Posted in: Fox, Sports, TV, USA Network, WWE | Tagged: Asuka, bleeding cool, cable, Extreme Rules, fox, NXT, PPV, pro wrestling, Raw, sasha banks, Smackdown, streaming, television, tv, usa, wrestling, wwe

Asuka v. Sasha Banks: The Mist Returns at WWE Extreme Rules

WWE's The Horror Show at Extreme Rules followed up Seth Rollins and Rey Mysterio's Eye for an Eye match with Rollins vomiting on the sidelines, which segued to an equal display of showmanship and rivalry between current Raw Women's Champion Asuka vs. Sasha Banks. The women of WWE have long contended whether or not Asuka has been deserving of the title, claiming it was simply handed to her from a hormonal and pregnant Becky Lynch. The consistent belt defender has fought off the likes of Nia Jax to Charlotte Flair, eventually working her way through the card to the embittered Sasha Banks.

The women began the match trading blows, with their respective best friends and tag team partners looking on just outside the ring. Banks locked in the first submission move of the night, but Asuka quickly dispelled the clutches from The Boss, but the two continued in their attempts to out-power the other through the match.

Asuka's biggest downfalls during the match had been the submissions and locks inflicted against her by Banks, especially a devastating finger lock followed with an immediate armbar. Although the crowd was mostly on Asuka's side, Banks had easily dominated the beginning of the match from the jump, much to the chagrin of Kairi Sane. Finally, Asuka was able to land a spinning back fist to the jaw of Banks to shift the power back into her favor but was quickly shut down when she missed a blow to her opponent and landed face-first into the turnbuckle. Not even Asuka's attempt at tearing Banks away from the ropes was successful, as the latter dominated this exchange once again to slam the current champion into the audience's protective plexiglass, quickly followed by an attempted pin and subsequent submission broken only by Asuka grabbing the ropes.

Asuka did manage to land a German suplex on Banks which granted her enough power to attempt to pin Banks, but she managed to kick out at the 2-second count. Asuka then tried to land a dropkick on Banks, but once again The Boss was able to counter the big hits from Asuka. Each time Banks seemed to lose control of the match, she was able to put an immediate end to whatever ground Asuka attempted to regain.

The end of this exchange began with Bayley's distraction outside the ring, and although she was quickly pulled down by Sane, it did the trick to inflict chaos as Asuka and Banks who quickly went into an exchange of pins. This caused the ref to lose control of the match momentarily, and missed Banks tapping out to Asuka's submission. During Banks' following contention with the ref, Asuka brought back the infamous green mist and blinded the official by mistake when Banks dodged the devastating spit-bomb.

Bayley then entered the ring, tore the shirt off the official, and completed the three count once Banks pinned a distracted Asuka. The bell was rung officially with even the commentators left in shock. Once again, the two best friends leave the ring in excitement and the audience in confusion. This was completely unexpected as Asuka has been following the more straight and narrow path since her success at Money in the Bank, but it's obvious now that the green mist was not retired, only momentarily benched.

Now that both Bayley and Banks can claim "dos straps," who knows what the next chapter in women's wrestling holds with these rule-breaking powerhouses at the helm.

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