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Thread: WrestleMania 35 - Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte

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    Senior Member FunKay's Avatar

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    WrestleMania 35 - Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte

    This one has a longer build than you might even think...

    Cast your mind back to last summer. Becky Lynch was on a winning streak that confirmed her as the number one contender to the SmackDown Women's title held at that time by Carmella. The fans loved her and it was clearly her time. Enter: Charlotte. The supposed "Queen" of WWE. She managed to usurp Becky's position as sole challenger and enter the match. When Charlotte essentially stole the win, the title and the moment from its rightful owner, Becky snapped, and the crowd ate it up. This was the birth of "The Man". On that same show, Ronda Rousey tapped Alexa Bliss out to claim the Raw Women's title.

    Throughout the autumn, Becky and Charlotte went back and forth in a hotly contested rivalry. The title switched to Lynch at Hell in a Cell and she was bizarrely portrayed as a villain in spite of the thunderous reactions she was receiving each and every week. The pair's story seemed to conclude when they squared off in maybe WWE's best match last year: a Last (Wo)Man Standing Match which saw Becky barely overcome her friend turned nemesis. All while this was happening Rousey was tightening her grip atop the Raw pecking order, defeating Bliss in a rematch, Nikki Bella in the main event of Evolution (first women exclusive WWE PPV y'know?) and anyone else who dared to challenge her throne.

    Then came the build to Survivor Series - Raw versus SmackDown yet again. Amongst this tepid concept though was something truly special: Ronda Rousey versus Becky Lynch. An undefeated star positioned as better than the rest since the moment she arrived, versus the red-hot, people's choice. It felt special and it would've been. Hell, it gave birth to the best segment on WWE television last year:


    In that moment, blood dripping from her face, arms wide, chest puffed out, Becky Lynch ascended to more than just the flavour of the month. She was made, the moment now iconic. However it came at a price. She was concussed, face broken and was thus forced to forfeit her spot opposite Rousey, selecting Charlotte as her replacement, knowing how tough and capable her long term rival was/is. It was during that match that Charlotte in turn snapped too. Gone was the smiling "victim" of a babyface and there in its wake was the "destined for greatness, by any means necessary" character she was born to play. She destroyed Rousey that night with a kendo stick, but gave Ronda purpose and a vendetta against both of SmackDown's leading women.

    That vendetta carried into TLC in December when Rousey cost both Becky and Charlotte their brand's women's title, pushing them off a ladder, and allowing Asuka to claim the title for her own. Things were slowly ticking over throughout January as the three women casually sniped at each other on television, in the ring and on twitter. The Royal Rumble is when things went up a gear however as Becky Lynch lost a title match versus Asuka, only to emerge in the Women's Royal Rumble as a late substitute for an injured Lana. The final two of that match? Becky and Charlotte. Of course it was...

    Becky overcame Charlotte once more, even in spite of a knee "injury" sustained in the midst of the Rumble. She was going to WrestleMania... and she made damn sure it was going to be Rousey she challenged. After all, there's unfinished business there. Since then there has been stupid shenanigans and an overemphasis on Becky's knee problems, which while rooted in good storytelling (the doctor's prevented her from facing Rousey before, she's afraid that they will do it again), has been poorly handled. The real story is the undercurrent involving Ronda Rousey though.

    As it became obvious that this match would indeed by a triple threat, with Charlotte a substitute for Becky as hand-picked by Vince McMahon, and Becky the people's champion who has to fight from underneath to get back in, Ronda became a bit of an island. Rumour's circulate that she won't be long for WWE after WrestleMania, and the fans have turned on her for a plethora of reasons not least of all that she simply isn't "The Man" that Becky is. She seems genuinely saddened and hurt by this and its bled into her character work on TV and twitter. And now, at the last, she has snapped too. Gone is the happy-go-lucky "chasing my dream" babyface, and now stands a destroyer out for one thing; personal satisfaction rooted in vengeance against two women who have stolen her limelight and indeed, her dream, of being a people's champion

    This is a tale of three turns, three character changes, and in spite of its crap storytelling in this last chapter, is going to go down as a legendary story in WWE's pantheon, something that will be confirmed if/when it main events, becoming the first women's match to do so...

    ________________

    Post who you think walks out with the gold (and indeed if it is going to main event) below.

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  3. #2
    Senior Member Jeff Deliverer of Mail's Avatar

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    You have to think with the amount of time the WWE has spent on this build compared to other matches on the card and the amount of times Becky or someone has said "Main Eventing Wrestlemania" that this match will be closing the show. Charlotte has proven, time and time and time again that she is awesome in triple threat or multi-women matches. So I wouldn't be too worried about the quality of the match itself or the storytelling with how Wrestlemania could end. I would MUCH rather see Kofi Kingston holding up the true championship in WWE to end Mania, but alas, it probably won't happen. WWE is treating the Raw Womans Title and The Universal Title with a little more importance than the Smackdown WWE Title right now. So I can see the DB vs Kofi match happening in the middle of the card IMO.
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  5. #3
    Main eventing WrestleMania doesn't really even mean anything anymore. I don't really mean that as a knock because, for the most part, I don't really care about the match order as long as the matches are entertaining. That doesn't mean that match order can't be important or which match closes the show doesn't matter, but a LOT of it depends on what the plan is for how things are going to be looking throughout the course of the show. For instance, are there going to be a lot of heels winning? Will there be a lot of title changes and, if so, do these title changes involve the champs dropping their straps to someone that fans are legitimately interested in seeing as champ at this point in time? Are fans burned out on certain stars or certain stars being in particular spots? What's the anticipation level for all the top matches based on buzz that's being generated?

