So, I only watched Asuka vs. Carmella because I really thought/believed that Asuka was winning. Ever since MITB Carmella's been making her look like dunce week-in and week-out, constantly getting the advantage over her, with like the only strong moment for her was stopping Ellsworth from using the mace and beating him but then he used the mace anyway and Carmella superkicked her. The point was Asuka was constantly getting trounced in the build, her winning at the PPV seemed possible, and at this point I needed any victory I could get in WWE to keep me interested.
SO let me say this before I complain, on it's own, in a bubble, this way better than Money in the Bank. I admittedly liked the idea of Ellsworth constantly dropping weapons to Carmella for Asuka to render them basically ineffectually. And throughout the match, Asuka constantly dominated Carmella. At Money in the Bank, prior to Ellsworth, the two worked a competitive match, there was a spot in the beginning that highlight Asuka was a step above Carmella but overall it was a competitive bout. Not here, Asuka was clearly leagues ahead of Carmella and I appreciate that because that's congruent with the characterization of both competitors we've had up to this point. It even makes Asuka deciding to take her time beating on Ellsworth a little less idiotic because yeah, she was decimating Carmella, why wouldn't she think she could take her time to pinata kick Ellsworth? And ultimately, going head first into steel cage is a much better finish than Asuka essentially staring into space for two minutes straight.
So that bit of positive perspective out of the way, I hated this. Because this is Asuka, this is the end of the feud. I highly doubt we're getting a third match at SummerSlam, it wouldn't make any sense (though I guess that's apropos with WWE), and I'm pretty sure Becky Lynch is facing Carmella at SummerSlam and winning. Because, well that's what they've been building to since the shake-up, that's why they had Asuka, Charlotte, and Lynch team up, why the signaled Lynch out as the weak link (having her cost Asuka her first match on SDL), and why they're having Carmella come out victorious over both Charlotte and Asuka. It's all to help Lynch re-assert herself, and good for her I guess but her popularity endured despite the constant nothing they seem to do with her, so I don't know why the need to sacrifice Asuka for Lynch because look Asuka's character is founded on her reputation of being unbeatable. Back to the point, you know Asuka's beatdown on Ellsworth post-match. Yeah, that was her giving out the comeuppance. I guess the care enough to not just let Asuka lose without any sort of consolation prize, and that's it. She got her revenge on Ellsworth but beating the piss out of him post-match. I might be proven wrong tomorrow, but that's how I read it.
And look Asuka can recover from this, it's not Bayley/Bliss Extreme Rules level of bad, but I kinda doubt it. There's limited time for the women to compete anyway, hence why Lynch is constantly underutilized for that point, and it just seems hard for me to buy that Asuka is considered a priority at all after this feud, and it's hard to imagine that she'll ever hold the Women's Championship on the main roster again. And god damn, I just think back to the Royal Rumble 2018, to how hyped and excited I was leaving that PPV. How for a brief period of time, it seemed like WWE was actually building Asuka as a top commodity, the constantly strong performances, the uses of the Armbar, the rumours of Ronda vs. Asuka main eventing WrestleMania 35 felt like a tangible reality, then Asuka lost at WrestleMania. And I wrote at length using a Rob Thomas song how deflating that loss was for me, but one of the main reasons the loss worried me was because I had fear in my mind that the only reason Asuka was treated as a priority was because she came to the main roster with a history making streak. And admittedly, a few points since then alleviated that fear a bit but this kinda proves it's validity to me. Asuka was special, I'm not talking just from my perspective because clearly she's still special to me otherwise I wouldn't be typing this, but she use to feel special, she use to have equity, she use to feel like an honest to god superstar but this finish, while designed to "protect" her, makes her anyone else. She's just as susceptible to basic heel tactics as anyone, it doesn't feel difficult to defeat her at all when she basically loses in a singular hit.
I didn't watch the rest of the PPV, I guess I'm glad Lashley beat Roman clean from what I hear. It's not really fair for me to assign a score to this PPV since I watched so little of it, but if you wanted to know my thoughts on WWE leaving Extreme Rules, I cancelled my network subscription shortly after watching Asuka/Carmella.
