Asuka’s road to WrestleMania 35 took a massive detour last night on SmackDown LIVE.
In an impromptu match, Flair beat “The Empress of Tomorrow” to capture the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Flair won by forcing Asuka to submit to the Figure-Eight Leglock.
Heading into the show, Carmella, Naomi, Mandy Rose, and Sonya Deville were slated to compete in a Fatal 4-Way Match to determine Asuka’s challenger for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 35. According to Wrestling Observer Newsletter editor Dave Meltzer, Vince McMahon decided in the afternoon to scrap the match in favor of Flair beating Asuka.
McMahon made the change because he didn’t want Asuka to compete in a match nobody cared about at WrestleMania, not to mention that it would raise the stakes for the main event with Flair, Becky Lynch, and Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey. He also speculates that McMahon may have wanted to removed a match from a bloated card.
Meltzer wrote on the F4WOnline.com message board, “Vince changed his mind this afternoon. He didn’t want to put Asuka against whomever that nobody cared about in the 17th or 18th match on the show, and instead decided to add another title into the main event. Maybe they figured they had too many matches on the show and it was a way to get rid of one. All I know is it changed this afternoon. You want it to make sense. It doesn’t. It can’t when you change the story every week.”
The main event of WrestleMania is still officially a Raw Women’s Championship Match. WWE.com, however, teases in their preview of the match that Flair’s win will affect it.
“In a shocking turn of events, Charlotte Flair defeated Asuka on the March 26 edition of SmackDown LIVE to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship. The Queen’s surprising victory seemingly changed the complexion of WrestleMania and left the WWE Universe wondering what effect this would have on the Raw Women’s Championship Match.”
