WWE Raw: The welcome return of Asuka’s mean streak

Three weeks after suffering a concussion and lost tooth due to a kick from Shayna Baszler, Asuka returned on last night’s WWE Raw (with only a tweet a few hours before the show as hype).

She quickly dispatched of her foe, Baszler, and continued the assault after the match; she removed Nia Jax from the situation earlier by ramming her into the ring post on the outside.

Asuka didn’t just return on WWE Raw, but she brought back the first bits of her celebrated mean streak and aggressive side.

Commentary set this up a little bit by reiterating how Asuka was “out for vengeance” and showing the replay in slow-motion several times prior to the match. However, Asuka drove home the point before the bell even rung.

She rushed and attacked Baszler, sensed Jax approaching from behind, and hit Jax with a codebreaker. Asuka turned right around and gave Baszler a superkick. She hit a Shining Wizard on Jax, still recovering from the codebreaker, that sent Jax to the outside.

Then the match started.

Later, Asuka forced Jax off of the apron and dropkicked her hard into the ring post. Baszler and Asuka traded a Kirifuda Clutch and Asuka Lock attempt, respectively, before Asuka reversed another Kirifuda Clutch attempt into a pin for the victory.

Baszler held onto a bulldog choke after the match, but as she went for another kick to knock out more teeth, Asuka caught her leg and hit a German suplex. She then hit repeated short kicks to the face of Baszler, who was on all fours.

Now, here’s where that viciousness that made Asuka the most dominant champion in NXT history rebirthed like a phoenix anew: she grabbed both of Baszler’s arms, pulled them behind her back, and curbstomped Baszler into the bottom turnbuckle.

That’s not all.

Asuka then removed the padding on the lower turnbuckle, forcibly did the same to Baszler’s mouthpiece, and shoved Baszler’s open mouth onto the steel rod. She showed a sadistic side by stepping on the back of Baszler’s neck, forcing her mouth and teeth further into the steel.

She then set Baszler up for another curbstomp, this time into the steel, before the referee intervened by placing himself between Baszler and the corner. Asuka yelled at him in Japanese, but even with her mean streak back, she’s intelligent enough to know that striking a WWE official only leads to negative outcomes.

These were the prevailing scenes after the segment.

It’s FANTASTIC that Asuka is not only back, but that she’s channeled that original, aggressive Asuka that made her such a force (and fan favorite) in NXT. Far too long has Asuka been relegated to being the goofy foreigner who speaks in rapid-fire Japanese and comedic broken English.

One issue is WWE has never really been sure if Asuka should be a face or heel, a problem that plagues the booking of far too many wrestlers in WWE.

Another is that even though she’s been Women’s Champion since Becky Lynch relinquished the title upon learning that she was pregnant, Asuka’s been basically locked into the tag team division with WWE’s insistence that Women’s Championship challengers can only be built by first creating tension between them in Tag Team Championship angles.

However, after Charlotte Flair explicitly stated her intentions last week to wrestle Asuka at WrestleMania and with each presumably removed from the Tag Team Championship picture, keeping Asuka on this aggressive path is the right call as they’re trying to book Flair as more of a face.

There is one qualm I did have with last night’s segment, but it didn’t have to do with Asuka. I understand why Baszler made for a good first opponent with the built-in story of the real-life injuries caused by her, but I didn’t like Baszler (and Jax by proxy) being the first victims of Mean Asuka 2.0.

I would have booked Asuka to win quickly and dominantly over any number of wrestlers, even those involved in tag teams, over the next few weeks. Let’s say she faces Flair and retains at WrestleMania: this means she could face Baszler after a longer build at the next pay-per-view or at latest, Money in the Bank.

Baszler is a legitimate mixed martial artist having reached the pinnacle of the sport in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as a trailblazer for women’s mixed martial arts. She has the credibility, and skills to boot, that she shouldn’t just be fed to Asuka in 90 seconds and suffer the attack after the match.

It’s made worse by the fact that she’s one-half of the Tag Team Champion, having won them from Asuka & Flair no less.

The best route would have been to have Baszler (& Jax) keep winning as Asuka keeps winning, then scheduling a match between the two using the concussion/lost tooth to set the context. WWE could have drawn on their respective NXT histories as they’re the two most dominant NXT Champions (though Io Shirai is staking her claim to be in the discussion).

Nevertheless, WWE chose a different route. With nothing scheduled for Asuka at this Sunday’s Fastlane pay-per-view, let’s hope they use the time to build towards Asuka’s match at WrestleMania.

Oh yeah, make sure that mean streak comes along for the ride, too.