Why Was Asuka vs. Nia Jax Match From WWE Raw Labeled as a Potential WrestleMania Main Event?

Raw Women’s Champion Asuka successfully defeated WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Nia Jax via disqualification on this week’s Monday Night Raw. That alone wasn’t much of a shock — Asuka has looked dominant throughout her latest run as champion and consistently beats Jax whenever the two step into the ring. But fans were left scratching their heads earlier in the night when Raw commentator Byron Saxton made the claim that match would be worthy of the WrestleMania main event if the championship was on the line.

It turns out this wasn’t an ad-lib from Saxton. Sean Ross Sapp reported via Fightful Select after the show that it was a scripted line.

“In case you were wondering, the Byron Saxton line about Asuka vs. Nia Jax being ‘WrestleMania Main Event Worthy’ was scripted and instructed to him completely,” Sapp wrote. “There was no ad libbing on his part for that line, and was a total directive from WWE.”

Why WWE would hand down that directive is unknown. The match didn’t main event the episode (that went to Drew McIntyre and New Day vs. Randy Orton, The Miz and John Morrison), has never main-evented a pay-per-view and has taken place numerous times over the past four years.

Following her loss, Jax once again drove Lana through the commentary table. “The Irresistible Force” has made a weekly habit out of that for the past two months.

WWE’s next pay-per-view, Survivor Series, takes place on Nov. 22. Here’s the card for the show so far:

• WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns
• Raw Women’s Champion Asuka vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks
• United States Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn
• Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits
• Men’s Survivor Series Elimination Tag Match: Team Raw (Keith Lee, AJ Styles, Sheamus, Braun Strowman, Riddle) vs. Team SmackDown (Kevin Owens, Jey Uso, King Corbin, Seth Rollins, TBD)
• Women’s Survivor Series Elimination Tag Match (Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Lana) vs. Team SmackDown (Bianca Belair, Ruby Riott, TBD)
• The Undertaker’s “Final Farewell” appearance

Prior to that event, WWE has confirmed two championship matches for the go-home episode of Raw next week — Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship and Raw Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. The Hurt Business.