Jim Ross On If Asuka Can Recover From Recent Losses, Problems With Carmella's Character
Recently on The Jim Ross Report, WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross discussed what becomes of WWE Superstar's Asuka now that she is out of the SmackDown Women's Championship picture. Also, Ross talked about Carmella having 'go away heat'.
According to Ross, he fully expected Asuka to defeat Carmella for the SmackDown Women's title at WWE Extreme Rules. With that said, moving out of the title picture is far from a death sentence for the Osaka native.
"On the surface, Carmella beating Asuka surprised me and raised the ire of some, no doubt. I'm going to finish, but I'm kind of confident that when all the smoke clears and settles, that 'The Empress' will be whole once again. She's too damn good to not be. Asuka has got amazing athleticism. She's physical. She's intense. She's mysterious. There's just something exotic about her that's going to keep her coming back and back to your memory or the front of my awareness. And by the way, her win-loss record isn't that bad quite frankly. You can say, 'oh, she lost at a pay-per-view.' Well, quite frankly, there are more people that see her win or lose on USA Network than they do on the WWE Network if you're counting pennies. I don't think a tainted loss, if it's sold right by the announcers, hurts you at all. The babyface, Asuka in this case, has got an out."
'Good Ol' J.R.' noted that Asuka's booking has been "controversial", but reiterated that the former NXT Women's Champion can rebound from her losing ways.
"[Asuka's booking] has been controversial, no doubt about that. I don't believe that a fluke loss sets anybody back to a place they can't recover from whatsoever. And I think that the fact that one of the things that might have hurt Asuka is that if she had lost to someone that the fans believe to have more credibility in the ring from bell-to-bell than Carmella is perceived to have, whether that be right or wrong, there would be less of this pissing outside of the tent thing." Ross said, "but I think that Asuka is a gem. She's exotic. She's a battler. She's a real keeper. And I think the cream will rise to the top. I'm really optimistic about a lot of things in life, but I really think Asuka is going to be in fine shape over the long haul. Please be patient and if you can't be patient, change the goddamn channel."
With respect to Carmella, Ross claimed that the current and defending SmackDown Women's Champion was "too over-the-top" on the Extreme Rules postshow, saying there is a fine line between "villain heat" and "go away heat" (what the wrestleverse colloquially call 'real heat' and 'X-Pac heat') and Carmella was getting the latter.
"I think that Carmella on the postgame show that I watched after Extreme Rules, inadvertently gathered some 'go away' heat." Ross professed, "she was over-the-top and awkward from my point of view. I understand and I appreciate her enthusiasm, but she kind of went into business for herself, it seemed like and I think that kind of turned some people off. It didn't sound really WWE-ish. And I like [Carmella].
"Hey, this young woman has improved a lot. She [has] got a great look, she really does. She loves being a heel. That means a lot, so that's not a knock on Carmella. It's just the fact that everyone had these wonderful expectations of Asuka, who just a few months ago at WrestleMania was in one of the most desired and eagerly anticipated matches of the night against Charlotte. So I think the 'go away' heat had an issue there with Asuka being looked at the situation so negatively. And there's a fine line, folks, between 'villain heat' and 'go away heat'. Fine line and I think we saw the other side of that line, not the good side of that line, in the Extreme Rules postgame show. She might have been a little bit too over-the-top. I'm just saying."
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Source: The Jim Ross Report