Asuka Express

By Scott Keith on August 5, 2018

As we approach the 25th anniversary of SummerSlam 93, is it safe to say that Lex Luger is no longer the Superstar with 'Biggest Push with no Title at the end'?
Luger's run only began on 4 July. SummerSlam was in August, and he still won by countout.
Asuka, on the other hand, had her two-and-a-half-year (!) Undefeated Streak. She was the 'Empress of Tomorrow'. She got pushed harder than anyone in WWE not called 'Roman Reigns'. She won the First Ever Women's Royal Rumble. She got to beat the RAW Women's Champion(Alexa Bliss) less than a week before WrestleMania! She squashed everyone from Nia Jax to Charlotte to Ember Moon to…
And then Mania comes. And she loses clean by submission! When Carmella cashed in her MITB, and won the belt right after Mania, it seemed easy money that Asuka was getting the belt sooner rather than later. But shots at Carmella had her coming away empty-handed. And now, the 'Empress of Tomorrow' isn't even on the SummerSlam card!
(Don't get me wrong, I still think she'll get one of the Women's belts in the next year, but that Monster Jebus Push sure crashed and burned.)

Don't forget how they had to book the Mixed Match Challenge around her because they couldn't beat her there, either.

You know, the irony of the whole thing is that they never wanted her on the main roster in the first place. When she initially signed with NXT years ago, Meltzer was talking about how they explicitly brought her in to elevate the work of the crop of women in the system at that time, and work towards becoming a trainer. She wasn't even supposed to be NXT champion! And then she took off with the fanbase and kind of forced their hand.

For me, the really weird thing is that she was not a failure on the main roster at all. This wasn't a Lex or Roman situation where they pushed her hard and there was backlash. Or a Bayley situation where she was booked wrong and no one understood the character. They pushed her hard as a badass, and fans completely bought it and were waiting patiently for her to win the title. And then Vince changed his mind and now she's done. It's incredibly mystifying.

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