![\"Asuka](\"https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fill,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_center,h_80,pg_1,q_80,w_80\/4cbc561077833527bd7a93299dd2184c.jpg)
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<\/figure>\n I\u2019m not silly. Well, I\u2019m not that <\/em>silly. At least a number of the time, when the few neurons I’ve left fireplace on the similar time. I do know Rhea Ripley is successful the Royal Rumble on Saturday. You know Rhea Ripley is successful the Royal Rumble on Saturday. And that\u2019s not a nasty factor! She\u2019s nice. But it ought to be Asuka. <\/p>\n Rhea has been an underutilized badass just about her whole time on the principle roster. She\u2019s nearly the one benefit of Judgement Day, and I say that as an unapologetic Damien Priest fan (I preferred him even when his title was \u201cPunishment Martinez,\u201d which was an enormous impediment to recover from). Even whereas being saddled with the failson cipher that’s Dominik Mysterio, Rhea has shined because the dominatrix who simply give up her job as a result of she didn\u2019t get to inflict sufficient ache. She is mainly the one powerhouse on the ladies\u2019s roster that’s one thing different than simply huge. Rhea can do quite a lot of shit! <\/p>\n She\u2019s additionally bought a historical past with Bianca Belair, going all the best way again to NXT. There isn’t any query they may have a Mania-quality match in Los Angeles, and will conceivably steal the present if given 15-20. Belair has grow to be one thing of a Mania specialist, and Rhea is definitely on that degree. <\/p>\n But WWE and Triple H can get to that match with out Rhea successful the Rumble. She\u2019s actually the one credible challenger on Raw as it’s. Bayley has been made to look extra doof-ish than conniving, and he or she\u2019s already had her photographs at Bianca. Becky Lynch has a \u201cBeen there, done that\u201d really feel in the intervening time for Belair. Unless Alexa Bliss\u2019s flip to the theatrical with Bray Wyatt actually takes maintain, she doesn\u2019t fairly have the in-ring chops to be in a Mania match with Belair. And even when it does, Bray Wyatt\u2019s theatricality hasn\u2019t ever actually labored on the Mania stage (suppose bugs, suppose Alexa herself popping out of that fucking field). Rhea-Bianca is already within the water. <\/p>\n What WWE wants is one thing for Charlotte. The SmackDown<\/em> girls\u2019s roster is fairly barren in the intervening time. Raquel Rodriguez appears to be getting warmed up for Charlotte, however she\u2019s not prepared for this type of platform. Ronda Rousey is off having one other pout as a result of issues didn\u2019t go her method just like the spoiled brat she is. Which has left Shayna Bazler twisting within the wind, although she is likely to be a fairly good dance companion for Charlotte. Or she can be, if she\u2019d gotten to do something on the principle roster as she did in NXT, which she hasn\u2019t. To the WWE viewers, she\u2019s only a face within the crowd.<\/p>\n G\/O Media might get a fee<\/p>\n Addiction counseling<\/p>\n Safe Haven Health<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Accessible for all<\/strong> If the goal is to give fans a Charlotte match they can actually sink their teeth into, then there\u2019s only one choice. Asuka hasn\u2019t disappeared like some, though she hasn\u2019t been front and center since sort of pairing up with Belair and Bliss to take on Bayley, Iyo Sky, and Dakota Kai. The last time we saw Asuka, a month ago on Raw, she\u2019d removed her facepaint but had a new, steely edge in her match with Ripley. Fans felt like she was getting back to her NXT\/unstoppable monster days, if not her Japan\/homicide clown days.<\/a><\/span> On social media, she\u2019s been teasing<\/a><\/span> discovering a more recent and\/or higher model of herself, and there\u2019d be no higher place for her to introduce a brand new leaf than strolling into the Rumble and clearing out the ring as a refreshed aggression machine. <\/p>\n She additionally has a wealthy historical past with Charlotte. The two of them possibly had the perfect match at WrestleMania 34, when Charlotte ended Asuka\u2019s unbeaten streak that had spanned her NXT and WWE profession to that time. Asuka additionally needed to get fed to Charlotte proper earlier than Wrestlemania 35, forking over her title as Charlotte was retrofitted\/jammed into the Lynch-Rousey match the place she actually didn\u2019t match. <\/p>\n Asuka hasn\u2019t actually recovered from that, which most followers thought was fully unfair. She had a terrific run as champ a yr later\u2026throughout the pandemic. She by no means bought to hold a title again in entrance of dwell audiences. But it was the having to do the job to Charlotte to meet the imaginative and prescient that Vince McMahon had for the first-ever girls\u2019s important occasion that left followers feeling like Asuka had been cheated. There is unfinished enterprise right here, which a Mania match might heart on.<\/p>\n It\u2019s that feeling that Asuka has by no means hit the heights she\u2019s greater than able to with WWE that makes her your best option to win the Rumble for a second time. She\u2019d be the primary to try this, which provides her much more sheen to take a main Mania spot. While HHH has introduced a bunch of wrestlers again into the corporate, who has actually been remade and improved? Maybe Rhea? Debatable. Here\u2019s an actual likelihood. <\/p>\n A brand new daybreak for WWE, together with Asuka exhibiting a want to remake herself, provides each a highway to a real Asuka revival. Her profession has been outlined by Charlotte, and by dropping to Charlotte. First, it was the top of her dominance. Then it was an instance of how she would by no means be held to the identical degree as Charlotte or Becky and even Ronda, regardless of seemingly being a greater employee than all of them. She belongs there, although. <\/p>\n Another match with Charlotte can put all that firmly up to now and arrange one nice important roster run for Asuka. She\u2019s 41 now, she gained\u2019t be round ceaselessly. WWE might get loads out of a reborn, murderous, scary-as-fuck Asuka. More than the sort of cute, very humorous, nonetheless technically gifted performer they\u2019ve had for the previous yr or two. There\u2019s no higher approach to get to the primary avenue than having her lastly get one over Charlotte, and the symbolism of a remade Asuka transferring past Vince\u2019s outdated standby\/binky in Charlotte can be onerous to overlook. And the easiest way to get there may be for no matter this new model of Asuka goes to be taking the Rumble. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Safe](\"https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fill,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_center,h_264,pg_1,q_80,w_470\/b69eab68f52ac36d5566a4b6e75696da.jpg\"\/)
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Safe Haven prioritizes your needs with flexible and individuated substance abuse treatment, specifically opioid & alcohol addiction.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nFlair needs a legitimate challenger<\/h2>\n
WWE\u2019s underutilized ace<\/h2>\n