Asuka: How A NXT Call-Up Should Be Done

[Wildcat66]

So it's been a couple of months now, and I've decided now is the right time to talk about how Asuka has done on the main roster.

Now, I will state at first hand that I was confident that WWE would do well with Asuka but not be shocked if they did find a way to botch her in some fashion...But if I can be honest: I did not think they would do this good a job with Asuka.

Why this perpetual optimism? Let me explain.

1. A Great Build-Up

Asuka may be the first wrestler called up to NXT in a long while that has gotten debut vignettes. I've always been a fan of this way of promoting new talent as it gives viewers a first glimpse of the wrestler that's about to come to the promotion.

It helps that the promos that came about were really well done: There was no glitz, nothing glamorous, nobody got dolled up or anything. This was simply a look at one female who kicked everyone's ass back in NXT and was ready to show her talents on the big stage. Add in some mysterious piano music in the background and a few quotes and you have yourself a bunch of fans wanting to see this person make an impact.

2. A Surprising Lack of Squash Matches

This may be a little polarizing to some but hear me out; a notable trend I've seen when it comes to monster type wrestlers is that when they debut they're usually given a bunch of low level talent to murder before moving onto the bigger fish. You've seen it happen before, most recently with Braun Strowman, The Bludgeon Brothers, Nia Jax and to a lesser extent down in NXT.

Yet Asuka hasn't gotten that treatment.

You could argue this is because of her reputation in NXT, but even so: Skipping the jobbers and going straight up to the division's low level talent is impressive for any monster. Just last month, she was the sole survivor for her team in the women's Survivor Series match. If that doesn't tell you something about her future: Who knows what it may mean.

Now, you may argue that she hasn't been as dominant with her opponents as she was in NXT: And maybe you're right. (Doesn't help that RAW is a three hour show that varies on quality every month) But for every moment where it seemed like she was being domesticated, we also saw moments of her when she was murdering everyone in NXT. (Dana Brooke anyone?)

So overall: Asuka got a golden ticket and she's making the most of it.

And 3. An intact character?

Of all of the NXT call-ups we've seen, I don't think I've seen any character stay pretty much identical as Asuka's.

For the record, here's what a few of NXT's call-ups have morphed into over the years.

Bray Wyatt: Cult leader to man of questionable sanity and total pariah.

Enzo Amore: Smooth talking and lovable face to insufferable douchebag who you're probably still going to root for anyway.

Sami Zayn: Tough as nails underdog to Shit-eating best friend of Kevin Owens.

Breezango: A fashionista and a ballroom dancer into fashion police who have good taste in crime TV.

The list could go on forever. You know who you won't find on this list? Asuka.

Asuka's gimmick, from what I know is that she's a bad-ass fighter who takes no prisoners and will only fight the best at the right time and place. That's from NXT. What has she been doing since coming up to WWE?

Being a bad-ass fighter that takes no prisoners and only fighting the best at the right time and place (as we saw during her first two interactions with Absolution).

She has literally been the same person since she came up. No alterations, no changes, not even a hint of flanderization. Maybe it's because i'm still a little early, but it's not often you see a character be this consistent from their NXT self to what's happened on the WWE roster.

In conclusion: I'm honestly glad Asuka's succeeding in the WWE, while i'm still a little iffy on calling myself an out and out Asuka fan: I will say that she is a really damn good wrestler and has made the transfer to WWE style much more smoothly than Shinsuke did.

I'm also really digging her new cross armbreaker finishing move. It might be the one move that's just as dangerous as the Asuka Lock. (I've even gone as far as to give it a name: The Arm of Asuka)

But what really cemented me was her promo she cut on Alexa yesterday during Raw Is Christmas: It was short, sweet and to the point. Absolutely what you would and should get from someone like her. For me, it was the moment that confirmed to me that WWE were doing her justice.

It hasn't been all perfect: Maybe she could be more dominant in her matches, and we should probably hope that she doesn't cut a promo every week. But for now, I think we should all breath a sigh of relief that WWE have yet to drop the ball on Asuka. (Plus, unless a disaster happens: Asuka's a lock for the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania so it's going to be a long while until she does)

 

[Messiah]

Give everybody a long undefeated streak.. Who knew it's that easy to get someone over.. The fact people are suppose to be scared of this little twerp is hilarious.

