WWE Rumors: Reason revealed behind Charlotte dropping the WWE Women's Championship on Raw
At Wrestlemania 32, Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch competed in a critically acclaimed triple threat match to be crowned the new WWE Women’s Champion. Sasha Banks was expected to come out of that bout victorious, but it was Charlotte who came out victorious, much to the surprise of the fans. It was then expected that Charlotte and Sasha Banks would face at SummerSlam where Sasha would finally be crowned champion.
After Money In The Bank, Charlotte beat Paige in a title bout, and then Sasha Banks appeared after a relatively lengthy time off TV, and started a feud with Charlotte. A tag team bout was announced for Battleground between Charlotte & Dana Brooke against Sasha Banks & a mystery partner(who turned out to be Bayley). This was indicative of the fact that it was a filler match in the feud to get to the eventual SummerSlam match between Charlotte and Sasha Banks for the WWE Women’s Championship.
After Sasha Banks and Bayley beat Charlotte & Dana Brooke at Battleground, it was announced the next night on Raw that Sasha Banks would be competing against Charlotte for the WWE Women’s Championship that very night itself.
A dirty finish was anticipated so that it would lead to a rematch at SummerSlam, where Sasha would finally win the big one. However, Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte on Raw, and was crowned as the new WWE Women’s Champion.
It is being reported by Bryan Alvarez of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that while the original plans was to have the title change at Summerslam, plans changed because Charlotte has requested for time off due to burnout because of the back-breaking amount of time on the road.
On Ric Flair’s podcast The Ric Flair Show on MLW Radio, he stated that Charlotte is expected to have a rematch at SummerSlam, and proceeded to praise the bout on Raw as “the greatest match on television”.
Another reported reason is that WWE Officials felt that they had to create a buzz about the first Raw after the draft, and the Women’s Championship changing hands was a way to do that. The same report informs us that Charlotte will not be taking time off.