Cup of coffee in the big time: Lynch vs. Asuka vs. Flair must main event TLC

Put three ultra-talented women in a program together, don’t overwrite their story and great things happen. Go figure!

I’ve been buzzing about the SmackDown Live match between Asuka and Charlotte Flair and the post-match interactions adding in Becky Lynch for over a day. It’s rare for something WWE-related to grab me the way this has.

Much of the credit goes to Lynch. WWE hasn’t had a character feel this fresh and important in a long time. She has taken the ball and ran with it like nobody else. It’s astounding that there’s at least one moment almost every single day that she is on TV or on social media doing something impactful.

Flair has broken out of a bit of a rut through her feud with Lynch. Having matches with real fire and even a briefly teased reunion as she stepped in for Lynch against Ronda Rousey before the realization she simply wanted to kick the former UFC champion’s ass worse than her rival could.

And Asuka’s act had been badly damaged since losing to Flair at WrestleMania. It’s not that she had to be undefeated — that’s not an act with true longevity — it’s that she had to be feared. Instead, she has been randomly goofy or simply missing from TV entirely. Now, she’s right there in this hot program swinging kendo sticks with the best. It immediately gives her her edge back.

The TLC match between these three had better main event the TLC pay-per-view (PPV). It’s the best thing going on either brand and it would be stunning if it were anything other than fantastic.

What better option is there? Daniel Bryan is on fire, but his feud with the fans is much better than his feud with AJ Styles. To put Ronda Rousey vs. Nia Jax on the same level as the triple threat is laughable. I can barely tolerate Baron Corbin main eventing Raw, let alone getting the PPV nod over Flair, Lynch and Asuka. Seth Rollins’ confounding feud with Dean Ambrose ain’t on the level yet.

Give the best program and best match the main event slot.

Don’t blow this, WWE.

• NXT recap and reactions are up. Go read them!
• Becky Lynch keeps murdering people on Twitter.
• Mandy Rose vs. Naomi probably won’t get bumped from next week’s show if they keep up the heat on Twitter.
• Here’s the NXT UK Tag Team Championships.
• The WWE TV ratings rut continues.
• Christopher Daniels talked to Cageside Seats about a whole lot of stuff.
• The talk about how hard it is to write WWE TV continued throughout the day yesterday.
• Fastlane hits Cleveland next year.

How is it not the weekend yet?