Rumors are a beautiful thing, but as the matches for WrestleMania 36 are being penciled in, rumors are becoming factual by the day. Of course, things can change in an instant either through injury or fan losing interest. To that end, this is liable to draw some fans in. For the short term, anyway. For now, it’s expected that Charlotte Flair will challenge Rhea Ripley for the NXT Championship at WrestleMania 36.
This can on the heels of Monday Night Raw, where Flair said she didn’t know who she’s going to challenge after winning the Women’s Royal Rumble match. It was believed by many, myself included, that she’d challenge Becky Lynch for their thousandth match, but that’s looking less likely by the day.
Instead, for the Raw Women’s Championship, it’s been reported that Shayna Baszler will challenge Becky Lynch at WrestleMania, since she’s the only one Lynch hasn’t beaten per se. It’d be a repeat of last year’s WrestleMania without Ronda Rousey, unless she pulls a surprise return.
On the Smackdown side, reports have indicated that Bayley and Sasha Banks will have a falling out or use another angle to have them face off at WrestleMania for the Smackdown Women’s Championship.
So, we’re looking at a possible three women’s championship matches that’ll probably be high on the card like last year.
But before we get there, there’s one big question everyone seems to have about Flair’s move.
Why NXT?
First of all, this information comes from Dave Meltzer via cagesideseats, so take it with a grain of salt due to the reasoning for why Flair would go back to NXT is weak at best. They may spin it as legitimizing and raising the NXT Championship to new levels, or Flair wants revenge for Survivor Series, but both are a stretch. Either way, it appears Flair will be going for a championship she previously held in 2014-2015.
This is further strengthened with Flair being in Orlando for tonight’s NXT, expect her to challenge Rhea Ripley there and begin a feud between them leading up to WrestleMania.
There’s another thought where she could win the championship from Ripley tonight, and then challenge Lynch at WrestleMania to have two belts herself. But this is more fantastical than not, and would wipe out Ripley’s accomplishments thus far, and that doesn’t make any sense until WrestleManina.
The Queen will reign supreme
Storylines aside, the real reason for this would be to put one of the WWE’s biggest superstars on Wednesday Night, and since Flair is also one of the more beautiful and athletic wrestlers they have, who better to hold a gender neutral belt?
It’ll be good PR for the WWE and help in their ratings war with AEW on Wednesday nights. Especially considering AEW’s women’s division is shaky at best.
This is a gamble on the WWE’s part, especially given that Becky Lynch and others have said they want equal opportunities, nit necessarily a division or championship name change. That could lead to some interesting press for the WWE. Just wait until someone realizes the name change is a meaningless gesture to placate the fans and women’s rights supporters.
Maybe it would’ve been easier to give the women’s division more matches like they deserve? But that’s a story for another day.
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