Asuka Vacates NXT Women's Championship; Heading To The Main Roster

[Jack-Hammer]

There's a story on WWE.com announcing that Asuka formally vacated the NXT Women's Championship at the end of last night's NXT tapings. The segment was announced as airing on the September 6th episode of NXT and that day will mark the official end of her run at 523 days as NXT Women's Champion. With the exception of the WWE Championship reigns of Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan's 1st run, Asuka is recognized as the longest WWE affiliated champion of any type in company history. There've been more than a couple of rewrites of WWE title history; for instance, when the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was loaned out and used in New Japan and Mexico's UWA during the 80s and 90s, Villano III, Pegasus Kid (BKA Chris Benoit) and El Signo had reigns lasting 826 days, 560 days and 563 days respectively. However, no run prior to WWE's reclamation of the title in 1997 is recognized by the company. Still, it's an impressive accomplishment.

Asuka is currently out nursing a collar bone injury she suffered at TakeOver: Brooklyn and will be out an estimated 6 to 8 weeks. Asuka leaves NXT undefeated and it's a logical assumption that the reason why they didn't have her drop the title to Ember Moon is that they want to milk Asuka being undefeated for a good long while on the main roster. Exactly where she's going isn't known right now but it's mentioned that she & William Regal have "begun negotiations" with Raw and SmackDown. My gut reaction is that Asuka goes to Raw, though I think that has more to do with the lingering perception of Raw still being the A show than anything else. However, both brands have their share of worthy opponents as Raw has Sasha Banks, Bayley, Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss while SmackDown has Charlotte, Naomi, Natalya and Becky Lynch.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I don't know if this thread is considered a spoilers since it hasn't air on the network yet but let just say that it's o.k to discuss this right now.

I think it sad to see her reign end that way because it would have benefited whoever won the title from her alot more then what ever they are going to do it now.

As for asuka's future. When she return from injury, I wouldn't be surprise if they keep her in nxt and have her try to get the belt back. Personally, I would love seeing her on the main roster, especially on smackdown since she would have better competition then raw and smackdown does need more women's on their roster but if you believe what's been reported, they are not in a hurry to bring her up to the main roster because she one of the main draw on the nxt roster. So I wouldn't be surprise if she's stay in nxt.

 

[stingray11214]

Oy vey! Unless Trips had a change of heart regarding keeping Asuka, I do not think this went well with him if it is true that Asuka is going up to the Main Roster. Dunn and VKM will destroy her on either brand.They either will job her out to Charlotte, which would be insane, or do what they did to Gail Kim, which is keep her under wraps so people will forget. There has long been anti-Asian bias with those two. And, unless Trips is prepared to go to the wall, I cannot see that ending with Asuka.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Oy vey! Unless Trips had a change of heart regarding keeping Asuka, I do not think this went well with him if it is true that Asuka is going up to the Main Roster. Dunn and VKM will destroy her on either brand.They either will job her out to Charlotte, which would be insane, or do what they did to Gail Kim, which is keep her under wraps so people will forget. There has long been anti-Asian bias with those two. And, unless Trips is prepared to go to the wall, I cannot see that ending with Asuka.

The reason Gail Kim never got push had nothing to do with her being Asian. She never connected with the crowd. They tried to push her by giving her the title in her debut match and it didn't work. They tried to make her a heel and it didn't work. She got released went to TNA and then return to wwe and again, they tried to make her to focus for awhile and nothing no reaction. So the reason she didn't get push was more the fans fault because they didn't react to her at all.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Well, I guess we know what's at stake in the Mae Young Classic. I think everyone was more or less on the same page regarding Asuka's reign: it was the right time to end it, at the right place (NXT's Mania in the annual Brooklyn show) but it was without the right adversary. Maybe that would've been Ember Moon has she not got injured, but given that NXT is a highly visible aspect of WWE programming these days, I suspect they would've gone this route regardless.

Asuka coming in having wrecked everybody in NXT and carrying herself up to the main roster with nothing holding her back in Full Sail (I.E. the Women's Title) makes for a fun story. Unbeaten Asuka now pitting herself against the Horsewomen, evil queens in Alexa and Natalya, a proper cowardly heel in Carmella, an athlete like Naomi and old adversaries in the likes of Emma and Nia, it makes for a quality dynamic.

In terms of where they take her story, I'd like a proper war to try and sign her. Put her in some taster matches across both Raw and SmackDown. Make it feel like Bryan and Angle are both desperate to get her to be part of their products. It makes her feel like an even bigger deal. She's going to be booked strong out of the gate. Of that I have no doubts. Whether or not it lasts remains to be seen.

I don't think the main roster has a single women they've managed to book consecutively strong aside from maybe Charlotte, and even that appears to have cooled off of late. But regardless, in the short term Asuka will be fine whatever they do with her.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't know if this thread is considered a spoilers since it hasn't air on the network yet but let just say that it's o.k to discuss this right now.