    For this match, WWE hasn't tried rolling out the "this is a historic moment" red carpet for this match and I like that; I personally think it's the way to go here given that WWE has done it so much with so many different women's matches and situations. They're booking this match as something personal between three women who don't like each other; it's simple, it's easy to understand, people identify with it on a visceral level and it's really something WWE could use a lot more of in a lot of programs. All of them bring something different to the table: Charlotte has been the overall "face" of women's wrestling in WWE for a long while and they haven't let that fact get lost in the shuffle since Rousey's arrival. Charlotte has been NXT Women's Champion, she was the last Divas Champion, she's held both the Raw & SD Women's Championships multiple times and she has the abilities to warrant being in the spot she's been in for so long. Ronda Rousey has the aspect of mainstream celebrity about her, but she's also a legit and major sports star who has made a fantastic transition while still being cultivated as someone that's something of an outsider, something that they've kicked into high gear over the past couple of weeks. Becky is the scrappy babyface/tweener who has channeled some Stone Cold Steve Austin aspects into her character and made them work while never letting people forget that she's been consistently one of the best workers on the roster for years despite not getting the sort of attention of Charlotte, Bayley or Sasha Banks.

    I get why Charlotte is in the match, I just think this would be even better as a singles bout between Becky & Rousey. With that being said, I don't see this match being at all disappointing unless they have Rousey win because, let's face it, the ending that just about everyone wants to see is Rousey, the submission specialist, being forced to tap out to Becky Lynch. If that is indeed the plan for this match, then I can see WWE putting this match in THE main event spot, traditionally the last match on the card, as fans will pop huge for it and send them home happy despite the, probable, exhaustion they'll have.
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    Look forward to them going on last and being met by an exhausted audience.

    The women going on last is cool but with how the shows are now it's probably better to go on sooner.

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    This has been overbooked, so I'm not as interested as I could've been. I understand why they added Charlotte, but the story was better when it was just Ronda vs Becky.

    Regardless it should be a great match. As Jake said the crowd is going to be exhausted, so maybe it would be better if it didn't main event. I would have Kofi vs Bryan main event since it's a FAR better story, but I don't see that happening. It's no guarantee Kofi even wins the belt.

    Becky should win the match. She's cooled off a bit due to bad booking, but she's still the hottest star in the match and definitely the best option to win.

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    Call me, Rhea #AbsoluteUnit's Avatar

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    Knew this was going to be a triple threat after TLC 2018, didn't like it then, don't like it now. This match will be awesome, no doubt. I want Becky to win, but I wouldn't be upset if Ronnie retains or Charlotte wins.

    Edit: Rhea Ripley should've been in this match.
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    Senior Member Spidey's Avatar
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    This match has almost everything going against it and that makes me want to see it more.

    The character development between the three in the past couple of months has outshined what would have been in the main event too. I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

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    WWE has confirmed this to be the main event.

    Becky is definitely winning, as she should. Charlotte and Ronda are obviously great wrestlers and big stars, but this is Becky's moment.

  15. #9
    Well, they certainly pulled a surprise tonight that's changed up this match a bit. Charlotte defeated Asuka to win the SmackDown Women's Championship and unless they're going to have Charlotte pull double duty, highly unlikely, then there's a very good chance that this triple threat main event will wind up being for both the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championship. So yeah, they could very well be going for all the marbles here and while nothing's official, this could be leading to a unification of the two titles and the two brands of the women's divisions themselves.

    Considering that Becky Lynch's contract is set to expire soon, and that she's expected to sign a new one that includes a substantial raise, it seems even more likely she walks out of WrestleMania with the win. It's a shame that Asuka's title run ended this way and it's too bad that she's been just flat overshadowed over the course of the last year, but that's especially true within the last several months. Taking the title off her at this point, all in all, was probably the best thing to do because, let's be honest, hardly anyone gives a damn about Asuka defending at WrestleMania in some throwaway match against Mandy Rose or Sonya Deville. Asuka deserves better but the fact that she's been overshadowed by Charlotte, Becky and Ronda Rousey cushions the blow quite a bit, for me at least, because at least she's not been forced to play second fiddle to somebody who doesn't have the hype, buzz and ability to justify it.
    "What Do I Know Of Cultured Ways, The Gilt, The Craft And The Lie?
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    Rush In And Die Dogs - I Was A Man Before I Was King."


    Conan Of Cimmeria

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    Senior Member Spidey's Avatar
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    Surprising change so close to Wrestlemania, but I welcome it. It if means getting rid of a potential 2nd Triple Threat that would only look ridiculous compared to the other one on a show already longer than a double feature, thumbs up. I'm a Sonya fan and Mandy has grown on me the past two months, but neither scream Wrestlemania singles title match. If I played god for a moment, they'd be in the tag match and the IIconics would either help Bliss or fuck off.

    Asuka is great but sometimes folks gotta take a back seat. A miracle with how crazy the booking has been, people are still rallying behind Becky. This still feels like a big match. I'm most excited about this one more than the others besides maybe Bryan v Kofi. I'm gonna stay optimistic and hope the audience get their second wind because I'm sure these women will do everything they can to make it important.

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