October 14, 20168 yr comment_5771703 Asuka vs. Mickie James is a very pleasant surprise, but it hides a few problems with the current NXT Women's Division: 1. The division has fallen far from the glory days of The Four Horsewoman. 2. There are obviously no women "worthy" of getting a title shot, so they had to bring back a "name." 3. Asuka isn't over at all. She's ice cold and hasn't connected with the audience in any way. As skilled as she is, I certainly don't give a shit about her. A Nakamura-Joe rematch also doesn't excite me in the least, but that's probably because I'm not a Joe fan.
October 14, 20168 yr comment_5771709 3. Asuka isn't over at all. She's ice cold and hasn't connected with the audience in any way. I don't really watch NXT on TV regularly, but the times I've gone to NXT events, the fans have been behind her. She doesn't get the Bayley level reactions, but there's definitely fan support there. I guess that probably doesn't transfer as well on TV possibly.
October 14, 20168 yr comment_5771718 Asuka vs. Mickie James is a very pleasant surprise, but it hides a few problems with the current NXT Women's Division: 1. The division has fallen far from the glory days of The Four Horsewoman. 2. There are obviously no women "worthy" of getting a title shot, so they had to bring back a "name." 3. Asuka isn't over at all. She's ice cold and hasn't connected with the audience in any way. As skilled as she is, I certainly don't give a shit about her. A Nakamura-Joe rematch also doesn't excite me in the least, but that's probably because I'm not a Joe fan. Asuka and Bayley are two of the only wrestlers my wife likes and gets emotionally involved in their matches. She gets reactions all the time. The problem with the division is everyone moved up leaving only Bayley, after the Bayley feud and Bayley moved up everyone else needs to be built. They have the talent though, so it's just a time thing.
October 14, 20168 yr comment_5771721 Asuka's over as all hell. It's just that they have nothing to do with her. Nobody's credible enough to beat her, not even Ember. I also love how they're making Roode such a huge heel, and then he's going to his friggin home town in a month against a fellow Canadian and he's going to get a definitive hero's welcome. ADR has too much sour grapes to take anything he says seriously at this point. Plus, Andrade as a heel is much better anyways, especially if we get anything near an Ingobernable-type run once he's established. Give Tino six months and he's gonna be the biggest heel on NXT.
October 14, 20168 yr comment_5771739 Asuka's over as all hell. It's just that they have nothing to do with her. Nobody's credible enough to beat her, not even Ember. Asuka is on such a different level that it's hard to even see anyone on the current roster beating her for the title. Maybe Ember Moon will get better from training in the Performance Center, but she isn't ready if you judge her based on her indie work. What's the end game? Will they call her up? Does she just reign on top of the division and then go back to Japan when she's overthrown?
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771792 Asuka's basically there as the barometer for everyone else to get up to speed before they go to the main roster. Problem is that, well, as it's been said, there's really nobody that's close to her right now.
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771793 She has the problem Ronda had for a while where you don't really buy that anyone she's put up against actually has a chance. It's like they did too good a job building her up as a wrecking machine and now we're supposed to believe that the current crop of fresh-out-of-the-PC girls can hang with her.
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771797 Asuka's over as all hell. It's just that they have nothing to do with her. Nobody's credible enough to beat her, not even Ember. Agreed, when she has something to do like the excellent feud with Dana Brooke & Emma, fans are very into it and behind her. Especially the Asuka/Emma match last year, one of my NXT favorites.
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771811 I like the idea of bringing back old divas for Asuka to destroy. Mickie, Victoria, hell bring back Kelly Kelly. I'm guessing they are saving the Ember match for Mania weekend which I guess is a good idea since NXT usually takes December to Rumble weekend off.
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771817 Apparently they wanted to bring back Trish for a short run and this title match in Toronto (that's probably the main reason), however she got pregnant so Mickie James got the spot.
