5 theories why Asuka lost the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship
With 12 days to go until WrestleMania 35, WWE produced one of the biggest shocks of 2019 so far when Charlotte Flair defeated Asuka in an impromptu match on the March 26 episode of SmackDown Live to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship.
It had been announced prior to the show that a Fatal 4-Way match would take place between Carmella, Naomi, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville to determine a new #1 contender for the title, with the winner going on to challenge “The Empress of Tomorrow” in a one-on-one match at WrestleMania 35.
However, in the opening match of the night, Flair cut a promo on her way to the ring and she was soon followed by Asuka, and ring announcer Greg Hamilton surprisingly announced that the two were set to face each other with the blue brand’s Women’s Championship on the line.
The unpredictable match looked as though it could go either way, especially when Flair repeatedly failed to lock in her trusty Figure Eight submission on her opponent. In the end, the WrestleMania 35 main-eventer made the Japanese Superstar submit to her finisher, which means “The Queen” is now an eight-time main-roster champion.
In this article, let’s take a look at five theories why WWE decided to scrap their original SmackDown Women’s Championship plans and take the title away from Asuka.
#5 Combine the Women’s Championships
Let’s face it, WWE has far too many titles. For the last two-and-a-half years, Raw and SmackDown Live have both had four titles each, while the Cruiserweight Championship has floated around Raw and 205 Live as a ninth main-roster title.
With the introduction of the Women’s Tag Team Championship earlier this year, there are now a staggering 10 titles on the main roster, and you can increase that number to 17 (and 22 title holders in total) if you include NXT and NXT UK.
The decision to have Charlotte Flair win the SmackDown Women’s Championship from Asuka presumably means that both the Raw and SmackDown titles will be on the line in the WrestleMania 35 main event between Flair, Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch.
If that is the case, then perhaps this will be the start of WWE combining several Raw/SmackDown main-roster titles.