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Royal Rumble winner Charlotte’s WrestleMania opponent finally revealed
Charlotte Flair, a 10-time Women’s Champion, won the 30-woman Royal Rumble match in January. Now, she has announced who she will compete against at WrestleMania.
The 10-time WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair, daughter of living legend Ric Flair, added another feather to her cap when she won the third Women’s Royal Rumble event this year to earn herself a title opportunity at WrestleMania. But here was the big question - who will she challenge? Currently, the Raw Women’s title is with Becky Lynch and Charlotte has already had a long rivalry with the Man. The fans have seen it a number of times - and hence, it might not be a huge draw for them to have the same fight at WrestleMania this year.
The SmackDown Women’s title is with Bayley, and fans have also seen Charlotte vs Bayley a number of times. Hence, Charlotte winning the Rumble did not go down well with a section of fans, who were not happy about prospects of seeing the Queen taking on either Lynch or Bayley. That until, NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley appeared on Raw two weeks ago to knock on Charlotte’s doors.
It seemed WWE were building a feud between Ripley and Charlotte - something the fans can easily get behind - since Ripley had a breakthrough year in 2019, in which she became one of the most popular acts on NXT. But there was a hurdle - Ripley was set to face Bianca Belair at NXT Takeover: Portland this week, and fans were wondering if WWE might pull a surprise and give the title to Belair, and make it Charlotte vs Belair at WrestleMania.
But, at NXT Takeover: Portland, the ‘ESP of NXT’ suffered a defeat at the hands of ‘The Nightmare’, and her hopes of winning the title were over. But as soon as Ripley retained, Charlotte came out from nowhere to launch an attack from behind. Then she picked up a microphone to accept Ripley’s challenge for WrestleMania. So, there you go - the stage is set for Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley match at WrestleMania this year.
Charlotte has already been a NXT Champion before coming to Raw, so it makes little sense for her to return to NXT for the title. So there seems to be little chance that Rhea will be dropping the title to the Queen at the Show of Shows. But even so, competing against one of the best, and winning the bout, will surely elevate Rhea’s already rising stature, and she could be on the road to become the next big thing in WWE.
