WWE: 5 Quintessential Asuka Matches
By Warren Hayes
2. Asuka vs. Syuri, REINA Final Stage 2014
Hey, kid, you want to read the least controversial statement ever made in a wrestling-related article?
Asuka is a stiff worker.
It doesn’t take a man of science to recognize this. Even if you have trouble telling the difference between “ice cream” and “frozen dairy dessert” I’m quite confident you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of Asuka’s work kicks. The evidence is clear as day throughout her NXT tenure as her matches are peppered with cracking strikes and sturdy submission work. Of course, this hard-hitting style from her time training and working in Japan, the land that sometimes forgets that wrestling is a work.
If we go back to when she was known as Kana, there are many, many exhibitions of Asuka’s unrelenting style, but one particularly stands out. That time she faced Joshi Puroresu REINA’s women’s champion Syuri in a 21-minute war. I don’t think there is another match on this list that not only showcases Asuka’s brutality but her technical versatility as much as this one.
It starts off as a solid, frantic mat match rife with twisting submissions and teeth grinding stretches, and evolves into an explosive, hard-hitting encounter that is equal parts gorgeous and vicious. Get ready for some stiff, nose wrinkling strikes. Also screaming. Lots of screaming.