12 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Feb 12)
1. Where's Asuka?
The hype surrounding WrestleMania 35's Raw Women's Championship programme has eclipsed SmackDown's title scene to such an extent that Asuka hasn't even appeared on television since the Royal Rumble, featuring only in a short video package on 5 February, and not at all last night or on 29 January.
This stinks. Yes, Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey is the money-maker, and yes, WWE have to focus on the Women's Tag Team Titles as well, but they're already undermining somebody they're supposed to be rebuilding.
Tapping Lynch out at the Rumble was a huge scalp for 'The Empress Of Tomorrow,' but it means little if she isn't making television. WWE haven't followed up on the victory at all. Now, Asuka's waiting on the sidelines, watching every other woman in the company doing their thing, all because creative have nothing for her; a woman who holds a belt that main-evented the last pay-per-view of 2018.
While this isn't yet a massive problem, it could become one if WWE don't solve it after Elimination Chamber. Giving their SmackDown Women's Champion something interesting to do should be a priority. It isn't, and if WWE were this short of things to do, they should've called up a Shayna Baszler or Kairi Sane for her to scrap with.