Nia Jax should've been in Asuka's spot because she's actually believable, but i guess we'll put up with Asuka for now until she takes her boring ass back to Japan after she's done burying the women's division.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

The thing is, they did the same thing that they did for pretty much every other NXT call up, the only difference is that this one actually worked. If you look at everybody that got called up since NXT started being this big entity, the one thing they have in common is that they created a character in NXT and then just transplant it on the main roster which 9 times out of 10, it doesn't work because even if nobody want to believe it, you don't serve the same crowd on the main roster and a lot of WWE fans that aren't in the adult 18-49 demographic don't watch NXT, so transplanting a character that was super over with a smaller crowd comprise mostly of the 18 to 49 demographic, into a large setting almost never works.

The difference with asuka, is that she got the charisma and the experience to get over, kinda like Shinsuke nakamura on Smackdown.

The other thing is that on te main shows, they have way too much guys on both roster especially on raw so it's really easy to get lost in the shuffle after a while it's on the performers to find a way to get notice which she's capable of doing because of her experience outside WWE.

We can say that this is how call up should be done but let's face it, if you think that Vince Mcmahon actually watch NXT and everything that happens in orlando, you need to get a clue because he doesn't look at anything going on in orlando, he just read the reports that HHH give him and what the characters are and he puts them on the main roster with pretty much the simple direction to keep doing what they were doing in NXT and that's why most of them fail because what works with a smaller crowd won't necessarily work with a bigger crowd.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

You can't push every NXT call up the same. Professional wrestling is predictable enough as it is and only so many wrestlers can win for so long before the only people winning seem to be the new wrestlers. While Asuka's push has been good, it has been good for Asuka, the rest of the roster has kind of suffered at her expense. Nia is working Enzo, Alexa is kind of a forgotten champ, Emma became expendable, Absolution is working a psuedo sub card feud with the champions formerly known as Bayley, Sasha, and Mickie.

WWE just sees more money in Asuka then they do say, The Ascension or Elias. That is why she is getting this push or this booking. It's not like they just figured something out. They know what they want to do with her and they are doing it. They are giving her wins while capitalizing on the ever thriving teenage girl Japanese thong outerwear market.

There is the odd fascination some posters have with NXT like it is suppose to guarantee main roster success. Not everyone can or will be what you perceive as a main roster success. Some have to fail. This is pro wrestling, you need failures to build the successes. The math that everyone wins 100% of the time doesn't work.

 

[#hamler]

Asuka may be the first wrestler called up to NXT in a long while that has gotten debut vignettes. I've always been a fan of this way of promoting new talent as it gives viewers a first glimpse of the wrestler that's about to come to the promotion.

Agreed. WWE often times relies too heavily on the popularity of NXT stars and hopes it transfers to the main roster audience without any given backstory. That's a major problem with the most recent NXT callups like Shinsuke Nakamura or Bobby Roode. The audience needs to know why Bobby Roode is so glorious, why Shinsuke Nakamura is such a badass or why the Revival are the greatest tag team on the planet. They've done a fine job of defining Asuka and why she's such a phenomenal acquisition to the female division on Raw.

But what really cemented me was her promo she cut on Alexa yesterday during Raw Is Christmas: It was short, sweet and to the point. Absolutely what you would and should get from someone like her. For me, it was the moment that confirmed to me that WWE were doing her justice.

Also agreed. NXT's job is to find the strengths and weaknesses of their respective signees. While Asuka's list of weaknesses is fairly short, it's obvious her major flaw is her inability to deliver a coherent promo is front of a live crowd. English is her second language, she's never going to be great at it and ten years in developmental isn't going to fix that. The best way to cover up this weakness is by doing short promos. Shinsuke Nakamura should be built like this. Braun Strowman is currently benefiting from it. Roman Reigns' "this is my yard now!" promo after Wrestlemania was his best promo ever. There are tons more who could benefit from delivering short promos in front of live crowds and hopefully they keep 'em short for Asuka. She's a badass because she can kick your fucking head off not because she can talk.

Play to one's stregnths to cover up one's weakness.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

The thing is, they did the same thing that they did for pretty much every other NXT call up, the only difference is that this one actually worked. If you look at everybody that got called up since NXT started being this big entity, the one thing they have in common is that they created a character in NXT and then just transplant it on the main roster which 9 times out of 10, it doesn't work because even if nobody want to believe it, you don't serve the same crowd on the main roster and a lot of WWE fans that aren't in the adult 18-49 demographic don't watch NXT, so transplanting a character that was super over with a smaller crowd comprise mostly of the 18 to 49 demographic, into a large setting almost never works..

