I'll be totally honest. I'm a huge Asuka mark. She's my favorite character/wrestler in all of WWE. Her mannerisms never fail to make me smile. She's one of the if not the most charismatic character and also one of the best wrestlers. And I'm not ashamed to say that she's also extremely attractive on top of that. So I'll just dump a boatload of my totally random and marky thoughts in here, now that she might come upon a juncture in her WWE career.
Now she could finally lose at Takeover or not, she could be called up or not at/after Summerslam and she could bust out the facepaint and turn into a monster heel aka final form or not if she loses at Takeover. At this point I really want her to move on finally, despite of Vince. And of course I'd love her to go to full heel mode eventually but want both face and heel Asuka on the main roster.
Will she win or lose at Takeover?
While this point has been discussed the most, I'm fine with both possibilities. I just want her to be called up in any case. I'd prefer her to retain, though. IMO her recent opponents looked very good in defeat. They may have lost, but caused Asuka big troubles. So I don't think the NXT women's roster looks bad at all. It would be better if the belt is taken away from her if she wins. If she drops it, that could be misunderstood as creative putting down the rest of the women as opposed to Asuka doing it in character (but being wrong, of course). One idea I had was calling up both Ember Moon and Asuka at the same time, to the same show. At Takeover Asuka wins using the dirtiest heel tactic you've ever seen. Ember is livid. At the day of the callup, Asuka wants to celebrate her arrival, but gets interrupted - instafeud. Ember's callup would be a real surprise in this case, but I think they never mix NXT and main roster stories and NXT would be a bit empty after that.
She HAS to be called up right now.
She has achieved everything that she can achieve including the longest title reign of any kind in the modern era. But not the callup. The likes of Nia Jax and Carmella being called up before her was annoying then and is annoying now. She simply deserves it, no matter how well she does on the main roster. There's one possibility how they could believably extend her time in NXT a last time: She loses, stays in NXT, eventually turning heel in the process, then gets her rematch, loses again and finally goes up, MYC competitors filling the gap. That would be the worst case for me, given that she gets called up at all. Still more waiting, the heel turn wasted on a limited audience. No, I don't want this.
Will she be misused on the main roster?
Tough question indeed. I'm cautiously optimistic. I don't think she would be treated worse than Nakamura and he is not doing that bad. He wasn't forced to do longer promos for example. The promos were still written terribly, but at least they were short. I have some reasons to believe Asuka can do better. Firstly I think Triple H will protect her a lot since she is obviously a favorite of his. If she runs into shit booking, e.g. a unwarranted losing streak, I think she can find ways to at least keep her character and the matches interesting. I also think Asuka is a bit more of the type to not put up with Vince's bullshit, given her history with other promotions, but I'm not quite sure about that. From what I've seen of the real Asuka, she seems to be the humble, polite, super-friendly individual you'd expect from a cliché Japanese lady.
RAW or Smackdown?
Soon after the brand split the answer would've been Smackdown for virtually everybody. Things have evened out since then. The two women's rosters have balanced out to about the same (low) level. Time for some fresh air. I think Asuka has better chemistry with the RAW women, but has almost already fought most of them in NXT (TV/Takeovers) already. Only exceptions are Sasha and Alicia Fox I think (and Summer Rae if she still wrestled). I'm high on the RAW possibilities, still. She could reunite with her "old friends" Emma and Dana. She can team up with Bayley to teach her getting more extreme. Potential Sasha money match. Etc. Smackdown has a slightly upper hand in the quality of the wrestlers (IMO) in Becky, Natalya and Charlotte. Also I would like to see Asuka interact with Ellsworth.
No matter where Asuka goes, the potential missed money match with Sasha or Charlotte can still happen at Survivor Series? Everyone gets eliminated, until only Asuka and her opponent are left.
Monster heel with facepaint
I'd love to see this side of Asuka like anybody else. Not sure if WWE would have the balls to do this, though. If it happens, it would be wasted down in NXT, should happen on the main roster. Of course it's a fantasy booker's dream. You can book it up to Wrestlemania where the monster and eventually her entourage is finally toppled by the purest babyface (Bayley or Becky or Kairi or Evie er Dakota). That stuff can potentially be blown up to civil war like proportions. However, probably won't happen. One nice fantasy I had is that Asuka has multiple personalities just like she has multiple masks. The mask worn reflects the current personality. But you don't know what her real self is.
