Smackdown’s women’s division took a hit this week when Naomi went down with a knee injury for an as-yet unforeseen amount of time. She was forced to give up the Smackdown Women’s Championship, and Alexa Bliss reclaimed the title shortly afterward. But Smackdown’s loss might end up being a gain for the longest-reigning singles champ in NXT history, Asuka.
The current NXT Women’s Champion has been part of overseas WWE main roster shows before, but with Naomi on the shelf, she’ll now be making her grand debut at Madison Square Garden next month. She’ll be filling Naomi’s slot on the March 12 card as part of an eight-woman tag team match.
As you can see on MSG’s calendar, the Road To WrestleMania Live Event is already massively stacked, as this will be the show where Brock Lesnar finally takes on Kevin Owens, and John Cena will face Bray Wyatt for the WWE Championship, in addition to the Intercontinental and tag titles also being defended. Asuka will team with Tamina, Becky Lynch, and Nikki Bella as they take on the other half of the Smackdown women’s division: Natalya, Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, and Carmella.
Given how in-the-loop the NYC crowd always tends to be, it’ll be safe to assume Asuka will get her own entrance and the legendary arena will greet her warmly. And then … you know, she’ll kick the hell out of some people. Everybody wins!