You keep bringing this argument up about the 18 to 49 demographic repeatedly, but nothing states that's how it actually is. What are you basing this information off of? The same source that told you that Jinder Mahal is as popular as John Cena in India? There are tons of kids in the NXT audience at the tapings and of the million plus subscribers do you not think the majority of them are parents that have the network for their children?

We can say that this is how call up should be done but let's face it, if you think that Vince Mcmahon actually watch NXT and everything that happens in orlando, you need to get a clue because he doesn't look at anything going on in orlando, he just read the reports that HHH give him and what the characters are and he puts them on the main roster with pretty much the simple direction to keep doing what they were doing in NXT and that's why most of them fail because what works with a smaller crowd won't necessarily work with a bigger crowd

He doesn't look at anything that happens in Orlando. You must live right down the street from him or text him on a regular basis. I'm fully convinced you are grasping for straws right now. You don't know anything that goes on with Triple H and Vince McMahon and you should stop pretending you do because it's making you look like a fool. Yes the chairman of the biggest pro wrestling company in the world doesn't pay the slightest bit of attention to his development system and calls a name up that sounds good on a "report" that his son in law gives him. Right.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

You keep bringing this argument up about the 18 to 49 demographic repeatedly, but nothing states that's how it actually is. What are you basing this information off of? The same source that told you that Jinder Mahal is as popular as John Cena in India? There are tons of kids in the NXT audience at the tapings and of the million plus subscribers do you not think the majority of them are parents that have the network for their children?




He doesn't look at anything that happens in Orlando. You must live right down the street from him or text him on a regular basis. I'm fully convinced you are grasping for straws right now. You don't know anything that goes on with Triple H and Vince McMahon and you should stop pretending you do because it's making you look like a fool. Yes the chairman of the biggest pro wrestling company in the world doesn't pay the slightest bit of attention to his development system and calls a name up that sounds good on a "report" that his son in law gives him. Right.

Let's face it, you don't know anything about business, it's been reported for years now that Vince doesn't follow what happens in developmental, he just get a report from whoever is in charge of the system in this case HHH and decided who he wants on the main roster and who he doesn'T based on recommendations from the people in charge of the territory and don'T make any mistake about it, Vince see NXT as developmental and not as a actual brand. Also do you really think that the CEO of a billion dollar company, that has do produce 2 shows every weeks on top of over seeing everything else that goes on behind the scene like board meeting andother corporate function as time to go and check, what's going on in NXT, No he doesn't, That's why HHH is in charge of NXT because he doesn'T have the time to check what's going on down in orlando.

Secondly, for the second point that you replied to which technically is the first point. I'm not saying that they're no childs and family that watch NXT or goes to NXT shows because i know they're are, but what i'm saying if you would have taken time to actually get my point is that they're not in the majority. the 18 to 49 demographic is the majority of the fans for this brand so it's easier for somebody like Asuka who's been on the indy scene to get over with the crowd.

In the end, i'm not trying to say that i know it all because i don'T work there so i don't, but i base my opinion on what people that works in WWE and with vince have said, yeck even HHH said it in a interview that he's the one in charge of NXT because Vince doesn't have time to follow what's going on and he gets a report from the trainers of who ready to get called up and he send the memo to vince for final approval. So please, before calling people fool for writing there opinion, please do some research on the subject.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Give everybody a long undefeated streak.. Who knew it's that easy to get someone over.. The fact people are suppose to be scared of this little twerp is hilarious.

Nia Jax should've been in Asuka's spot because she's actually believable, but i guess we'll put up with Asuka for now until she takes her boring ass back to Japan after she's done burying the women's division.

Nia Jax isn't all that believable. She's an extremely green, uncharismatic, extremely slow 250+ pound woman and the fact that she is 250+ pounds is the only thing about her that truly makes her stand out. She's not the Braun Strowman of the women's division or anything because Strowman has the presence, he has the size, he has genuinely freakish strength and he's also surprisingly athletic for a man who probably, genuinely weighs somewhere in the 350 to 370 pound range. Nia just happens to be a woman who weighs a good 100 to 150 pounds more than 99% of the women's roster, that's it. There's only so much that being bigger can bring and that's really all Nia brings to the table when you get right down to it.

