Paul Heyman – Four Potential Clients

2) Roman Reigns

No, wait! Come back! The water’s warm… Okay, fine.

2) Asuka

 

Heyman’s doctrine as a booker has always been to highlight the strengths of a performer while masking their weaknesses. Nowhere is this more applicable than with Asuka. The ‘Empress of Tomorrow’ is arguably the most gifted in-ring worker the WWE have in their women’s division today. Undefeated for almost two and a half years dating back to her NXT debut in October 2015, Asuka quickly stormed to the top of the card. Her explosiveness, agility and ruthlessness established her as a firm favorite of most wrestling fans.

Asuka’s only weakness? The English language. A veteran of the Japanese circuit, Asuka only made the jump to American shores a few years ago. Although she’s clearly been working hard and her English has steadily improved, it’s by no means fluent and only serves to detract from her in-ring work.

This wouldn’t be a problem if she wasn’t regularly required to do so much talking during Smackdown Live segments, which are primarily designed to make her look like a total goof. This, combined with some awful booking decisions like the loss to Charlotte, being outfoxed by James Ellsworth and multiple defeats to Carmella, have really taken the shine off a once rising star.

Smackdown Live is a longer show than NXT and places different demands on its performers. This invariably involves catering to a more casual audience by integrating narrative-heavy, dialogue-driven segments. What Asuka needs to bring her out of the doldrums is someone who can take that pressure off her.

Partner her with Heyman, allow him to hype up what a tremendous force she is, have him do the longer segments while Asuka yells wildly in Japanese. And then have the ‘Empress of Tomorrow’ tear people apart between the ropes.

In short: highlight her strengths, mask her weakness.

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• NXT Tag Team Championships
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