10 Collector’s Items Of Modern WWE Brilliance
9. Just Asuka, In General
Wrestling is at its best when the booking is at its most deft, when it respects the intelligence of the audience - but it shouldn't be complicated. This isn't a slight on Asuka at all - few possess her awesome charisma, nor the creativity to maximise it in such a hostile environment - but it's not complicated.
She speaks in her native tongue, she is trusted to be herself, and she wrestles without looking at her f*cking hands. There's an authenticity to Asuka that smashes through the synthetic quality of WWE's TV with a spinning back fist.
If there is a mandate to slow it all down on the main roster - and there absolutely is - nobody told Asuka.
Her matches are alive with a dangerous energy. Every strike and submission counter is launched into at warp speed and with a clear relish. Asuka is outstanding at her craft, and this version is goddamn enchanting. She chews the ever-living sh*t out of that scenery because it's appropriate to the empty arena, and is an outsize badass with an incredible aesthetic and absurd, mischievous sense of humour.
But there's a heart to her act - see: her reaction to Becky Lynch's pregnancy and protection of Kairi Sane - and the person you most want to see wrestle is the person you most want to see succeed.