Asuka is the woman to take the title off Bianca Belair at WrestleMania

Bianca Belair is in the midst of a historic run as WWE Raw Women’s Champion, but perhaps it’s time to give Asuka the run fans have long wanted to see on the main roster.

By the time WrestleMania 39 comes around, Bianca Belair will be on day 365 of what has been a powerful run as the WWE Raw Women’s Champion. She’s one of the few new stars the promotion has created in years, and just like some of her peers – her star power is beginning to transcend the squared circle. Yet, she steps into WrestleMania against a revamped Asuka, and after years of mismanagement on the main roster, she is poised for a top run. To get there, she will have to be the woman to stop Belair’s historic run.

It’s hard to think of Asuka as an individual who has been mishandled since joining the main roster. She is a two-time WWE Raw Women’s Champion, three-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion, and one-time WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion. That’s a catalog of accolades that most women on the main roster will never achieve. Still, there’s a big push to see Asuka treated with the same reverence she did during her run on WWE NXT, where she held that brand championship for 510 days – never being defeated to crown an heir.

While on the main roster, Asuka has always seemed to play second-fiddle to the Four Horsewomen or even Alexa Bliss when she was higher ranked in the peeking order. Her feuds didn’t have the main event feel of others in the division. Even when she was the champion, her position wasn’t as protected as some of the other women.

Enter this version of Asuka. While she’s going by the same name, her face paint, mannerism, and actions point more toward the version known as Kana that terrorized Japan for years. The question is whether WWE will take this moment and book her as the top name in the women’s division. She doesn’t need to be a face or a heel – but simply someone that likes to inflict pain on anyone in front of her. That would be a fresh character in the women’s division, devoid of the typical antics that WWE tends to book when it comes to the women’s roster.

Belair’s run on the top has elevated the WWE Raw Women’s Championship

But that would mean that Asuka brings Belair’s run to an end. As champion, Belair is not only the face of women’s wrestling in the WWE but all professional wrestling. She’s contributed to the breaking of barriers for Black wrestlers in the industry, even though she’s only been a part of the space for six years. She has appeared on mainstream shows throughout ESPN, partnered with Rhianna’s beauty brand FENTY, and is now represented by one of the biggest talent agencies in entertainment, WME. If Belair isn’t considered a superstar, she’s close to breaking that glass ceiling.

That means that at some point she will have to drop the title in order to pursue other opportunities, perhaps becoming the dreaded “part-time” talent. When that comes, fans will have their opinions on the matter. But the fact will remain that she deserves to be held in such high regard.

Crowing Asuka at WrestleMania creates the opportunity to build something new for the division heading into the new season. Fans are keeping a close eye on how WWE keeps itself fresh and continues to build momentum with Triple H at the helm. Seeing a new, dominant women’s champion in the likes of Asuka would be a step in that direction. WWE can also come back to Bianca Belair, but now is the time to do something fresh with the division.