Next week’s final WWE SmackDown before TLC promises to be a big one as one of the biggest women’s matches possible has been announced for the show.
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WWE announced that Charlotte Flair will wrestle Asuka on the show, just five days out from when the two of them will face Becky Lynch in a triple threat match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WWE TLC.
Of course, Flair and Asuka did battle at WrestleMania 34 earlier this year in New Orleans. That match featured Flair defeating Asuka clean, shocking most everyone in attendance at the Superdome and watching at home on the WWE Network. Since arriving to WWE, Asuka had not been defeated. That included runs in both NXT and on the main roster up to that point.
Since her loss to Flair, Asuka has languished a bit on the main roster, though she always has had strong reactions from crowds wherever WWE travels. In recent weeks, her fortunes have rebounded a bit and she’s started to heat up heading into TLC.
On this week’s SmackDown, Charlotte and Asuka opened the show with Lynch in a contract signing for their title match at TLC. That broke down into an argument between Asuka and Flair until they were interrupted by Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville.
Rose harassed Paige about how she put the wrong two women in the match with Lynch, claiming that her proteges (Rose and Deville) should have received the spots. She then asked what would happen if Flair and Asuka didn’t make it to TLC?
This prompted Paige to make the tag team match that opened the show, Asuka and Charlotte taking on Mandy and Sonya. They continued to play on heat between Asuka and Charlotte throughout the match, which eventually allowed Deville and Rose to get the victory following a sliding knee from Asuka to Flair.
It’d be surprising if we get a clean finish between Flair and Asuka on the show next week given the huge match just five days later, but it should be an entertaining watch to see what two of the biggest stars in WWE can do when they’re finally given the opportunity to face off on television in a singles match once again.
