Asuka is really good

[Hanley!]

To anyone who didn't see Takeover, you should try and look up Asuka's debut match on the Network or Youtube. She has something for sure. I'm pretty excited about watching her career unfold in NXT. She's a terrific worker.

The match Asuka managed to get out of Dana Brooke at Takeover, was damn near miraculous. I do think Dana is getting better, and I'm actually hopeful that she'll be a valuable addition to the roster at some point. She's athletic and seems capable of playing a character, she's just still very green. And it'll probably be quite some time before she's in another match as good as this one. That's how good Asuka was. Her chain wrestling looked awesome, her strikes looked dangerous and the crowd were super into her.

She has tons of personality and star power too. She had a real presence when she was making her entrance. She gets her character over really well through her body language and facial expressions. She comes off as slightly crazed/dangerous, while still being a loud, funny, colourful character. I'm impressed by her level of charisma.

I know I've picked on the poor guy a few times before, but the difference between Asuka and Itami on NXT is like night and day. He's very dull and lacking in character, and the move to WWE seems to have taken away anything exciting about the guy. He might be having trouble adapting to their style, and without being able to cut promos to get his character across, he's having trouble doing it in other ways. Asuka in comparison seems to demonstrate that Japanese wrestlers are capable of getting their personality over big in front of a WWE crowd. Even without speaking, you know exactly who she is: she's a badass who will kill bitches who are dumb enough to piss her off. I can't wait to see more of this.

It's great to see another genuinely good female wrestler in NXT now that Sasha, Charlotte and Becky are all on the main roster. I'm hoping she doesn't turn heel, because I think she makes a great babyface, but a face vs face match with Bayley for the title could still be awesome at some point. In the mean time, I'd be happy to just watch her kill every heel woman on the roster.

What did everyone else think of Asuka? From the very small amount I've seen of her, it looks like she's one of the better talents on NXT at the moment. Now that she's in the mix, and James Storm is debuting too, I might have to start watching NXT every week again.

[SlightlyJames]

She seemed pretty good, they were selling her striking big time on commentary but I only remember one kick that looked any good with quite a few really weak exchanges. There were some really fluid looking submission moves that I was a fan of, just found it curious that they were hyping up her striking ability when very little of it was showcased in the match.

She does seem likable enough, could have some great matches with Alexa Bliss, Emma and the like. I think it'd be a wasted opportunity if we didn't see her beat the shit out of Eva Marie while she's still there (reportedly they're reconsidering having her as a wrestler, thank god).

Also her theme is one of the best in NXT.

[Str8Shooter]

Yeah as I said in the Takeover thread I thought she was quite impressive. I actually am coming around on Dana Brooke a lot, she's green as you said, but she has a good grasp of her character and shows quite a bit of personality to go with it. If she can improve in ring she has a good future ahead. Asuka showed great to get such a good match out of her.

I believe Asuka is actually fluent in English, which would give her one up as Hideo Itami, as learning a new language while trying to adapt to a new country and style must be really tough for him.

[SortaCreative]

Also her theme is one of the best in NXT.

No way. NXT has the best themes in WWE right now but I don't think this is better than Corbin, Apollo Crews or Finn Balor (who probably has the best theme in the entire industry). It's amazing how much a decent theme does for a wrestler. Wyatt, Owens, Sasha, Charlotte, Becky all have great themes. Compare that to fucking Cesaro's and it's not even funny. Asuka's is good though, don't get me wrong.

Asuka is great. I really enjoyed watching her and she got a great match out of Dana who is improving.

[SlightlyJames]

Also her theme is one of the best in NXT.

No way. NXT has the best themes in WWE right now but I don't think this is better than Corbin, Apollo Crews or Finn Balor (who probably has the best theme in the entire industry).

Well I did say one of. I'd say hers is better than Corbin and Crews. The only themes in NXT I prefer right now are Balor and Joe.

[DBSoT]

I never feared that Asuka's wrestling would be amazing, since enough people said bow good she was prior to NXT. What amazed me was her character work. As @Hanley said, her facial expressions and body language sell her character so well. When she first came out for her contact signing she was jumping around like Yoshi Tatsu. It made me think she was screwed gimmick wise, but then she had the devious smile on the ramp. She genually sells the look of a dangerous and crazy person. I also wonder if working with Dana helped her with her character. Dana is one of the best at selling her character as well. Dana is green in the ring, but her body language is spot on.