Watch: Asuka Challenges Charlotte Flair to WrestleMania 34 Championship Match

In a surprise twist, Asuka made a shocking appearance at Fastlane on Sunday and challenged [...]

By Connor Casey

In a surprise twist, Asuka made a shocking appearance at Fastlane on Sunday and challenged Charlotte Flair to a match at WrestleMania 34.

Charlotte Flair successfully defended her SmackDown Live Women's Championship by defeating Riott Squad leader Ruby Riott on Sunday in Columbus, Ohio. But before she had much time to celebrate, Asuka's music hit and the undefeated Japanese superstar danced her way down to the ring.

Asuka then stared down Flair in the middle of the ring, turned towards the WrestleMania 34 and pointed, indicating she had chosen Flair as her opponent. Flair didn't say a word, instead choosing to scream indicating she was ready for the challenge.

"The Empress of Tomorrow" won the first-ever Women's Royal Rumble match in January, giving her the option to face either Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss or Flair at WrestleMania. In recent weeks it looked like she'd be facing Bliss, given that Bliss continued to taunt her while Asuka attacked her associates in Nia Jax and Mickie James.

While Flair has been seen by many as the face of WWE's Women's Division, she's never squared off with Asuka. Flair was already on the main roster by the time Asuka made her debut at NXT TakeOver: Respect in October 2015. Since then she;s gone on to remain undefeated, breaking Goldberg's WCW undefeated streak and holding the NXT Women's Championship for a whopping 510 days, one of the 10 longest championship reigns in WWE history.

Her unbeaten streak continued as she made the jump to the main roster in September 2017, defeating the likes of Emma, Alicia Fox, Dana Brooke, Nia Jax and even reigning champion Alexa Bliss in a mixed tag match.

Charlotte, meanwhile, has been SmackDown Women's Champion since November after defeating Natalya in a main event match on an episode of SmackDown Live. Flair is a six-time women's champion, winning the Divas Championship once and the revived Women's Championship (later turned into the Raw Women's Championship) four times. She, like Asuka, also had a run with the NXT Women's Championship during her years in the developmental system.

Charlotte sat down with the folks at Talking Smack after the show, saying that defeating Asuka would cement her legacy if she could defeat the undefeated Empress at WrestleMania.

WrestleMania 34 takes place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans on April 8. Confirmed matches for the event include A.J. Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar in world championship matches.

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