Why did WWE opt for Asuka’s undefeated streak to be broken by Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34?
Ahead of the April 2018 pay-per-view event, the Japanese Superstar had remained undefeated since her arrival to WWE in 2015.
After winning the first Women’s Royal Rumble match, Asuka’s streak was broken when she challenged Flair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania.
During his “Oh You Didn’t Know” podcast, Road Dogg, who was part of WWE’s writing team at the time, gave his reasoning behind the decision. He said,
“Either you’re gonna put Asuka over (at WrestleMania 34) and she maintains that thing, or you’re gonna put Charlotte over, and holy mackerel, she’s broken the streak, and you know, the streak only goes for so long. You can’t be undefeated forever, you know what I mean? As much as everybody hated it with The Undertaker’s streak being broken, I guess he could’ve just retired with his streak unbroken, but they were thinking about the future and who do we give this? Same thing, same thing here.”
While Asuka didn’t win the title at WrestleMania, she would capture the SmackDown Women’s Championship that December at WWE: TLC.