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771842 If you ask me, Mickie is a more than suitable replacement for Trish under those circumstances. I feel like anyone else would've been disappointing to replace Trish.
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771854 If you ask me, Mickie is a more than suitable replacement for Trish under those circumstances. I feel like anyone else would've been disappointing to replace Trish. Trish would obviously be better, because it's in Toronto, but yeah Mickie is not a bad substitute. Maybe an angle with Lita coming out of retirement might had worked too.
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771855 I'm sure the actual match will be good, but it just screams "no one on our current roster is good enough so we had to get someone from the past".
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771856 I'm sure the actual match will be good, but it just screams "no one on our current roster is good enough so we had to get someone from the past". or.. we want to show Asuka is the best, so here is a former champion she will destroy. Asuka vs Ember Moon will be built up for like Mania weekend, I would guess. I have no issue with people coming back, putting someone over and disappearing. The problem was more like when they brought the Outlaws back and they actually won the tag titles.
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771857 They've already established she's the best, to the point that it takes the heat off of her matches now since crowds don't seem to buy she's ever in any real jeopardy. Yeah it will be cool that Mickie puts her over and all, but it's back to the uphill battle of building anyone up to the level of posing a threat.
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771859 They've already established she's the best, to the point that it takes the heat off of her matches now since crowds don't seem to buy she's ever in any real jeopardy. Yeah it will be cool that Mickie puts her over and all, but it's back to the uphill battle of building anyone up to the level of posing a threat. Exactly, absolutely nothing's been done to suggest a single other woman on the NXT roster is anywhere near Asuka's level. Its exactly why there isn't much heat around her. She's basically on an island there.
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771861 Yeah, it's pretty fucking clear that they're doing a slow build of Moon to be Asuka's nemesis.
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771862 It's also as equally fucking clear that unless they have Ember disembowel Peyton Royce in the middle of the ring and jump rope with her entrails she's going to be another opponent not seen as much of a threat to actually beat Asuka.
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771874 How is a dominant kick ass champion a problem? Didn't Mike Tyson, GSP, Rhonda Rousey, Goldberg, etc.. do pretty well?
October 15, 20168 yr comment_5771875 Well Tyson, Ronda, and Goldberg all went out and destroyed their opponents as quickly as possible. No one wanted to see any of them have long competitive matches either.
October 16, 20168 yr comment_5771880 I want to see Asuka have long, competitive matches, so long as the woman across from her is on her level. And honestly, I think the only opponent she's had that could really match her physicality is Emma. I like Bayley a lot and they had good matches together, but she can't hang with Asuka in terms of execution and it shows. I think Nia would have a far better match with Asuka now than she could have a few months ago. I do think Ember Moon has that physicality, but it's going to take a while to build her up. There ain't much for Asuka to do until then. I think bringing Mickie James back is a great idea, and they should do more of that. Keep Asuka away from Peyton Royce, Ember Moon, Billie Kaye, etc, until they're credible. Hell, maybe even coax Sara Del Ray out of retirement for a match.
October 16, 20168 yr comment_5771884 That would actually not be a bad storyline to have Asuka destroy some random Performance Center girl and have Sara come out of retirement to defend her.
October 16, 20168 yr comment_5771891 How is a dominant kick ass champion a problem? Didn't Mike Tyson, GSP, Rhonda Rousey, Goldberg, etc.. do pretty well? Then book her on doing 3 minute squashes. Exclusively. And headline PPVs with it. If, on the other hand, you want to offer up a legitimate challenger, present said legitimate challenger. Simply don't see that person on the roster as of 10/15/16.
October 16, 20168 yr comment_5771961 That would actually not be a bad storyline to have Asuka destroy some random Performance Center girl and have Sara come out of retirement to defend her. They did this with Bayley during the summer.
October 17, 20168 yr comment_5772044 How about the recently debuted Nikki Cross as a potential threat to Asuka? I don't know anything about her personally, but it seems like she has a great rep and she looked badass on the last NXT
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