Opinion: Women deserve to main-event WrestleMania 35
I know what you are thinking...it's November, what is this guy talking about WrestleMania for?
Well, for one thing, as I write this, it's the night before WWE WrestleMania tickets go on sale. The event is actually rapidly approaching. Heck, the older I get, the faster time seems to move.
So with all that in mind, it's never too early to think about it. Besides, it was not all that long ago we knew of our WrestleMania main event a full year ahead of time (OK fine, that was unusual, but the point remains). And if you don't think the suits in Stamford haven't been plotting out the next WrestleMania card, well...hopefully you know better.
There have been plenty of rumors about the main event for next year's biggest show - something with Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar (obviously, those plans look to be nixed). Or perhaps Strowman and Lesnar, or Strowman and Reigns.
Obviously, due to Roman's unfortunate health issues, it's a good bet he will not factor into the main event equation. But there's another interesting option that has been kicked around in years past, but this time around, really seems to have momentum - let the women main event WrestleMania.
Why? Actually, the question should first be, why not? And as I get older, I have fewer and fewer answers here. Honestly, I can't think of a single good answer why a women's match - presumably for a title could not or should not go last for WrestleMania.
I mean, it was not all that long ago where we had a triple threat women's match which, though it did not go on last, was arguably the best match on that WrestleMania card. We just witnessed an all women's PPV, which I think was done well.
Women's matches are more frequently closing RAW or SmackDown, (the women capped off this past Monday Night RAW, for example). I guess the one thing holding me back from being one hundred percent behind this idea is...which brand or belt do you give that high honour to?
So why should they main event? Well, now it gets a bit more specific, doesn't it? I have seen and read the rumors, more this year than ever. Specifically I've seen it mention Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey, a match we get at Survivor Series, though not for the RAW Women's Championship.
It is a match we could get again in April, provided Charlotte wins the Royal Rumble and wants Rousey again. To be honest, Rousey is the key in all this. She was a major draw in UFC, and she generated PPV buys.
She's been in big matches, and she may not be a WWE veteran, but she's an established mega-star, known the world over. You pit her against one of the best women in the business today, and it very well would steal the show, regardless of what show it is on.
But (and there has to be a but), what if it's NOT going to be Flair and Rousey? What if it's Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey?
I actually love the idea of this match. I was super excited for the match heading into Los Angeles, but with Lynch out, the match lost something. I look at that image of Becky covered in blood, defiant, and it hits me - she deserves the main event as much, if not more, than any other superstar.
She waited for her next title opportunity, and she's running with it now. If we finally got the payoff of a match between Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey, on the Grandest Stage of Them All? Sign me up.
That's not to say a Flair/Rousey match wouldn't do well. On the contrary, I think it could do exceptionally well. It's just that I think while women in general have earned the chance to main-event WrestleMania, Becky Lynch has proven in the last six months that she deserves to be one of the women in the match.
Besides, do you really want to see another 'Mania main event featuring Brock Lesnar? I didn't think so...