Rumor: Original Plans For Charlotte Vs. Asuka

It wasn’t in the cards. Earlier this week at WrestleMania 34, Charlotte defeated Asuka to hand her her first loss in either WWE or NXT. The match was an instant classic with Charlotte making Asuka tap out in the Figure Eight in a big surprise. Two nights later, Carmella cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase to become the new SmackDown Women’s Champion. It turns out that might not be how things were originally planned though.

They had a heck of a match.

Charlotte Flair and Asuka fight tooth-and-nail for the SmackDown Women's Title: WrestleMania 34

According to the Backstage in WWE podcast, the original plans for the match called for Asuka to defeat Charlotte and then thwart Carmella’s cash-in attempt by defeating her to walk out of New Orleans with the title. This would eventually have set up Asuka defending the title against Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 35 next year. The plans were reportedly changed at the last minute, with Asuka originally planned to go over until very close to the date of WrestleMania 34.

Opinion: I’m not sure how much of this is accurate but it wouldn’t really surprise me. You could go either way this this match and get to Rousey next year, which seems to be the big ending anyway. Either Charlotte or Asuka (or Charlotte and Asuka) vs. Rousey would be a huge match and something that could be near the top of next year’s card. Asuka still has a huge future in WWE because one loss in nearly three years isn’t too shabby. Hopefully she becomes a champion again one day, which is hard to picture not happening.

Who did you prefer winning the WrestleMania match? Who will face Rousey first? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 26 wrestling books. His latest book is the WWE Grab Bag.

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