I called it a mistake last week when William Regal simply declared Asuka the number one contender to Bayley's NXT Women's Championship despite the fact that Asuka was scheduled to take on Emma this week. The two battled in the main event of this week's episode, and while it might have been nice for Asuka's victory to earn her the title shot, the match itself was a major plus. Asuka used a submission-heavy style early in the match to keep Emma grounded, but Emma came back by throwing Asuka to the outside and then sweeping her on the apron. Emma took over with heelish tactics, but Asuka soon made a comeback, hitting her opponent with a sliding knee strike, then grabbing the Asuka Lock for the submission victory. The match was well-worked and gave Asuka a ton of momentum heading into TakeOver: Dallas. It also made the Women's Championship and the entire division look more important. All in all, it earned a huge thumbs up leading to a major show.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
