WrestleMania 39: WWE changes plans around Smackdown Women’s Championship

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Bengaluru, January 3: WrestleMania 39 plans around the SmackDown Women's Championship were supposed to revolve around the former title-holder Ronda Rousey and his number-one rival in the WWE, Becky Lynch.

Rousey was all set to face Becky Lynch in their long-awaited singles contest on the mega stage of Hollywood, but that's not the case anymore since the blue brand title has changed hands, last Friday night.

On the December 30 episode of SmackDown, Charlotte Flair defeated Ronda Rousey (c) to win the SmackDown Women's Championship and with that, the dream Rousey vs. Lynch matchup was possibly thrown out of the equation.

In an update to the situation, Wrestling Observer Radio noted that Flair's comeback was originally slotted to take place sometime back in the summer but it kept on getting pushed back and reached the end of the year.

According to Xero News, WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H was the one to book Charlotte Flair to win the SmackDown Women's Title and thereby offer a pleasant title switch on TV as WWE Universe was already begging to take the title away from Rousey.

Also, most of the top matches for WrestleMania 39 were leaked online (Flair vs. Bianca Belair for the RAW Women's Championship and Rousey vs. Lynch for SmackDown Women's Championship). So, the head of the WWE creative wanted to shake things up heading into WrestleMania season.

"Triple H was the one who decided on Charlotte dethroning Rousey on SmackDown as he wanted to shake up the WrestleMania plans as everything had been getting leaked online and WWE had taken notice."

With Flair being the current champion, it's not likely that Flair vs. Belair is still scheduled to happen at the Show of Shows unless WWE decides to unify the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships.

As of this writing, Belair is involved in a feud with Alexa Bliss for the red brand women's title while Becky Lynch is the favorite to win the 2023 Women's Royal Rumble Match and come after one of the women's titles in the WWE at WrestleMania.

Over on SmackDown, Ronda Rousey originally defeated Raquel Rodriguez to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship but she was soon confronted by Charlotte Flair who was returning from an eight-month-long hiatus.

Rousey quickly accepted the title match challenge laid down by Flair and came up short. Flair countered Rousey's Armbar and pinned her by grabbing her tights to become a 14-time World Champion.

With this win, Charlotte Flair continues to possess the most number of title reigns in WWE history in the women's roster. Besides, Wrestling Stats & Info account noted on Twitter that the second-generation athlete won a title every year since debuting on TV in 2014.

2014: WWE NXT

2015: NXT, Divas

2016: Divas, WWE Raw

2017: Raw, SmackDown

2018: SmackDown

2019: SmackDown

2020: WWE NXT, Tag Team Titles

2021: SmackDown, Raw, Tag Team Titles

2022: SmackDown

2023: SmackDown

By the time Charlotte Flair will announce her retirement, she will become the single most dominant woman in professional wrestling history. As for her WrestleMania 39 opponent, we have to wait a few weeks more to know the name.