In spite of it all, we’re still here. We’ve made it to the end of this week. And for better or worse, WWE’s gonna go through with all of this. Regardless of what anyone might think, WrestleMania 36 is upon us. WWE certainly likes making history, as the NXT Women’s Championship match between Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair proves. But history was inevitable this time around, as an unprecedented circumstance will see WrestleMania take place over the course of two nights. And there won’t be a single fan in attendance for either half of the show.
It’s funny, it was only in 2019 that I started writing about wrestling for a living in the first place. It’s fair to say that I would never have guessed that the first WrestleMania I ever covered would be anything like this one. But even so… my name is Jordan Huie and I’m truly glad to have you here with us at the Overtimer. You can atleast be rest assured that we’ll be giving you the same coverage as always for WrestleMania. This year’s version of the big event, if nothing else, will be wholly different from any other. So with all that said, let’s get to the previews. We’re getting to some truly major matches now.
(Note: At the time of writing, WWE have not announced which matches will be airing on which day.)
NXT Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley © vs. Charlotte Flair
This is not one of those matches you’d have predicted to be on the card a few months ago. Atleast it certainly isn’t something people would have guessed would happen before NXT’s move to USA this past October. But it’s here and it’s one of the more intriguing matches on the card from my perspective. Rhea Ripley has made waves pretty quickly in her few brushes with the main roster. She’s been an impressive talent for some time on NXT and in NXT UK, and seemed to come into her own with an out-of-nowhere babyface turn this past Fall. She ended up being the one to end Shayna Baszler’s reign of terror. Now, both of them find themselves on WrestleMania 36’s double card.
Ripley is set to make some history, being the first woman to defend the NXT Women’s Championship at WWE’s biggest show of the year. In fact she’s the first person to defend any NXT title at WrestleMania, period. And this has more to it than that, as Ripley has recounted that early in her career, she looked a lot like Charlotte and was constantly compared to her, much to her chagrin. So she went out of her way to reinvent herself into a wholly unique person and became a star in the process.
But while they may look nothing alike anymore, it’s still a battle between two prodigal athletes. And regardless of when and where it takes place, it really should be a great match. As for the result, I think a lot of people have figured the idea here is to get Charlotte back in NXT to give them another big star for name value’s sake, and to do with a big win rather than a loss so she comes in with momentum. This makes sense to me, so I’ll pick Charlotte to win.
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