From the WWE Rumor Mill: Why Asuka was chosen for Raw

What's the story?

Asuka is coming to Raw. But why was she chosen to play for the red team? Dave Meltzer opened up about why WWE made the decision to place Asuka on the Monday nights during Wrestling Observer Radio.

In case you didn't know...

While in NXT, Asuka not only broke records but demolished faces. She was one of the most dominant female forces to ever step into a WWE ring. But she broke her collarbone at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III in her match against Ember Moon.

Although an injury like that wouldn't normally call for the end of a championship reign like Asuka's WWE still used it as a reason to move her up the main roster.

The heart of the matter

All of the speculation was put to rest on Raw this week when they announced Kurt Angle had made "the deal" to bring in Asuka. After showing a short vignette hyping her debut fans were left in a sea of excitement for the Empress Of Tomorrow.

But that still left a question why WWE made the decision to bring Asuka to Raw instead of SmackDown Live. Dave Meltzer cleared things up, thanks to Still Real To Us for the transcription.

"They debated both brands and the deal is apparently that when you look at the roster on both brands they felt that the depth on Raw was not as strong -- and it's not if you really look at the depth on each brand. So they felt she was better off on Raw."

But in the end, Meltzer like a lot of fans wishes WWE would have placed Asuka on the blue team. After all, she would have much better match choices on SmackDown Live.

"I wish she was on SmackDown because there would be more good matches for her there but that's actually the reason she's on Raw. Because she already has -- SmackDown's women are all kind of pushed or could be kind of pushed. Whereas Raw only has -- just the fact that Emma is in the four-way and they don't have any plans for Emma whatsoever. So you really only have Sasha Banks who they pretty much destroyed, Bayley who's hurt, and then you have Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss and that's it."

What's next?

Hopefully, Asuka will be treated correctly. Some of our favourite NXT stars were mishandled in a big way once they changed creative ownership. It seems as though once Vince McMahon is allowed to pull the strings, things sometimes crumble for people who fans are sure can never fail.

Author's take

Asuka would have been a better fit for SmackDown Live just because she could have had great matches with Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Natalya, Naomi, and so on. But although her options are more limited on Raw they obviously needed her way more.

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