In what could be the match of the night, Asuka puts her undefeated record on the line against Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women’s title.
It’s almost a bit of a shame that the SmackDown Women’s Championship match at WrestleMania 34 isn’t getting more publicity than it has so far. Two of the very best performers in the industry are going to square off on Sunday. This doesn’t even deserve the qualifier of “best women’s wrestlers” because both Asuka and Charlotte Flair are in the upper echelon, period.
The build to this match has been a little rocky in some spots. All the way back at the Royal Rumble, there was controversy around Asuka winning the inaugural Women’s Royal Rumble. Asuka appeared ready to proclaim which women’s champion she would be challenging until Ronda Rousey came out. That didn’t sit well with some as they saw it as stealing the spotlight away from Asuka. That was a pretty reasonable position to take as we had to wait a little longer to see who Asuka would take on at WrestleMania.
WWE actually stretched the suspense until their next SmackDown pay-per-view. Charlotte successfully defended her title against Ruby Riott, and then the Empress of Tomorrow laid her challenge down.
One of the best things about this feud is that both women are building each other up. At the end of the day, that’s the whole point of a high profile matchup. Any performer should come out of the feud looking better than when they entered. There’s a clear respect between the women as Charlotte is already one of the most decorated women in recent WWE history. For her part, Asuka has beaten every single women in her path to this point.
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This match deserves to be one of the final matches of the evening. It’s the best women’s match on the card, at least on paper. Does any fan believe that these two ladies won’t deliver on the WrestleMania stage? With an expected run time of near seven hours (at least), these two should also be given plenty of time to tell a story in the ring. It would seemingly make the most sense for Asuka to continue to carry her undefeated streak and emerge victorious. The biggest question after that is how long Asuka would stay on SmackDown. It would be great to see her in some new matchups, after she and Charlotte have at least one re-match.