WrestleMania 35 Rumors: Backstage news on Charlotte Flair winning the SmackDown Women's Championship
What's the story?
Last night, WWE well and truly threw a spanner in the works by canceling a Fatal Four-Way to determine the number 1 contender for Asuka's SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania, but instead made a match for the title in which Charlotte Flair was the challenger.
The match ended with Charlotte Flair defeating Asuka to become the SmackDown Women's Champion, and now some news has emerged as to why this happened.
In case you didn't know...
With Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch set to challenge Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania for the Raw Women's Championship, the SmackDown Women's Champion, Asuka, didn't have a challenger at Mania.
Sonya Deville, Carmella, Naomi, and Mandy Rose were set to compete for the honor of facing The Empress of Tomorrow on The Grandest Stage of Them All - but the lady who defeated Asuka last year at WrestleMania instead got a shot directly at the blue brand's title holder.
The heart of the matter
According to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Charlotte Flair's monumental win wasn't planned until the day of SmackDown Live, with Vince McMahon himself reportedly scrapping the plans for the Fatal Four-Way, with Meltzer stating on the F4W forums that McMahon did not want to have Asuka face the winner of that match, as neither opponent would garner great attention from the WWE Universe.
It's also stated that Charlotte going into WrestleMania with gold around her waist has been talked about for a while, but the trigger wasn't pulled officially until yesterday, and as of this moment, Asuka is not scheduled to be added to the main event match at WrestleMania.
H/T to Wrestling Inc.
What's next?
Who knows? Does Charlotte go into the Triple Threat Match as SmackDown Women's Champion? Are both titles defended in the main event? Does she do double duty, or will she be pulled from the match altogether? It's anyone's guess right now.
WrestleMania 35 takes place April 7 at the MetLife Stadium and will stream live on WWE Network.
What do you want to see happen at WrestleMania? Let us know in the comments.