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This past Tuesday night on SmackDown, WWE shocked the world by having Asuka drop her SmackDown Women's Championship to Charlotte Flair.
Despite originally advertising a fatal-4-way match to determine the number 1 contender for Asuka's belt at WrestleMania, the company seemingly changed course at the last minute and had The Empress of Tomorrow drop her title to her old rival.
The decision has not been met too kindly by large portions of the WWE Universe, with many arguing that the WWE continues to favour Charlotte Flair over their other talent.
It would now appear as though the Championship will be added to the WrestleMania triple-threat match between Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Ronda Rousey, and if that is the case, then it could have some very interesting ramifications for the entire women's division post WrestleMania.
While it may not seem like a great move right now, having Charlotte win the SmackDown Women's Championship could actually prove to be a very clever piece of booking. Let's take a look at four reasons why that is the case.
#4: A historic unification
While many fans are still questioning the decision to take the SmackDown Women's Championship off Asuka, one would assume that the WWE has a bigger plan in place and that this wasn't a last minute decision.
With Ronda Rousey's Raw Women's Championship already on the line in the WrestleMania encounter, the addition of the SmackDown Women's Championship now presents the company with the chance to unify the two belts on the biggest possible stage.
Unifying the two belts actually makes a lot of sense. The Women's Tag Team Championships are already duel branded, and having the whole women division split across the two brands will only help them grow in terms of exposure.
While it is still growing, the women's division lacks the depth to be spread evenly over the two shows at the moment, and having them jump between the two could actually prove to be a very clever move from the company.
#3: Asuka's reign had no momentum
As painful as it is to admit this, Asuka's reign was going absolutely nowhere on SmackDown Live.
After winning the belt with an impressive performance at TLC, and then defeating Becky Lynch in one of the year's hottest matches at Royal Rumble, WWE totally dropped the ball with Asuka and the SmackDown Women's division in general.
The company's focus has been on Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey so much that they seemingly forgot to build a program of any worth for the SmackDown Women heading into WrestleMania 35.
With Flair now having the belt, Asuka can re-enter the title picture post WrestleMania, belts unified or not, as one of the division's hottest contenders, and she also has a legitimate reason to enter into a feud with either Flair, Rousey or Lynch once the dust has settled from WrestleMania 35, which could set up a nice program heading into the Summer.
#2: Makes Charlotte Flair feel more relevant
Heading into the match at WrestleMania 35, a lot of the build for the encounter has focused on Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey, with Charlotte Flair taking something of a backseat.
The decision to add Flair to the match-up angered a lot of the WWE Universe, with many claiming that she has no real rhyme or reason to be there, outside of the fairly flimsy excuse of being the runner-up to Becky Lynch in this year's Women's Royal Rumble encounter.
Well, if nothing else now, having Flair win the SmackDown Women's Championship makes her feel like a more worthy component in the match-up and will help put some of the spotlight on her over the next week or so.
Ultimately, the match is going to be a historic occasion for the WWE, and the company will want as much exposure and hype on the encounter as they can get.
#1: Higher Stakes
This past week, the WWE confirmed that Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Ronda Rousey will be competing in the first ever all-female main-event in WrestleMania history.
The match is going to be a huge piece of WWE history, and ultimately, no-one will remember Asuka losing to Charlotte Flair when they look back, instead, they will remember it as the night where one woman, most likely, Becky Lynch, won both the SmackDown and Raw Women's Championship in the main event of WrestleMania.
The addition of the SmackDown Women's Championship to the match, presuming it is put on the line, only adds to the prestige of the encounter, and it also helps elevate the title itself and put it on the same level as the Raw Women's Championship, something that it has arguably not been so far throughout the early stages of 2019.
The image of Lynch holding both belts to close the show will be treated in the same way as Bryan holding both belts at WrestleMania XXX, and that is something that will make this week's decision more than worth it in the future.
