to use outside enhancement talents, the inability/refusal to cycle talents in and out on a regular basis... Until that changes, they COULD try that, but she’d be 60-0 in a year with like 20 of those wins being over Dana Brooke and we’d be bored of it by spring. F***, a lot of us were getting bored of it in NXT, I know I was.

[Perd]

Most of the titles mean absolutely nothing. Bobby Lashley having the US Title is a complete afterthought. He isn’t an afterthought, the title is. And I think the same is true with Asuka.

[Dub H]

Every Asuka "Push" ever is that.

She is just there to lose.