If you've watched wrestling before you should realize we cannot be given a match devoid of story and be expected to care about it. This is apparent on recent WWE programming where we're given cookie cutter matches night after night without a backstory to accompany them. Some are good, some are bad but the operative question remains: Why should I care?
This is why we're given the obligatory talking segments and video packages to flesh out a backstory for bigger matches. Each player establishes their role in the story and they just keep building on the story with various actions over a few segments until the culmination, a much bigger match some weeks later, most often during a pay-per-view (PPV) show or special event.
If you want an example of this, just watch the last few weeks of NXT with the various segments involving Sasha Banks and Bayley building up to their Iron Maiden match at Takeover: Respect. The build has been simple yet extremely effective. Both women want to top their legendary match from Takeover: Brooklyn and simultaneously prove that one is a better wrestler than the other. It doesn't get much more simple than that...
...or does it?
This week's NXT featured the debut of Asuka (aka Kana), a absolute legend in the world of Japanese wrestling. The laid out segment was simple: a run-of-the-mill contract signing allowing us to see Asuka for the first time and to hear her say a few words about joining NXT.
As a segment, it was as basic as you could get. General Manager William Regal called her out and asked her how she felt. She excitedly responded with how happy she was to be in NXT. When she said this, you could tell that she was both excited and nervous, and the crowd felt the same.
The contract was signed just in time for Dana Brooke and Emma to interrupt, much to the chagrin of Regal and the audience (Asuka didn't know what was going on at the moment). They came down and cut a stereotypical "you're new here, we're the welcome wagon, now get out of our ring" promo, and after a moment of showing true nervousness, Asuka sheepishly walked out.
Now if you've watched enough wrestling, you just KNEW that there was more to this than Asuka walking out like a coward. Sure enough, Asuka got to the stage, stopped, slowly turned, and we got a breathtaking shot that will surely become one of NXT's most iconic images:
Ladies and gentlemen, the term "sadistic smile" does not even begin to describe this face. This is the face nightmares are made of. This is the face of impending doom.
This is the face that will take over NXT's venerable women's division.
What you see here is a master class in the art of body language. As she was getting ripped by Brooke and Emma, Asuka was making herself look fearful in the face of competition, and her leaving the ring was a sign that she didn't know what she was in for.
However, all of this was a ruse on Asuka's part. She was annoyed by the welcome wagon's interruption, but she wasn't going to show that. It would have been an early victory for the heels. She left the ring, sheepishly walked to the stage, stopped, and fired the shot that would be seen around the world without speaking a word.
In reality, Asuka was completely unfazed by her foes. Instead, she schooled everyone. Emma and Brooke received a death sentence, and EVERYONE knows it.
If you wondered whether I was sold on a match involving Dana Brooke, Emma, and Asuka in a simple segment, the answer is yes. In fact, Asuka sold the match better than Emma or Dana ever could, and she did it without saying a word save for what she said when she signed her contract.
Coulrophobics, run away now...