Asuka Defeats Becky Lynch With The Help Of Green Mist

Becky Lynch and Asuka continued their escalating rivalry on WWE Raw Monday, with "Big Time Becks" ending the night looking green in the face.

Monday Night Raw was supposed to feature a Six Pack Challenge match – Lynch vs. Asuka vs. Sasha Banks vs. Naomi vs. Doudrop vs. Nikki A.S.H. – as its main event. The winner would earn a spot to square off against Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair at Hell in a Cell on June 5.  But that’s not what went down. During the broadcast, WWE Superstars Banks and Naomi actually walked out of the show, and straight into WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis’ office, claiming they “weren’t respected enough,” WWE said in an official statement.

WWE told fans they “regret” they were “unable to deliver, as advertised, tonight’s main event,” but the substitute match between Lynch and Asuka was certainly eventful in its own right.

The two Superstars battled it out for the right to challenge Belair. They've been on something of a collision course for several weeks now. Just last week, Lynch attacked Asuka on Raw while ostensibly commentating on her non-title match with Belair; she got particularly mad during a conversation about her ceding the Raw Women's Championship to Asuka after announcing she was pregnant in 2020. Lynch again revealed how upset she was that Asuka, who had been out of the picture for nearly a year before returning to Raw a few weeks ago, had been given the opportunity against Belair, against whom Lynch has her own axe to grind after losing the title to her at WrestleMania.

And the wrath of “Big Time Becks” was certainly apparent on Monday. During the first minute of the fight, Lynch kicked Asuka in the face knocking her out of the ring. Lynch also gave her a fallaway slam into the barricade. 

But Asuka stopped Lynch – just as “The Empress of Tomorrow” promised she would a few weeks back when she made her return to Raw.

The action was fierce throughout, but the critical moment came when Lynch left the ring to taunt Belair, who was seated ringside. Was she trying to provoke Belair to hit her, which would've handed her the victory by disqualification? Or could she just not resist the chance to poke the champion? Asuka eventually followed her ringside and charged Lynch, but Becks sidestepped and threw Asuka into Belair, sending the champ tumbling to the ground. Lynch gave Belair a kick to the head before retreating to the ring, at which point she retrieved Asuka's own umbrella from the corner and was poised to slam her with it. That's when Asuka spit a green mist into Lynch's face, confusing and temporarily blinding “Big Time Becks. (You also have to ask, how long was she holding that stuff in her mouth?) It provided enough of an advantage for Asuka to get the pin, setting up a title match between her and Belair.

Meanwhile Lynch, though she lost, remained defiant, vowing on Twitter following the match that she "will prevail" in the long run.

Watch WWE Raw Mondays at 8/7c on USA Network.