Sorry for the wall of text. It's just for fun and markiness and not to be taken seriously.
Now she could finally lose at Takeover or not, she could be called up or not at/after Summerslam and she could bust out the facepaint and turn into a monster heel aka final form or not if she loses at Takeover. At this point I really want her to move on finally, despite of Vince. And of course I'd love her to go to full heel mode eventually but want both face and heel Asuka on the main roster.
Will she win or lose at Takeover?
While this point has been discussed the most, I'm fine with both possibilities. I just want her to be called up in any case. I'd prefer her to retain, though. IMO her recent opponents looked very good in defeat. They may have lost, but caused Asuka big troubles. So I don't think the NXT women's roster looks bad at all. It would be better if the belt is taken away from her if she wins. If she drops it, that could be misunderstood as creative putting down the rest of the women as opposed to Asuka doing it in character (but being wrong, of course). One idea I had was calling up both Ember Moon and Asuka at the same time, to the same show. At Takeover Asuka wins using the dirtiest heel tactic you've ever seen. Ember is livid. At the day of the callup, Asuka wants to celebrate her arrival, but gets interrupted - instafeud. Ember's callup would be a real surprise in this case, but I think they never mix NXT and main roster stories and NXT would be a bit empty after that.
She HAS to be called up right now.
She has achieved everything that she can achieve including the longest title reign of any kind in the modern era. But not the callup. The likes of Nia Jax and Carmella being called up before her was annoying then and is annoying now. She simply deserves it, no matter how well she does on the main roster. There's one possibility how they could believably extend her time in NXT a last time: She loses, stays in NXT, eventually turning heel in the process, then gets her rematch, loses again and finally goes up, MYC competitors filling the gap. That would be the worst case for me, given that she gets called up at all. Still more waiting, the heel turn wasted on a limited audience. No, I don't want this.
Will she be misused on the main roster?
Tough question indeed. I'm cautiously optimistic. I don't think she would be treated worse than Nakamura and he is not doing that bad. He wasn't forced to do longer promos for example. The promos were still written terribly, but at least they were short. I have some reasons to believe Asuka can do better. Firstly I think Triple H will protect her a lot since she is obviously a favorite of his. If she runs into shit booking, e.g. a unwarranted losing streak, I think she can find ways to at least keep her character and the matches interesting. I also think Asuka is a bit more of the type to not put up with Vince's bullshit, given her history with other promotions, but I'm not quite sure about that. From what I've seen of the real Asuka, she seems to be the humble, polite, super-friendly individual you'd expect from a cliché Japanese lady.
RAW or Smackdown?
Soon after the brand split the answer would've been Smackdown for virtually everybody. Things have evened out since then. The two women's rosters have balanced out to about the same (low) level. Time for some fresh air. I think Asuka has better chemistry with the RAW women, but has almost already fought most of them in NXT (TV/Takeovers) already. Only exceptions are Sasha and Alicia Fox I think (and Summer Rae if she still wrestled). I'm high on the RAW possibilities, still. She could reunite with her "old friends" Emma and Dana. She can team up with Bayley to teach her getting more extreme. Potential Sasha money match. Etc. Smackdown has a slightly upper hand in the quality of the wrestlers (IMO) in Becky, Natalya and Charlotte. Also I would like to see Asuka interact with Ellsworth.
No matter where Asuka goes, the potential missed money match with Sasha or Charlotte can still happen at Survivor Series? Everyone gets eliminated, until only Asuka and her opponent are left.Monster heel with facepaint
I'd love to see this side of Asuka like anybody else. Not sure if WWE would have the balls to do this, though. If it happens, it would be wasted down in NXT, should happen on the main roster. Of course it's a fantasy booker's dream. You can book it up to Wrestlemania where the monster and eventually her entourage is finally toppled by the purest babyface (Bayley or Becky or Kairi or Evie er Dakota). That stuff can potentially be blown up to civil war like proportions. However, probably won't happen. One nice fantasy I had is that Asuka has multiple personalities just like she has multiple masks. The mask worn reflects the current personality. But you don't know what her real self is.
Sorry for the wall of text. It's just for fun and markiness and not to be taken seriously.
