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What’s the story?
After a few days of silence, Asuka’s taken to Twitter to comment on the recent injury she picked up at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn. After vowing “like the Terminator, I’ll be back,” Asuka also seemed to make light of the situation, tweeting “a victory in exchange for a bone.”
Sounds like a fairly expensive victory to me.
In case you didn’t know…
At Saturday’s NXT Takeover show, Asuka injured her right collarbone during her showdown with Ember Moon. Not that you’d have known from watching the match, though.
Asuka went on to successfully defend her NXT Women’s Championship, and in doing so she extended her undefeated streak as well as her 500-plus-day reign with the title.
The heart of the matter
As well as confirming Asuka’s collarbone to be broken, WWE.com noted that though no official timetable has been given for her return, the typical recovery time for this kind of injury is somewhere in the 6-8 week region.
It was also vaguely mentioned that the injury was sustained off the back of an awkward landing from a throw from Ember Moon, so it wasn’t necessarily anyone’s fault, per se.
What's next?
The 6-8 week time frame suggests Asuka should be back in action by early-to-mid October time. Luckily, thanks to NXT’s rather less hectic programming schedule, that means she’s likely to be fighting fit in time for the next Takeover special, which takes place in Houston, TX on November 18.
Although, technically speaking, she’s not going to be able to defend her women’s title for at least 30 days, so it’ll be interesting to see whether the company strips her of the belt or if they just overlook that minor detail as they often do when convenient.
Author’s take
As nasty as Asuka’s injury sounds, thankfully it looks like she’ll be making a full recovery within a couple of months. In the meantime, it’s worth keeping tabs on how exactly that 30-day rule is handled.
The company’s proved before that it’s not afraid to overlook details like that if it gets in the way of existing plans. However, on a brand as well-booked as NXT, you get the feeling they may be tempted to follow the rulebook on this one.
To be honest, with her reign now passing the 508-day mark, stripping her of the belt may be the only way they’re ever going to get it off her.