It only counts as a spoiler if WWE hadn't "spoiled" it themselves by announcing it on their website. If I'd taken a look at the results of last night's tapings and created this thread, then it'd be a spoiler thread. However, if WWE did or ever does start posting the happenings of TV tapings to their website, then it all becomes fair game.

 

[Dagger Dias]

It's a shame that this is how her title reign had to end, but it may be for the best. There was literally no one left to challenge her. If Ember Moon couldn't do it, then none of the others would have been believable. I'm genuinely shocked that Ember lost both times. She should have won in April and she absolutely should have won in Brooklyn last week. I'm excited to see what Asuka will bring to the main roster. The blue brand needs her more so I hope she goes to Smackdown. She could have good matches there against Becky, Charlotte, or against Natalya over the Smackdown Women's Championship. Raw has good options as well if she were to feud with Alexa, Mickie, Emma, or with Sasha over the Raw Women's Championship. We'll see what happens after she recovers and I am looking forward to her inevitable main roster debut.

 

[Wildcat66]

Here's my thought: Anyone who stays undefeated for this long deserves to be treated as someone special, either on RAW or SmackDown. Will she lose up there? Eventually yes, but it has to be against someone who's earned that right like Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Becky Lynch or Alexa Bliss and it has to be at the right time (WrestleMania 34 anyone?)

My worry however is that once she does enter the main roster, she's going to begin to get the dreaded 'NXT-itis' disease that has plagued so many callups over the years where she's either been overrated by the audience and some crucial flaws are exposed or she doesn't get booked as strongly as she was in NXT. (and that was strong)

It happened with Adam Rose, it happened with Tyler Breeze for a time, it's even happening to people like Bayley or Sami Zayn. There is a chance it can happen again with Asuka.

On the other hand, you have to look at Shinsuke Nakamura who has been booked pretty well since arriving into WWE outside from a few hiccups and has a really good feud with Jinder Mahal going on; so maybe she turns out to be ok.

 

[adam]

Her money feud will be with Kairi Sane

 

[Jack-Hammer]

While we won't know for certain until Tuesday night, I think it's a pretty solid assumption that the winner of the Mae Young Classic, either Shayna Baszler or Kairi Sane, will be crowned the new NXT Women's Champion. Given that Baszler isn't officially signed by WWE, at least I haven't read or found anything to suggest otherwise, then Sane will probably walk out with the strap.

As for Asuka, I agree that the main roster can be a bit of a crapshoot when it comes to booking compared with NXT. Vince calls the shots on the main roster while Triple H is THE final creative voice for NXT; it's obvious by looking at some of the decisions made with some talent that there are times in which both men's visions are almost polar opposites. Asuka is a true standout from any other woman that's been signed to WWE in decades, probably not since Bull Nakano, in that she can come off like a legit badass; she's also colorful, charismatic and stands out in her own way that's not part of the typical WWE mold and that's a good thing. What's "typical" for WWE is something that's been slowly changing over the course of much of the past several years and Asuka has the potential to be one of those people fans look back on 20 years from now and say that she was someone who helped WWE change into something that's broader than just what Vince McMahon thinks it should be.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I really hope that they don't give the championship to the winner of the may young classic because I don't think It would be fair for all the other womens in that have been in NXT for a while if they give the belt to a newcomer.

What I would do if I was them is that the winner gets a spot in the match to crown a new NXT women's champion at the next takeover special in november. Then at the next set of tapings, you do a fatal five way elimination match between ember moon, ruby riot, billy kay, peyton royce, nikki storm for the second spot for the title match.

Then if you want to crown the winner of the tournament nxt champion at less she would have beaten somebody from the roster to become champion instead of just giving her the title.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

What I would do if I was them is that the winner gets a spot in the match to crown a new NXT women's champion at the next takeover special in November.

There are reports going around that this is exactly what the current plan is. Said reports allege that Kairi Sane will compete in a match to determine the new NXT Women's Champion at the TakeOver event in Houston during Survivor Series weekend. None of the reports mention if it'll be a singles match or some sort of multi-person bout, though Sane vs. Ember Moon has been brought up as a possibility.

Whatever the decision, it'll probably be part of the NXT TV tapings set to go down tonight.

 

[ShinChan]

It's really bad that no women especially someone like Ember Moon could benefit from the rub of Asuka. The injuries suck no matter what.

However, vacating title makes Asuka join the main roster as an undefeated individual and this aspect can be used to build some great matches and feuds. But please WWE, don't waste the big moment of ending streak at some B Level PPV as suffered by Charlotte's PPV Streak.

The vignettes about Asuka arriving to the main roster have been impressive for sure.