10 WWE & AEW Wrestlers Who DESPERATELY Need A New Direction

10. Asuka

The above picture - showing Rhea Ripley using the back of Asuka's head as a stress reliever - is an unfortunately accurate representation of how the Empress of Tomorrow closed out 2022.

Don't get us wrong: Ripley is undoubtedly the future of women's wrestling, and she needs to look strong for her inevitable title match at WrestleMania (he says, hoping WWE don't miss the open goal they've spent months setting up). But Asuka herself deserves a lot better than being used as glorified enhancement talent.

Asuka's WWE career is a strange one, in that it's been undoubtedly successful - she's a bonafide grand slam champion, after all - but there's always been the lingering sense that WWE could do so much more with her. She's essentially a modern-day Bret Hart, in that she gets pushed only until the office finds someone more to their liking to replace her with (usually Charlotte).

Asuka is still a dynamo in the ring - not for nothing did she main event half-a-dozen RAWs last year - and she herself has been complaining (in kayfabe, we think) at her current status on social media. Here's hoping this means WWE have something suitable in store for the Empress in 2023!