Who CAN beat Asuka?

[ztwhite]

I know it's all kayfabe and eventually someone will beat Asuka, but when you look at the female roster in NXT, is there anyone who is a legitimate threat to Asuka? Ember Moon, perhaps?

The roster split and call ups really depleted what might have been NXT's best commodity... the female wrestlers.

Sure, the ladies are headlining Raw and Smackdown... Becky Lynch, Bayley, Nia Jax, Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Carmella, and Alexa Bliss and main level players. But all those moves depleted the NXT women's roster and hurt the NXT product, IMO.

When it comes to the men, they really only took Finn Balor away. Everyone else was mediocre, at best, and it's being reflected on the main roster. Apollo Crews, American Alpha, The Vaudevillians, Enzo & Cass, Tyler Breeze, and Baron Corbin are being used as mid-card performers.

 

[Dave]

The NXT product isn't that important to WWE. Or, rather, NXT having a good show isn't that important to the WWE. What's important is that NXT continues to churn out high quality Superstars to take up positions on the Raw and Smackdown rosters. To that end, NXT has been brilliantly successful in doing that. A lot of the main players in the WWE have plied their trade in NXT over the last few years. If nothing else, it has proven to be a good testing ground for the Superstars of tomorrow.

That's the reason why most of the great women's talent has departed NXT over the last couple of months. And that's why there isn't really a solid challenge for Asuka on NXT anymore. For me, the only people that are going to challenge Asuka are on the main rosters. And to that end, I'd like to see Asuka given a chance on the main roster sometime soon. Personally, I'd love to see Charlotte and Asuka have a match. Two different styles with two women who execute them perfectly would be ideal.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The NXT product isn't that important to WWE. Or, rather, NXT having a good show isn't that important to the WWE.

I agree with everything except this.

It's true that the primary function of NXT has been to train wrestlers up and/or to have more accomplished wrestlers ply their trade for a bit in order to really gauge strengths and weaknesses. I'd say that this was initially the only real goal WWE had for NXT but NXT has essentially grown into a genuinely alternate brand for WWE. NXT has a big enough following that it's a successful touring brand and, in many ways, a lot of people feel that NXT is overall superior to the main roster because of NXT's consistently strong booking. On the main roster, it can be something of a crap shoot because Vince often makes decisions based on what he likes rather than paying attention to fans. Also, Vince is known to change his mind sporadically as his mood changes like the weather.

The main roster is, of course, the top priority, but they simultaneously want to keep NXT strong. Otherwise, they wouldn't have kept Finn Balor there so long and were waiting until they felt that someone was being built up enough or had already arrived that could be the new "face" of NXT.

As for Asuka, there's no woman on the NXT roster that's in her league and comes off as a believable threat. To that end, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they go a route that's somewhat similar to what we saw with Paige & Kevin Owens. When Paige made her main roster debut, she was NXT Women's Champion but she beat AJ Lee to win the Divas Championship and, as a result, she soon had to vacate the NXT Women's Championship. In Owens' case, he was still NXT Champion in his main roster debut and continued to be so for a while; he wrestled both on the main & NXT rosters for a while and I could see WWE doing something like that with Asuka. I could see them bring her to the main roster while she's NXT Women's Champion, challenge for one of the WWE Women's Championships, win said title and ultimately vacate the NXT Women's Championship so a new champ can be crowned. I could also see them having her debut as NXT Women's Champion, she feuds with a top heel or face for a while, she still works NXT cards for a while and if WWE feels someone has progressed enough, they have her drop the title at some sort of special NXT show or a joint WWE/NXT card as we saw Owens do with Balor.

 

[S.J. Maximus]

That's the issue with hot-shotting people to "invincible heights". Who will beat Nakamura? Who was going to beat Finn when he debuted on the main roster and ran through the entire main event scene en route to becoming Universal champion? Luckily, this is pro wrestling, and the results are pre-determined. In every combat sport there are upsets and there are unbeaten people who finally get that loss (besides Floyd Mayweather) and wrestling bookers can guarantee it much easier than a boxing promoter.

So to answer your question, literally anyone can beat Asuka. As for who will beat Asuka, that remains to be seen. Ember Moon looks like the biggest candidate but I think they just introduced a whole bunch of women to the show in August. I know my neighbor Mandy Rose is now performing on the tapings, maybe she can get herself over as a heel and be the one to de-throne Asuka. Maybe it's her friend, Daria (who is also currently a heel) who gets herself over and earns HHH's respect backstage. My point being, when the time is right, Asuka will get called up, and when that time comes she will drop the belt to next best woman in the division. Don't count out that new crop of women just because they're new (or not Indy veterans) everyone has to start somewhere.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

They cleared out the developmental women superstars pretty quickly from 2015 to 216, so what you're noticing is the wake left by Charlotte, Becky and Sasha all being called up at once, and then Bayley, Nia, Alexa and Carmella nearly one year later.

Bayley likely wasn't meant to be a call up at this point and was most definitely called up due to the suspension of Paige and the injury to Sasha. There's evidence to this now that Bayley was involved with the title, but doesn't really have her own program on Raw. Top that with the fact she went undrafted when Nia, Alexa and Carmella were.

Ember Moon is the obvious pick considering how talented she is. That top rope stunner is insane. The NXT women's division is seriously lacking depth. Seven female call ups over one year is a lot for NXT to handle.

They need to feature other women more regularly if they hope to rebuild the division. Their top two are Asuka and Moon, their midcard is Billy Kay and Liv Morgan, the rest are characters we barely know.

