Coming off a long hiatus in her career, Asuka is straight-up heading into a huge title match opportunity following WWE Smackdown, this week. Winning her scheduled bout on the show, she’s now heading into the finale of the Queen of the Ring tournament set for Saudi Arabia, next week. Additionally, the first finalist from the King of the Ring tournament was also determined on the show.
On the June 20 episode of WWE Smackdown, Asuka defeated Alexa Bliss to advance to the Final of the Queen of the Ring Tournament. The two former women’s champions had quite the encounter on the show, with both of them looking to execute their finisher at an early point of the bout.
Bliss dodged a missile dropkick and hit a DDT to Asuka. Bliss thought of a Twisted Bliss but rather confronted Asuka to get caught in an armbar. Bliss later went up for the Twisted Bliss, but Asuka got her knees up. She hit a hip attack and pinned Bliss for the victory on WWE Smackdown to get one step closer to a championship opportunity at SummerSlam, given she won the Queen of the Ring tournament.
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Last night marked Asuka’s return to WWE Smackdown after several months. With her own over Bliss, she will now face the winner of Jade Cargill vs Roxanne Perez, a match set for this Monday’s WWE Raw. The Empress of Tomorrow originally returned this past Monday night on Raw and defeated Stephanie Vaquer, Raquel Rodriguez, and Ivy Nile to advance to the semifinal against Bliss.
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Speaking of Bliss, she’s constantly been teasing to form a fresh tag team with Charlotte Flair. On WWE Smackdown, Flair defeated Chelsea Green in a singles contest. Green’s cohorts, Piper Niven and Alba Fyre attacked Charlotte after the match, which led to Bliss making the save. The two sent the heels off the ring, but after they were gone, Flair ignored Bliss’ handshake offer.
Elsewhere on WWE Smackdown, Randy Orton defeated Sami Zayn to advance to the Final of the King of the Ring tournament. Orton hit his pendant RKO to advance. Last week, he returned for the first time since Backlash PLE and eliminated Aleister Black, LA Knight, and Carmelo Hayes en route to the semifinal against Zayn.