WWE News: Here’s Why Asuka Performed Commentary On ‘Monday Night Raw’
On last week’s episode of Monday Night Raw, WWE superstar Asuka was tasked with commentating the Rey Mysterio and Andrade match alongside Jerry “The King” Lawler. Considering that she isn’t involved in any notable storylines with either superstar, the Women’s Tag Team Champion lending her voice to the match came as a surprise to many fans, and her efforts received widespread praise across social media and from her peers.
During the latest episode of his podcast, by the way of WrestlingNews.co, Lawler opened up about WWE’s decision to use the Japanese superstar as a commentator. According to the Hall of Famer, it was to make the show more lively since there were no fans in attendance due to the coronavirus.
“They put Asuka out there to help with the commentary and to try to help make some noise and keep things as loud as possible during the match where it wouldn’t be silence so that helped a lot. It’s a tough go and I felt sorry for Rey and Andrade and Zelina but they still did great.”
Lawler also agreed with the fans on social media who praised Asuka’s performance and revealed that he’d love to work with her again in a similar capacity. However, while “The King” is keen for Asuka to return to the announcer’s desk, he also wants to carry out a sit-down interview with the Women’s Tag Team Champion.
“It would have to be that the people would think I knew what she was saying and of course, I would just interpret it into a whole hilarious and funny or scathing interview or promo about somebody else and putting it into my words.”
— ASUKA / ??? (@WWEAsuka) July 21, 2019
Asuka also received some praise from other colleagues and industry experts. As documented by Sportskeeda, both CM Punk and Renee Young praised her performance. The former said that he wants to do commentary with “The Empress of Tomorrow” at some point, while Young revealed that she wants Asuka to be on commentary every week.
After the match, Andrade also thanked her for supporting him, which prompted Asuka to tell the United States Champion that she’ll always be in his corner. However, while Asuka was there to cheer on the heel, her performance will probably turn her into more of a babyface.
In recent months, Asuka and her partner Kairi Sane’s outbursts in their native language have been very well received by the WWE Universe. Now that the crowd is behind them, it’s only a matter of time before company management responds accordingly.
