Asuka Extending Streak vs. Nia Jax Is Key to Eventual Clash with Ronda Rousey

Asuka remained undefeated in WWE with a win over Nia Jax at Elimination Chamber on Sunday, ensuring her title match at WrestleMania will be a one-on-one contest.

The Empress of Tomorrow took a massive beating throughout the match, and her chances of winning seemed to take a big hit when Jax was able to successfully break out of the armbar.

However, Asuka countered an attempted powerbomb into a pinning attempt and kept Jax's shoulders on the mat for the three-count. 

Even more importantly, though, the victory kept alive the possibility of an eventual meeting between the Japanese wrestler and new WWE signee Ronda Rousey.

After Asuka won the first women's Royal Rumble match, Rousey shocked the WWE Universe by appearing in Philadelphia and making her presence known. 

In addition to interactions with Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss and Stephanie McMahon, Rousey offered Asuka a handshake. Instead, the Japanese Superstar slapped her hand away, which may have been a sign of things to come.

As a former UFC women's bantamweight champion and an Olympic bronze medalist in judo, Rousey is legitimately as tough as they come, and finding a believable opponent for her in WWE is something of a challenge.

Charlotte is a solid choice due to her size, athletic background and status as the daughter of one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Ric Flair, but Asuka may provide an even better matchup.

From a storyline perspective, Asuka is perhaps the most dominant female Superstar to compete under the WWE umbrella.

She has yet to lose a televised match in NXT or WWE aside from an NXT Battle Royal. She also held the NXT Women's Championship for a record 510 days before relinquishing it to join the main roster.

Asuka has continued her winning ways on the main roster, and she is already cemented in WWE history as a Royal Rumble winner.

Her WWE resume is stacked despite her relatively short tenure, and her success in the professional wrestling realm makes it at least somewhat realistic that she can hang with Rousey.

If Asuka is going to face Rousey, however, it must happen at a major pay-per-view. WrestleMania would be preferable, although a match at SummerSlam is also possible if WWE doesn't want to wait all the way until WrestleMania 35 in 2019.

The best-case scenario would be to have Asuka win the Women's Championship at WrestleMania 34 and hold it until WrestleMania 35 while remaining undefeated on the main roster for over a year.

Rousey could then win the 2019 women's Royal Rumble to set up a battle against Asuka in what could be the biggest women's match in WWE history and a bout worthy of main-eventing WrestleMania.

Losing to Jax would have put all of that in jeopardy for Asuka, but by continuing to run roughshod over the Raw women's division, Asuka remains the key to properly utilizing Rousey and taking women's wrestling to the next level.

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