WWE News: Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair & Ronda Rousey to compete in first-ever women's WrestleMania main event
WWE will feature the women's division in the main event of WrestleMania for the first time ever as Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey defends her title against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.
The company confirmed the main event with the following press release:
STAMFORD, CT – March 25, 2019 – For the first time in WWE history, a women’s match will be the main event of WrestleMania as the Raw Women’s Championship Match featuring Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch will take place on Sunday, April 7 in front of a capacity crowd at MetLife Stadium and streaming live on WWE Network around the world.
Ronda Rousey is the current Raw Women’s Champion, Olympic medalist, the first female UFC Champion, and the first woman to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. She is also an actress and New York Times bestselling author. Charlotte Flair is a seven-time Champion in WWE, a former Division 1 volleyball player, philanthropist and author. She is the daughter of two-time WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair. Becky Lynch is the 2019 Women's Royal Rumble winner, a two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion and was named Wrestler of the Year by both Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports in 2018. She was also the first woman ever to top ESPN’s WWE Power Ranking.
The Raw Women's Championship debuted three years ago at WrestleMania 32 when Flair retired the Diva's Championship and defeated Lynch and Sasha Banks to win the title.
Since that match, all three women went to break new ground for the women of WWE competing in the main events of Raw and SmackDown before eventually getting their first pay-per-view main event in 2016 and their first women-exclusive pay-per-view last year in October.
However, the arrival of Rousey in 2018 was the catalyst that set the stage for the women's division to be elevated to WrestleMania main event status as reports noted that a headlining match between Flair and Rousey was already in the works for 2019.
Rousey and Flair both won the women's titles at SummerSlam last year, but the attention would shift from the two champions to Lynch as her popularity continued to grow.
Lynch eventually won the SmackDown Women's Champion and was scheduled to face Rousey at Survivor Series, but an injury would lead to Flair taking her place for the match.
With the announcement of this main event, Flair becomes the first woman in WWE History to main event Raw, SmackDown, Hell in a Cell and WrestleMania.
Meanwhile, Rousey is the first woman to main event UFC pay-per-views, the first women's pay-per-view and WrestleMania.