Just a few short years ago, no one could have imagined that a women’s match would close WrestleMania, and now here we are – in 2019, it’s almost a certainty. “Not a prediction, but a spoiler”, as Paul Heyman would likely say. So, why does Charlotte Flair need to be added to this match? Why add a third superstar to an already hot feud which needs no further addition?
Charlotte Flair is one of the best – if not the best – female wrestlers in the world today. That is a fact that cannot and should not be overlooked. If the WWE is going to go with a women’s match headlining WrestleMania XXXV – and all signs certainly point toward that outcome – you can certainly understand why Vince McMahon would want her to be in that match. She’s a uniquely gifted performer with talent, name-value and the ability to play an excellent heel. With all of that being said, this is simply not her time. When Ronda Rousey was revealed as the WWE’s newest signing at the beginning of 2018, there was always a belief that she’d be headlining WrestleMania – and probably alongside Charlotte Flair. What has happened since then, however, is the awakening of a superstar who has eclipsed Charlotte as the most relevant female superstar (not including Rousey) in the company. Of course, I am referring to the natural phenomenon that is Becky Lynch.
https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1089737069390454784
In mid-2018, Becky Lynch – after years of being the most criminally under-used superstar of either the RAW and Smackdown Live women’s divisions – started becoming the arguable face of the company. It was a rapid rise of a superstar not seen since the rise of Daniel Bryan in 2013. Since Roman Reigns‘ leukaemia announcement back in October 2018, a case can be made that Becky Lynch has acted as the heir to the face-of-the-company mantle. She has grabbed Mr. McMahon’s brass ring, melted it down and turned it into a necklace which you’d have to kill her to take back. She has the rare ability to make anyone on the opposite side of the ring to her a heel by default; the live audiences will boo anyone opposing Becky Lynch. She has – alongside Rousey – kept alive a relatively entertaining “Twitter war” which will comfortably translate into a great in-ring feud and, likely, the best match of either of their wrestling careers. It will certainly be the most significant – and it would serve as evidence that the Women’s Revolution is not just a buzz-word, but an actual reality.
https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1090739269105274881
Rousey/Lynch was the hottest feud of 2018 and they never wrestled a single match together. It was almost a blessing for Becky that she was injured by Nia Jax, because if the Becky vs Ronda match scheduled for Survivor Series 2018 actually took place, it might be a Charlotte vs Ronda match headlining WrestleMania this year. Now, to be fair, if Charlotte is added to the main event of WrestleMania, she would not be some random addition thrown into this match just to make Vince happy; she has been involved with both superstars for months, having great matches with both women in the process. She brutishly attacked Ronda Rousey – disqualifying herself – during their Survivor Series match – further adding to any story which might involve her in this feud. Charlotte could also quite easily be added to this match as the jealous ex-friend of Becky, who believes Becky is only where she is at right now because she adopted the Machiavellian traits of Charlotte’s heelish “win at all cost” persona. That outcome is certainly what was teased on Smackdown Live this week.
However, then there’s the issue of making it make sense for a Smackdown superstar (Charlotte) to compete for the RAW Women’s Championship. It makes sense for Becky Lynch because she, of course, won the Women’s Royal Rumble Match. By somehow sneaking Charlotte into a match which she’s not – by WWE’s own rules – eligible to compete in, the illogical devaluation of a hot feud begins. So what would be the point? Becky/Ronda is a blood feud that does not need any tampering with. It does not need any gimmicky match type, added stipulation and certainly no further involvement from other superstars. The best, most memorable WrestleMania feuds are one-versus-one blood feuds which have developed naturally over time – that is what Becky and Ronda is. Adding Charlotte into the mix turns it into a wrestling match, when it has to be a brawl. The Ronda and Becky characters hate each other; they have to be allowed to show it the way Steve Austin and The Rock did, or the way Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart did. That’s how this match needs to go for it to be remembered in a similar light.
So as great and as talented Charlotte is, this is not her fight. The WWE has something in a Rousey/Lynch headlined WrestleMania and adding Charlotte only devalues the feud. That’s not to say she’d make the match worse – a triple-threat match with Rousey, Flair and Lynch could potentially be better than the desired one-on-one match, but making a better match does not always make it a higher-valued, more prestigious match. It is The Man‘s time and she has to be given the chance to show it.
