5 reasons why Vince McMahon doesn't believe in Asuka

Asuka unexpectedly lost the SmackDown Women's Championship to Charlotte Flair on the latest episode of SmackDown Live. It came as quite a shock because the original plan was a Fatal-4-Way match to determine Asuka's WrestleMania challenger.

However, with absolutely no explanation whatsoever, she suddenly defended the SmackDown Women's Championship against a rather undeserving Charlotte Flair, who once again beat her to win her 8th title.

Now more than the fact that Charlotte didn't deserve the title shot, nor did she need the title win, it's crystal clear that WWE backstage officials don't believe in The Empress Of Tomorrow, and none more so than Vince McMahon.

It's a shame because when she signed with WWE in the second half of 2015, she was introduced as one of the greatest signings in WWE history. And that's exactly what she was at the time. Everything she brought to the table was unique, and in NXT, she ran through the women's division in the most incredibly dominant fashion.

As is the case with most NXT stars, the main roster cooled her down and took away a lot of her aura. Here's why Vince McMahon doesn't believe in Asuka.

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#5 No big plans for the Japanese market yet

One of the main reasons that Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka never really got pushed to the level that fans expected was that WWE really has no plans to expand big into the Japanese market.

Sure, they always have a few live events there every year, have a pretty steady fanbase and even the WWE Network there. However, it seems as though the Japanese audience and market isn't the one that WWE is focusing right now.

Had that been the case, there's absolutely no doubt that Asuka and Shinsuke Nakamura both would be getting much bigger pushes.

#4 Language barrier and lack of English promo skills

For those who criticize Asuka's promos in English, you need to understand that translating Japanese to English (and vice versa) is no easy task. The languages are worlds apart, and as a result, most Japanese find it hard to adapt to English, and the same could be said about the opposite.

Here's the issue - In NXT, they did a great job in protecting Asuka's biggest weakness - her English promos. There's no denying that because of the language barrier, her promos aren't up to par, but Triple H was very clever to spot this and make sure that she didn't have to speak much.

However, the main roster is far more promo-oriented, and Asuka has been given a rough deal and made to cut promos that she may not be very comfortable with. Because of these average promos, McMahon may not believe in her ability to connect with the audience, especially the American one.

WWE needs to either get her a manager or make sure that she doesn't speak much. She's never needed to anyway.

#3 He prefers many other women on the roster to Asuka

If you were to really look at the top five women in WWE right now in terms of pecking order, it would possibly be - Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Nia Jax and perhaps Sasha Banks. Before that, Alexa Bliss was easily among the top two to three.

Now here lies the problem - Asuka isn't even in the top five of Vince McMahon's in terms of preference in the women's division. If that is the case, then why would he push her all the way?

He perhaps sees more money in these other superstars, and the more women that debut on the main roster in the future, she's undoubtedly going to fall down on the pecking order. Sadly, this means that there isn't too much of a push left for Asuka. If that is the case, then it's a real shame, because she's easily among the top 5 talent in WWE from an in-ring standpoint - male and female.

#2 Her title win was only because Charlotte and Becky are challenging Ronda Rousey

Before 2019, there was no doubt that Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair were the top two women on Smackdown Live. They were the front and center of the SmackDown Women's Championship picture after the summer of 2018, and had they not gone over to RAW to challenge Ronda Rousey, you can guarantee that Asuka probably wouldn't have even won the title in the first place.

But around TLC 2018, WWE knew that Becky Lynch was going to win the Rumble, while Charlotte would be added to the RAW Women's Championship picture as well. With no better option, they realized that the only way they could take the title off Becky Lynch without getting heat was if another fan favourite won it. And Asuka just so happened to be the best option at the time.

Her reign itself shows that there was no real plan for her in the first place.

#1 Age

On September 2019, Asuka will turn 38. That's right, it's surprising to think that she's already 38 given how young she looks. Moreover, she's such an incredible athlete that she's shown absolutely zero signs of stopping since she joined NXT.

Either way, 38 is an age that is rarely ever reached by women in WWE, with most of the female legends retiring at a much younger age. In fact, even talent like Sasha Banks will very likely not go on for that long, but that alone is credit to Asuka's longevity in the business and just how good she is.

With that said, age is likely the reason why Vince McMahon isn't more invested in Asuka. He knows that she probably only has a few years left in the tank at most, and doesn't feel the need to heavily invest in her as he's doing with the other women who will, in fact, have longevity with the company.