If I were to book it I would have three of them and Asuka work a program while another two unknowns start a feud. Three challengers would pose a challenge to Asuka as she'd lose her champions advantage plus we could get to know more characters and have the division regain its depth.

It might also be worth it to consider having a Raw or Smackdown superstar with little to do have an NXT stint as a challenger. Maybe Charlotte makes Dana pull double duty in NXT for some reason, then Asuka and Dana can have a match. It doesn't have to be Dana, that was an example.

Charlotte, Sasha, Becky and Bayley made up NXT for so long, what we're really feeling is their wake which can be normalized if more characters are regularly featured.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I imagine the winner of that women's tournament there have been rumours about.

 

[tak161]

Everyone is forgetting the most important thing: this is wrestling we are talking about. This is where we are expected to believe that someone as small as Rey Mysterio is able to hold someone as big as Big Show down for a 3 count, when we all know that Show could throw Rey across the arena if he wanted to. Point is, in wrestling, anyone is capable of beating anyone at any given time. So while there may not be anyone "credible" enough to beat Asuka, it doesn't mean she can't easily lose to someone.

 

[ShinChan]

Ember Moon would be the right choice to dethrone Asuka. She hasn't shown what she's capable of in NxT.

I can't buy Liv Morgan or Billie Kay or Peyton Rose as credible threat to Asuka. As was shown by the squash Liv Morgan suffered at the hands of Asuka in just under a minute.

Other options could be Nikki Storm or Crazy Mary Dobson.

I guess Asuka faces Liv Morgan, Billie Kay and Peyton Rose ina a fatal four way at NxT TakeOver Toronto.

 

[Kyphael]

Right now only Ember Moon is over enough but she just arrived so she'll probably lose the first match and Asuka will be established as the heel so Moon can beat her in the rematch at (Takeover before Royal Rumble?)

 

[ShinChan]

Right now only Ember Moon is over enough but she just arrived so she'll probably lose the first match and Asuka will be established as the heel so Moon can beat her in the rematch at (Takeover before Royal Rumble?)

You're right, initially.

But instead of making Ember lose in her first match against Asuka, have Asuka face Ember, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay in a fatal four way match at Toronto. This way, both Asuka nad Ember could be protected. Then have Ember Vs Asuka in singles encounter at TakeOver around Royal Rumble. Or instead of fatal four way, have a triple threat excluding Ember Moon where Peyton/Billie use numbers game but still come up short.

 

[Dagger Dias]

At this point the only option is Ember Moon. NXT is in a rebuilding phase right now because the return of the Brand Extension made them lost a large portion of their talent. This is a good thing. NXT now has a large opportunity for its womens division. Who is going to step up and fill the void left by the four horsewomen? Asuka is dominant, which she absolutely should be at this point. Ember Moon has tons of potential and I would have them build her up as the one to dethrone Asuka during NXT's Takeover during Wrestlemania week. After Ember Moon though, who is there? They need to be finding the future stars and investing in them. Liv Morgan is arguably the best option at this time (after Ember Moon) although she will probably never be more than a constant title challenger. She has potential at least. Mandy Rose could be a good heel champion someday, she needs a little more time to improve however. As for the rest? Aliyah sucks. Others such as Peyton Royce and Billie Kay, while they have gotten a bit better, I still find their promos and matches uninteresting. They should spend the remainder of the time between now and Wrestlemania season for rebuilding the division. Someone is going to have to step up. If/when they do, it will be exciting to see what happens in the division. Until that happens.... we have Asuka VS Ember Moon as the only logical solution to the threadstarter's question.

 

[Kyphael]

You're right, initially.

But instead of making Ember lose in her first match against Asuka, have Asuka face Ember, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay in a fatal four way match at Toronto. This way, both Asuka nad Ember could be protected. Then have Ember Vs Asuka in singles encounter at TakeOver around Royal Rumble. Or instead of fatal four way, have a triple threat excluding Ember Moon where Peyton/Billie use numbers game but still come up short.

I can get behind that, I like Billie Kay and Peyton's work a lot, they play the heels perfectly. I'm just against featuring Liv Morgan, she's just a face, and even mousier version of Carmella lacking any sort of mean streak, physically-imposing ability or in-ring skills to be taken seriously in any way other than jobber.

 

[Headman]

I think Ember Moon is being built up as the one to beat Asuka. I can't see anyone else right now in the running. Even with Ember I don't think it will be for a while. Honestly, I would have Asuka debut on the main roster undefeated and just have the belt stripped like Paige did.

 

[LBGetBack]

I would've liked for it to be Alexa Bliss, but she's doing well on the main roster.

I don't see anybody currently in NXT that's anywhere close.

There was a long stretch where the NXT women's roster was more talented than what was on the main roster in WWE. Now all the top talents are in WWE except for Asuka.

 

[ztwhite]

Well, fuck me sideways!!! Mickie James is coming back to face Asuka at NXT Takeover Toronto. Shit just got interesting, again, in the ladies division... hopefully.

 

[Navi]

Well, fuck me sideways!!! Mickie James is coming back to face Asuka at NXT Takeover Toronto. Shit just got interesting, again, in the ladies division... hopefully.

And I didn't get tickets, so we're all pissed now. Going to SS but would liked to have seen Takeover as well. Forgot they when they were going on sale, and they sold out right away.

 

[LBGetBack]

Well, fuck me sideways!!! Mickie James is coming back to face Asuka at NXT Takeover Toronto. Shit just got interesting, again, in the ladies division... hopefully.

That's crazy, I was just wondering the other day if she still wrestles. Interested to see if she's still got it. Definitely a big pickup for NXT, as it really spices that women's division up.