Asuka Reportedly Bypassed by WWE Creative Team

Despite anointing her as the first ever Women's Royal Rumble winner, WWE has seemingly forgotten about Asuka. There have been whispers of WWE revamping her character, but a new report says even those ideas have stalled.

According to Wrestling Observer Live, Asuka was set for a heel turn. However, WWE opted for Becky Lynch to flip instead, leaving Asuka without a direction

"They've been talking about Asuka potentially going heel for a while now. But then they ended up turning Becky [Lynch] so maybe they won't turn her. They've been talking about it but something else happened," said Brian Alvarez.

While Lynch's heel turn has been more of an anti-hero twist, the fact remains that WWE appears to have elected her over Asuka as Charlotte Flair's enemy. At the moment, it looks like WWE may have trapped lightning in the proverbial bottle with Lynch as she's arguably the most exciting character in all of WWE right now.

For Asuka, it looks like she'll remain in limbo. Considering how high she was in January, she's been on the wrong in of one of the steeper plummets in recent memory. Upon entering WrestleMania 34, the then-undefeated Asuka was presumed to beat Charlotte Flair and become SmackDown Women's Champion. Rumors had her saying invincible until Ronda Rousey was ready to beat her in the biggest in the history of women's wrestling. But that's not what happened. Flair pinned Asuka in New Orleans and Asuka entered a summer-long slide.

After 'Mania, Asuka entered a storyline with Carmella that saw here lose back-to-back pay-per-view matches. Even worse, her losses came via tricks from James Ellsworth and now not only did Asuka look mortal but dim-witted.

Considering how much time WE spent building Asuka as the god of violence, the Empress of tomorrow is toothless as of September 2018. While most wrestlers can be tossed back onto the stove at any point, Asuka climb back into relevancy may be tough. Even during her hotter moment, Asuka was not making a strong connection with WWE's crowd. Aside from being a fierce competitor who had an eccentric taste in clothes. Asuka didn't offer much in terms of character development. Part of this disconnect is due to the language barrier as Asuka is still developing her English. However, it became clear the WWE Universe didn't have the patience for her to learn on the fly and WWE seemingly aborted her mission.

The good news is that talent it eventually rewarded in WWE. While Asuka may in the midst of a cold streak, this time next year, she could easily be champion.