10 Big Concerns Heading Into WWE Payback 2020
5. Asuka's Title Reign Becoming An Afterthought Without Sasha And Bayley
When Becky Lynch essentially chose Asuka to be her successor as the Raw Women's Champion, it seemed like the Empress of Tomorrow was finally going to bounce back from the company's horrendous burial of her back in 2018.
However, that all seemingly fell apart when she lost the title to Sasha Banks and then subsequently got screwed out of the gold again by The Boss and Bayley. And yet, she finally overcame that at SummerSlam (though not without suffering another loss first) by regaining the Raw Women's Championship from Sasha.
Unfortunately, the story of her win was all about how Bayley wasn't willing to do for Sasha what she did for her an hour earlier. And as their alliance begins to fall apart - which will no doubt be furthered when they defend the Tag Team Titles against Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax at Payback - Asuka is... well, nowhere to be seen on the card.
It is beginning to feel like the creative team are paying more attention to the Bayley and Sasha angle than Asuka's title reign, and considering she's finally where she needed to be, she really deserves a successful title defence at Payback.