7 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (March 5)

4. Asuka Proves Tenacious

asuka nia jaxx
WWE.com

On one hand, Asuka having to battle from underneath twice in a row against Nia Jax has knocked some of the mystique off the Empress of Tomorrow.

Whereas before Asuka was viewed as an unstoppable force in WWE, she now was fortunate to escape with her career and undefeated streak intact, and not simply the better competitor.

However, this match was different in one major aspect: Asuka showed great tenacity in locking in an armbar, transitioning to a triangle, and then back to an armbar, all the while holding on as Jax deadlifted her multiple times in failed attempts to break the hold. It was a good way to show just how tough Asuka is. And to her credit, Alexa Bliss looked almost panicked backstage after seeing that.

Sure, we can nitpick that Asuka should have gotten more offense – and that might hold this from being higher on the list – but we’ll simply give a thumbs-up overall to this.

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Contributor
Contributor

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.