Major Disappointment Regarding The Nature Of Asuka’s WWE Main Roster Debut
There have been many reports of overall disappointment regarding former NXT Women’s Champion Asuka’s debut on the main roster. While competing for NXT, Asuka plowed through competition and remained unpinned for nearly two years. The “Empress of Tomorrow” made her highly anticipated debut at the NXT TakeOver: Respect WWE Network special, defeating Dana Brooke. Since Brooke and EMMA were in an alliance, the feud continued, and Asuka defeated EMMA at the NXT TakeOver: London event in December of that year. She would continue to show her dominance for a number of months, further climbing up the ladder to reach an opportunity to become the No. 1 contender for the NXT Women’s Championship.
Asuka would win her first NXT Women’s Championship by defeating Bayley at NXT TakeOver: Dallas during WrestleMania 32 weekend. This would be the commencement of the 510-day title reign for Asuka, who was able to defeat Bayley, Nia Jax, Mickie James, Nikki Cross, Peyton Royce, Ruby Riot, and Billie Kay. During a match at TakeOver: Brooklyn III with perhaps her toughest competitor, Ember Moon, Asuka suffered an unfortunate injury. During this recovery, it was decided to move her up to the main roster, and WWE has been promoting her NXT Women’s Championship tenure as the longest reign by anyone in WWE for the past 25 years. Even former WWE and WCW Champion Goldberg acknowledged her streak.
? ……the "streak" is in very good hands? #Congrats ? RT @WWEAsuka: I respect Goldberg so … https://t.co/MKx7eO1LbG
— Bill Goldberg (@Goldberg) May 25, 2017
Asuka’s Main Roster Debut Has Been A Disappointment To Many
On an episode of Raw, EMMA won a five-way elimination match against Bayley, Alicia Fox, Dana Brooke, and Sasha Banks to determine who would face Asuka at TLC. Their match at the pay-per-view was not one-sided and showcased EMMA, who does not have an impressive win-loss record on the main roster, to be an opponent on the same level of Asuka. The two met again on Raw, with a similar outcome.
This type of booking for Asuka has been negatively received by wrestlers and media. Former WWE star Matt Morgan voiced his disapproval, stating that EMMA had way too much offense. This is also being compared to when WWE poorly booked Shinsuke Nakamura’s debut, as he also had a tough time defeating Dolph Ziggler, who had an unimpressive win-loss record on SmackDown Live.
The general consensus is that, while EMMA is a good talent in the WWE, the goal is to build stars instead of making everyone look equal. If WWE maintains this philosophy of booking, the fear is that no one will get over the way they should, which will prevent fans from strongly reacting to characters in the WWE.
[Featured Image by WWE]
