WWE Backlash 2020 Results: Lackluster Asuka Vs. Nia Jax Feud To Continue After Questionable Finish

WWE Backlash 2020 didn’t exactly start off Asuka’s Raw Women’s Championship reign like it should have.

Although “The Empress of Tomorrow” left the pay-per-view as champion, she didn’t do so with a clean victory over Nia Jax. Instead, their title match ended with a good ole fashioned double countout, a head-scratching decision that exemplifies why it’s a bad idea for WWE to position two stars in a feud with one another when the creative team doesn’t want to book either one of them to lose.

When Becky Lynch revealed last month that she was pregnant and would be taking an indefinite hiatus from WWE, Asuka went from heel tag team performer to babyface singles star, champion and face of the Raw’s women’s division seemingly in the blink of an eye. WWE presumably chose to roll with Asuka as the “replacement” for “The Man” because WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon is said to be a big supporter of hers, particularly during this strange era of mostly audience-less shows that have allowed certain superstars to shine while others have struggled.

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For all the talk about the supposed bad booking of Asuka over the years (and yes, there has been some), Asuka is now a Raw, SmackDown and NXT Women’s Champion, a Women’s Tag Team Champion, a Money in the Bank winner and a Royal Rumble winner. With a resume like that, Asuka is clearly positioned as the heir apparent to Lynch, and as such, her first pay-per-view match as champion should have ended with a decisive victory over Nia Jax.

Yet, WWE once again stuck itself between a rock and a hard place with this one.

Since returning to WWE after WrestleMania, Jax has been positioned as one of the biggest stars in the women’s division, even though her push remains as controversial as ever. Jax has developed a reputation as an unsafe in-ring performer, stemming back to multiple in-ring incidents over the years, including that unforgettable punch in 2018 that broke Lynch’s nose and inadvertently helped catapult her to super-stardom. Just back in April, fans were reminded of Jax’s sometimes reckless in-ring style when she nearly injured Kairi Sane, who suffered a serious concussion late last year, during a match on Raw. Lately, Jax has been criticized by WWE’s own performers for injuring Sane on Raw, and some of those stars have even called for her to be fired.

It’s obvious, at least on the surface, however, why WWE is pushing Jax, who has a superstar look and stands out because of her size, especially in comparison to some of the smaller female performers on Raw, like Sane. But the feud between Jax and Asuka is yet another one of those frequent occurrences in WWE in which the creative team needs to decide whether to protect both stars, one or neither. Given all the pressure that Asuka is facing as the new No. 1 star in Raw’s women’s division, she either shouldn’t have been positioned against a star like Jax (who WWE obviously wants to keep strong) or should have beaten the colossal superstar handily at Backlash.

After all, one of the things that made Asuka so appealing during her initial rise in WWE was the way she dominated and decimated any and all competition, no matter how big or how small. Asuka became one of WWE’s most intriguing and captivating characters during her time in NXT and early on the main roster because she had developed an undeniable aura as the most unstoppable star on the roster. Now, she can’t beat Jax? Wrestling fans get it: WWE wants to keep Jax looking good just because of her sheer size.

But as Jax remains one of the least intriguing characters in WWE’s women’s division while Asuka is on a roll, you can’t help but question why WWE would even bother continuing this rival when it’s one that’s generating very little interest and is obviously just a placeholder rivalry for bigger and better things to come, like a reported feud with Shayna Bazler or even one with Charlotte Flair.

At a time when Raw viewership is once again struggling, a mundane Jax/Asuka feud isn’t going to help matters, and WWE needs to move on from this rivalry ASAP.