WrestleMania results 2018: Charlotte defeats Asuka for the Smackdown Women’s Championshp

There was so much buildup to the Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka match that it was almost a surprise to have it happen so early in the night. After a perfectly hyped up video package to recap where things stand, things got underway with Charlotte arriving to the ring on a throne, flanked by soldiers and evoking HHH’s WrestleMania 30 entrance (which she was a part of).

She got a properly royal theme for the initial entrance before her normal theme music kicked in, and she strutted her stuff down to the ring with her Smackdown Women’s Championship belt on fully display.

Asuka one upped her though, with an entrance that can only be described as trippy as hell. There were graphics augmenting the already awesome set, with copies of her signature mask hovering over the crowd as she was introduced. She milked the crowd’s love before things officially got underway.

Asuka started things off with her signature submission techniques before Charlotte started trying to get aggressive and start taking control of the match. Charlotte had Asuka in the corner of the ring, but not for long as the latter threw the former out of the ring and looked to have things thoroughly handled.

Once they were both back on the mat there was some grappling and then Charlotte became a victim of the Asuka Lock and Asuka hopping on her back, eventually fighting her way back and pulling a “backpack stunner” to once again gain the upper hand. They traded moves for a few minutes with each looking to be close to victory at various points.

But then they both got the wind knocked out of them after a suplex off the apron to the outside, taking almost a full minute to gather themselves before getting up off the floor and entering the ring again. At that point, it was the most incredible move of the match but it wouldn’t be for long.

After Asuka thoroughly dominated Charlotte for the first few moves back within the ropes, she took up position on the ropes in the corner of the ring and Charlotte went for the face. Then she climbed up on the ropes with Asuka and pulled off an honest to goodness Spanish Fly. It took a lot out of her, as a fall from that distance should, but she recovered.

There was another series of holds and some back and forth before Charlotte pulled out the Figure Eight Leglock ... while balancing on ONLY. ONE. ARM. because her other arm was bleeding. Asuka tapped out and what followed was a sincere moment in the ring as Charlotte caught her breath and celebrated her victory. The two hugged, and Asuka congratulated Charlotte on the win.

Of course, they couldn’t just have their moment, as a ref went over to John Cena to (it appeared) tell him that UnderTaker had arrived while Charlotte was still celebrating. It didn’t take too much away from how awesome the match was, but they could have waited another few minutes instead of interrupting her moment.