So, on Monday, July 27th, Sasha Banks won the RAW Women’s Championship from Asuka, thus completing the Two Woman Power Trip she and Bayley had been planning since Sasha’s return last August. It was a huge moment for Boss-Hug Connection fans, who have been waiting for Sasha to be top of the division again, and excited over the idea of a Two Woman Power Trip. However, as usual, the whining started almost immediately:
“Asuka was buried!” “Asuka deserves better!” “Asuka needs to ask for her release and go back to Japan!”
Oh good, its you guys again. You have not been missed.
Asuka was not buried. Yes, Sasha beat her, but she won by count-out when Bayley attacked Kairi Sane, causing Asuka to run to her friend’s side and not make it back to the ring in time. She couldn’t have been more protected if they gave her an armed guard. You could even suggest that Sasha came off worse despite the win, because although she is champion again it wasn’t a definitive victory. There was no Banks Statement, no tap out, no three count. She won on a technicality.
To refresh everyone’s memory on what ‘buried’ means. Buried is when someone is beaten clean and often embarrassingly quickly. They’re then often kept off TV, only shown in dark matches or Main Event. The person being buried tends to get little to no offense in. More often than not, the person being buried is leaving the promotion and it’s used to explain why they are not being used on TV. Think what WWE TRIED to do to Dean Ambrose back in 2019 on his way out of the company. They made him look like a chump against EC3, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Seth Rollins and even Nia Jax.
That’s not what happened with Asuka.
Since she came up to the main roster from NXT I can only think of a couple of matches where she has lost clean, whether in singles or tag competition. The two that I can think of were both versus Charlotte Flair and one was the SmackDown Women’s Championship Match to set up the Winner Take All main event for WrestleMania. Even in this most recent RAW Women’s Championship reign, Asuka has not lost clean even once. She has always either lost on a technicality, distraction or a fast count. If she lost in a tag match, it was always Kairi Sane or whichever partner she had that took the pin.
The reason people think she’s being buried is that WWE haven’t put titles on Asuka very often and when she does, they tend to be short reigns. It is worth noting however that while Sasha Banks may be one of the best female talents WWE have ever had, her championship record is pitiful. Before her recent dethroning of Asuka she hadn’t been champion since 2017-18. But the Two Woman Power Trip storyline is more compelling than Asuka holding the belt and waiting to see if Becky Lynch comes back, so moving the the gold away from Asuka made the most sense.
Bottom line is – If your favourite wrestler loses, it doesn’t mean they are buried. Asuka was NOT buried. The Fiend was NOT buried by Goldberg. WWE are building compelling and long term storylines with big payoffs at the end. With Sasha Banks and Bayley we know exactly how the Two Woman Power Trip will end and just how good it will be. Going by Sasha’s booking history on rematches we may even see Asuka as RAW Women’s Champion again as soon as SummerSlam.
Then that of course will lead to the people who cried about Asuka being ‘buried’ instead complaining about how Sasha has now been buried… for WWE it will always be a case of “dammed if they do, dammed if they don’t.”
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