Four Potential Wrestlemania Opponents For Asuka and Two Missed Opporutnies

Despite retaining her Smackdown LIVE Women’s Championship in a standout contest against Becky Lynch last month at the Royal Rumble PPV, Asuka has been pretty damn quite over the past four weeks. Not only did she miss out on the Elimination Chamber pay per view, but the current champ has barely appeared on Smackdown LIVE since her last title defence and with the build to Wrestlemania increasing fans are seriously beginning to raise concerns about what the Mania plans for Asuka may just be and if there is in fact any. In today’s blog post we are going to be looking a few potential opponents for the Empress of Tomorrow heading into the biggest event of the year.

Mandy Rose

If I’m being completely honest, Mandy Rose isn’t a woman I’m personally cheering on to become the next Smackdown LIVE Women’s champion and I’ve never truly been her biggest fan however, there is simply no denying she does in fact poses a lot of potential and its clear the WWE is very high on the former tough enough competitor. While her mic work may need some improvement, Mandy has her character nailed down to a t and with Corey Graves commentary on her adding even more depth to Rose’s character and the impact she is at least supposed to have its very clear the type of talent she is and what she is bringing to the table. In recent months fans have begun to see more of Rose especially in character work and while she is an important figure in the women’s tag team division rumours of a push, the amount we have seen of her, and the potential she owns means it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see her given a major title match at Mania. Not to mention that including an angle in which sees Sonya Deville help Rose out in picking up the win could shake things up!

Nikki Cross

Despite not officially a full time member of the Smackdown LIVE roster fans know that Nikki Cross is making her way to one of the brands and I’ve mentioned before that I believe Smackdown LIVE I the perfect home for the WWE’s twisted sister and one of the reasons for that is to reunite a feud between Cross and Asuka. NXT fans will, of course, be aware of the history between these two women and I personally have touched on the fact that I would love to see more from them in the future and Wrestlemania this year may appear to be way too soon especially for such a big push for Cross but considering the lack of competition for Asuka the timing may be more perfect than we believe. These two women have encountered in a falls count anywhere match during their time in NXT that went down as a year highlight and one of the best in-ring performances from both women during their WWE career. Recreating that on the grandest stage of them all could make for yet another career highlight for the up and coming stars. It’s a match like this that will allows fans to truly understand what Cross is all about and the uniqueness she is bringing to the division. It must also be mentioned that Cross has been rumoured to be in the WWE’s good books after the huge reaction she picked up at the Rumble. The new fearless Nikki may just be about to turn the blue brand around completely!

Sonya Deville

And finally, arguably my favourite pick in this post today, another former tough enough competitor in Sonya Deville. I know, we haven’t seen all that much of Deville over the past couple of years but we have started to see more from her and what we have seen has been very impressive! Last year we saw work between Sonya and Asuka that not only impressed fans greatly but left many wanting to see more from the pair in the future and with Asuka lacking competition heading into Mania it may be the perfect time to give Sonya a huge opportunity and to give fans the chance to see more of Deville. Creating and angle in which sees Sonya and Mandy forced to go one on one to earn a title match at Wrestlemania creates time for a story to build there strong enough for fans to have a big interest. Sonya as the fan favourite coming up on top, of course, makes sense and the build between the two women means that if Deville becomes champion at Mania doors open for a storyline again between Rose and Deville. However, even if Sonya doesn’t take the win a huge showing at the grandest stage of them all could change things around completely for a superstar bursting with potential yet just in need of the spotlight given to her. I’m confident Deville could seriously impress given that she is provided with the time and chance and I have no doubt we could see some great work between her and Asuka again.

Trish Stratus

This last name I want to mention may be extremely far fetched but with the WWE in serious need of making a big-time must-see match for Asuka at Wrestlemania thing they may just need to turn to a hall of Famer to provide exactly that. With Trish Stratus making her return to in-ring action last year competing for the Evolution pay per view many wondered whether she would make another appearance in the near future and after such a strong showing in October, we have to believe that could happen! There are several booking options for Stratus but considering Asuka is in need of a huge opponent it appears Trish taking on the empress of tomorrow is the best option. We know for a fact this could be a fantastic matchup, Asuka taking on a hall of Famer like Trish is a huge deal and Stratus chasing after her with title reign is a major story in itself.

What Should Have Been – Charlotte Flair

And moving onto the second half of this blog post we have to take a little look at the name that should have been Asuka’s Wrestlemania opponent, Charlotte Flair. While I see exactly why the WWE has included Charlotte in the Lynch/Rousey angle, putting their top three female competitors in the same feud heading into Mania has created a sea of problems leaving the current SmackDown LIVE Women’s champion in a corner full of doubt and most certainly lost. Asuka and Charlotte had backstory, chemistry, and fans and the WWE knew these two could have put on one epic one on one encounter that could have topped what we saw from the pair at Mania last year.

What Could Have Been – Ember Moon

Had Ember Moon, in fact, won this year’s women’s royal rumble the WWE may have found themselves perfectly setting up two epic women’s championship matches at Mania. While Becky’s win at the Rumble was an awesome and special moment, she didn’t need to pick up the win in order to face Rousey at Mania and what this has done is actually create a major problem for Asuka and the title picture on Smackdown LIVE. If Moon had got the win last month she would have the choice to face Rousey or take on Asuka once again recreating their epic NXT rivalry and with fans already showing they would love to see the two meet in the ring again this is a huge opportunity missed out on!

The WWE has really landed themselves in a crappy situation in regards to Asuka and the Smackdown LIVE Women’s championship, however, while they missed huge opportunities there are ways they can turn things around and create a special night for an up and coming star at the grandest stage of them all. 

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