As far as Asuka being how a call up should be done, you can't use this strategy for every NXT call up and Asuka's undefeated streak can really only go for a while longer before it loses its luster. With NXT, you have a single hour each week to get across who you wanna get across and because of that, we'd often go a good 4 to 6 weeks at a time between Asuka appearances. Asuka was never overexposed in NXT due in part because they didn't have the extra time to devote to her or anyone else for that matter. Asuka's brief little mini feud with Emma and her subsequent defeats of Dana Brooke Alicia Fox, her run ins with Absolution and her confrontation with Alexa Bliss this past Monday would probably equate to 4 or 5 months worth of NXT appearances whereas all of this went down on Raw in what? 5 or 6 weeks? Now, if they went to having Asuka show up on Raw twice a month, then they could keep things going with her as is for quite a spell; however, even if they did, and Asuka did win the title, and she is going to win the title at some point, then there would be some complaints that she shouldn't be champion as some feel that champions should be featured on TV every week, which is how it goes 99.9% of the time.

As for burying the women's division though, who exactly has she buried? Emma had been in hot water with WWE for years and she probably should've just asked for her release, at the latest, when WWE didn't do anything with the Emmalina gimmick; months of build up for absolutely nothing and that should've been a clue to her that she's probably gone as far as she was going to in WWE. Alicia Fox's role has been to put over other women for almost a decade, it's what she does and is pretty much what she's always done and Dana Brooke is dead weight at this point, her jobber status is pretty much cemented now that she's been paired with Titus O'Neil and Apollo Crews. It's not like she's going in there and knocking Bayley out in 90 seconds or tapping out Sasha Banks in 2 minutes.

If Asuka wins the women's Royal Rumble and doesn't decimate Alexa Bliss within 2 minutes at WrestleMania, then you'll have Dave Meltzer and the rest of his drones rake WWE over the coals for it. To them, it won't matter if it wouldn't make a lick of sense, it wouldn't matter if it made the entire women's roster look bad because they'd want it to happen.

 

[stingray11214]

The reason why they HAVE to keep it going is because Asuka is arguably, pound-for-pound, the best wrestler in WWE. SOME building up was needed because the audience for Raw/SmackDown is not the same as NXT. An NXT audience probably knew who Asuka was when she came in. Few on the Raw/SD side would have knows her history. But, there is a much different reality: Asuka is far ahead of the rest of the women. There are very few women in the WWE that can hang REALISTICALLY with Asuka. Kairi Sane and Baszler could be close. Emma was also close. Bayley, Sasha and Charlotte are probably a notch below the first three. Alexa Bliss? 14 Year old Karen Date from Japan's Ice Ribbon could walk in off a 14-hour flight, walk into a WWE ring, superkick Bliss, and take the belt back on the next flight to Japan. I will explain why in my analogy.

Let us say that we are Torquay United, an English football (soccer) side currently sitting near the foot of the Conference, which is the Fifth Tier of English football. So, all the boys are running around in a training session, freshly off their latest defeat, when coming on the pitch in full TUFC training gear is Gareth Bale. No, not Garrett Bale or Gareth Bail but THE Gareth Bale, Welsh International and star of Real Madrid. Yes, Bale is the newest member of the Gulls, and will be appearing for the next three years at Plainmoor. What do you think the Torquay brass will do with Bale? Place him with the Reserves? He will be appointed Team Captain within hours of the ink drying, and will be the face of the club for the next three years! Now, back to wrestling, the WWE Divas were a potty break, hot dog break, call my mother/girlfriend/wife/bookie break. The Divas were like Torquay. where it was more about beauty and powder puff than about wrestling. Enter one Kana aka Asuka. Spent most of her career in Japan, where Joshi Wrestling is taken very seriously. Where the run of the mill WWE Diva would probably be begging for Bill DeMott after spending a week with Chigusa Nagayo or Meiko Satomura, the WWEPC is probably a running joke to someone like Asuka or Kairi Sane. You will NOT see Gravy Bowl matches, bra and panties matches, or Pudding matches in a place like Ice Ribbon or Stardom. But, then again, VKM will never allow someone like KAORU to crack Becky Lynch over the head with a wooden plank, Jaguar Yokota to piledrive Charlotte, or Yoshiko to literally beat Nikki Bella to within an inch of her life.

What I am saying is that Asuka gave a Division dismissed by many what it badly needed: CREDIBILITY! It made joing WWE a lot more palatable for the Kairi Hojo's and Io Shirai's of the world. (Shirai, to her benefit, was rejected on Medical term by WWE). Without Asuka being there, we would still have the same ol' divas with the same ol' outcomes: Potty and hot dog break. Pushing Asuka and her streak is what's keeping the Women's Division CREDIBLE. Break that for no reason other than to break it, and you will see a lot of capital go down with it.