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Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka is a Match of the Year Candidate

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Since Asuka won the first Women’s Royal Rumble match back in January, the WWE Universe waited with bated breath to see who she would challenge at Wrestlemania 34 in New Orleans.

Well, the WWE Universe finally received answer during last night’s WWE Fastlane event.

After Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair retained her title against Ruby Riott, the Empress of Tomorrow’s music blasted through the Nationwide Arena. Charlotte watched as the Empress of Tomorrow danced down the ramp and entered the ring.

Like many during Wrestlemania season, Asuka pointed to the Wrestlemania sign while slowly approaching Charlotte like a hungry wolf as the crowd chanted “Yes!” repeatedly. Fastlane is seen by many WWE fans a throwaway pay per view that sets the plate for Wrestlemania. But during the segment, Asuka didn’t say anything to Charlotte.

It wasn’t until during a backstage interview, when Asuka was asked if she indeed wanted to face The Queen at the Show of Shows. The undefeated superstar said only these words – “At Wrestlemania, Charlotte versus Asuka.”

One day after Asuka’s challenge, both the Smackdown Women’s Champion and her father, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, tweeted to hype up the match.

There were rumors WWE was heading down this route for Wrestlemania in regards to the Smackdown Women’s title picture. Even though Asuka had wins over numerous Raw superstars, including current Women’s titleholder Alexa Bliss, a contest between Asuka and Charlotte was bound to happen at some point, even though the Empress has only been on the main roster since October.

Some critics may believe WWE rushing Asuka and Charlotte into a program is too soon, but it makes sense on some levels. WWE has already built Asuka to be one of their top players – giving her a lengthy undefeated streak and having her pick up wins over numerous superstars.

As for Charlotte, she has pretty much wrestled every woman currently on the main roster.

The match has a big fight feel to it and if both Charlotte and Asuka are given the opportunity to display their skills, then their Smackdown Women’s title match at Wrestlemania could be a Match of the Year candidate.  

Both Charlotte and Asuka are great in the ring. Charlotte delivers a technical offense, much like her father, but she isn’t also afraid to fly from the top turnbuckle or take the fight to the outside.

Asuka’s offense consists of hard-hitting kicks and strikes, but she also has a good submission game. One attribute that both wrestlers share is their durability. Both Charlotte and Asuka have been in some great scraps during their time in WWE. With it being Wrestlemania season, both women will no doubt take their game to the next level.

As for the build up of this match, WWE can simply market it as a match between two of the best women’s wrestlers in the company. One of the differences between the two competitors is Charlotte is seen as the dominant force in WWE while Asuka is an underdog. The creative department can look at those attributes and keep the story simple.

What’s fun about this match is there is a level of uncertainty of who is going to win. This is Asuka’s first big shot at WWE gold, will she capture her first title or will Charlotte continue to reign supreme?

I guess we’ll have to wait until Wrestlemania to find out.

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Swerve Strickland Talks Hit Row’s Return to WWE

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Hit Row

AEW superstar Swerve Strickland shared his thoughts on his former faction Hit Row, making their return to WWE. Since Strickland is currently in AEW, and one half of the tag team champions with Keith Lee, he is unable to join them.

“I’m happy for those guys and I’m happy they got their second chance, I really am” Strickland said during an appearance on the Grapsody podcast.

“Some people were like, ‘Are you upset about this? They’re back.’ Good, they deserve to be on TV. Now, this is their chance to be them and do what they do or however they want to do. There were times when I would discuss things and they wanted to do it this way, and I was like, ‘Okay, let’s try to mesh this together.’ It was a lot of teamwork and effort and family-type vibes to put these promos together. I don’t think I brought them up to the main roster, I think we did it together. A lot of people with these comments are trying to separate us and do the dividing thing. No, you’re not going to divide me from my friends. You’re not going to divide me from people that I was really grinding with at the PC [Performance Center] and every week on TV, trying to do something really special and being, literally, probably one of the most creative people in the entire PC because nobody was telling us what to do. We were literally coming up with it ourselves. We did that together to get to the main roster.” (quote courtesy of Fightful.com)

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Braun Strowman Returns to WWE

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After over a year since his release from WWE, Braun Strowman made his surprise return to the company during Monday Night RAW,  during the Fatal-Four Way Number One Contenders tag team match between The New Day, Alpha Academy, Los Lotharios, and The Street Profits.

Now we have more information has come out regarding where Strowman will find himself on the main roster.

According to PWInsider, despite making his return on RAW Strowman will be a member of the SmackDown Live roster, and is slated to be used as a babyface.

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Live Morgan Injury Update

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Live Morgan

SmackDown Women’s Champion Liv Morgan is set to defend her title at WWE Clash at the Castle that takes places in the United Kingdom during Labor Day Weekend, but could an injury limit her?

Morgan was wearing an arm brace on SmackDown leading fans to think she is legitimately hurt.

According to Fightful, Morgan is not hurt and the injury is a work to advance the storyline of Ronda Rousey “snapping” following the controversial ending to their SummerSlam championship match which saw Morgan clearly tapping out to Rousey prior to Rousey being counted down for the pinfall, giving Morgan the victory.

Morgan wining walking away still champion, given the circumstances, has irked fans.

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