12 Ups And 16 Downs For WWE In 2018

9. Dulling The Empress’ Luster

Asuka James Ellsworth Money in the Bank
WWE

Bear in mind that none of this was supposed to happen.

When Asuka was brought to NXT, it was envisioned that she would help train the women in developmental in the ring as an onscreen talent. But she caught fire, went on an undefeated streak and was off to the races. She came to WWE and lit it up, looking like someone truly special. And then she won the first women’s Royal Rumble.

Then she ran into Charlotte Flair and inexplicably lost at WrestleMania. Then she lost a feud to Carmella. Then she got mired in a tag team with Naomi. In the span of months, Asuka’s mystique vanished.

Sure, she reheated suddenly before TLC and won the SmackDown Women’s Championship. There was never a doubt that she could ascend to the top. But while she was approaching unbeatable, mythical status at WrestleMania, she now is just the champ.

It’s the opposite of what they’re doing with Ronda Rousey right now, and you can see how well that actually is working. Imagine if you had the two of them on their respective brands, running roughshod and then finally squaring off. Now, you can always point to Asuka jobbing to a James Ellsworth distraction.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.