… suddenly curious, because it occurs to me I never hear the phrase in context of what someone says or utters, but rather, something they are actually doing or plan to do.
The phrase, as far as I can tell, shows up in print around 1900 in American English.
I can’t hazard much of a guess to the rest of your question, except to suggest that people seldom “ask” for trouble, knowingly, in real life.
(Well, after being a mod on this board, and reading posts since 1999, I’ll correct myself. People sure are strange.) 
How about related phrases?
Cruisin for a bruisin
Hankerin for a spankerin
Rumblin for a tumblin
Floatin for a slit throatin
etc…
itchin for a bitchin
runnin for a gunnin
skippin for a trippin
mackin for an attackin
postin for a roastin (hmmm…)
One I’ve never heard nor read anywhere, but just think is a terrificly colorful one is one my mom used to say - only in jest, mind you. When I’d be particularly obstreperous, she’d say, “Boy, you’re breedin’ a scab for your eye!”
Anyone ever hear that one?
One of my teachers used to say, “Don’t go looking for trouble-you just might find it.”
I gotcha.
I was recalling what I wrote about “fighting words” in another thread in GD last week. “Fighting words” do correlate to “asking for trouble,” to an extent, and I wondered if there were even an idle connection. “Fighting words” "backtalk’ and “Asking for trouble” are about the only acknowledgements of speaking = leading to trouble I can think of in American English, except that in actual usage “asking for trouble” doesn’t (typically) refer to verbal provocations.
“Letting your mouth write a check your ass can’t cash,” is a personal favorite.
bleatin for a beatin
Oh, hell, If NoClueBoy can do it…
Chomping for a whomping.
Yelling for a swelling.
Sassing for a lashing.
Mumbling for a pummeling. <---- (I liked this.)
Complaining for a caning.
Whooping for a whipping.
Talking smack for a stinging whack.
Slap you so hard your ancestors will feel it.