One thing that is certain in sports entertainment is that nothing is certain. Things can change at a moment’s notice, often right before someone walks out for their match. Some of it depends on the crowd, and some depends on sending a message to the wrestler or wrestlers involved. Because of this, Shayna Baszler was robbed of her Royal Rumble win, and is owed an apology by Vince McMahon.
To say Baszler was the hands on favor to win is putting it mildly. She was going to win, at least as far as most watching of knowing about her and the business believed.
She’s a rising star in the WWE and has been reported to be called up to the main brands sooner rather than later.
Why she didn’t win
This is like figuring out why someone throws away a winning lottery ticket and keeps the losing ticket for good luck. The reason could be simple, or complex.
One of the main possibilities is it was meant to put NXT in its place.
WWE’s developmental brand has long been considered superior to Raw and Smackdown, the main brands, and was brought in and won Survivor Series. While their win was meant to, and did give them a boost in ratings in their Wednesday Night War with AEW (All Elite Wrestling), had Baszler or Keith Lee won the Royal Rumble, it would’ve made the parent company look as weak as everyone knows it is (sorry, but it’s true).
The storylines have been meh at best, aside form a few fun ones, and they’ve made fans groan and boo more than not.
Adding fuel to the fire was a verbal confrontation between Brock Lesnar and Matt Riddle prior to the event.
Riddle has talked smack for a while about Lesner, and it’s been out of character. Apparently, the two crossed paths backstage and Lesnar asked him what the issue was between them. While the confrontation ended without violence (Kinda wish Rick Rude was there. That would’ve been fun.), it could have been the tipping point for Vince McMahon.
There’s no denying he can be petty and vengeful, so give how much he pushes Brock Lesnar without rhyme or reason at times, he could’ve taken this as the kids were getting too big for their britches.
So, instead of spanking them individually, he had the NXT roster look weak in the Rumble matches for the most part. Sure, there were signs of greatness like Bianca Belair’s record 8 eliminations, Keith Lee’s thunderous spear, and Shayna Baszler lasting until the final three, but over all, NXT seemed smaller in scale.
It also hurt the NXT brand as they’ve been struggling with competing against AEW (All Elite Wrestling) in their Wednesday Night Wars. This leaves NXT in a difficult position as they’ve been losing the ratings battle since the new year, and things look like it’s going to get worse for some time. But that’s probably some grand scheme we’ll find out ten years from now was sheer luck. Until then…
Was Shayna Baszler robbed of her Royal Rumble win? Yep, no doubt. Was the above the reason? No clue, but it is fun to speculate.
What’s next
This is a bit murky as had she won, it would’ve muddied the championship race for the women’s division going into WrestleMania, but that would’ve been a good thing. There was virtually no build up to the Royal Rumble match. The winner will face their choice of champion sat WrestleMania, but that was it. It was also left open for more surprise entrants than the men’s, leading to more room for speculation by the fans.
The current thought process is Charlotte Flair will probably be in the main even at WrestleMania again.
Fans are torn on this for obvious reasons. As great as Flair is, her in the championship circle has gotten old and most want to see someone else step up.
Hence, another reason why Baszler should’ve won. She may be older than Lynch and Flair, but she’s a new commodity that’s add the same type of legitimate toughness to the women’s division that Ronda Rousey did, and McMahon passed on it.
The question then becomes what are the matches supposed to be at WrestleMania?
Well, since it was reported last week that Bayley and Sasha Banks will be facing off for the Smackdown Women’s Championship without Lacey Evans, that leaves Becky Lynch.
One of the theories I reported on was the possibility of Ronda Rousey returning at WrestleMania 36 to face Lynch. While that may be what the fans want, it looks like we’ll be seeing yet another Lynch vs Flair match. Maybe Baszler will be added to make it a Triple Threat, and maybe Ronda Rousey will come back for a Final Four match. Or Bazler and Rousey could face off if Rousey comes back.
The couldas muddy the picture worse than having Baszler win, and without the push of fresh blood.
If anything, this added an element of uncertainty the WWE has been looking forward to. But will the fans remain given this misstep? Time will tell.
