From the WWE Rumor Mill: Title change expected to happen tonight
What’s the story?
Two title matches are scheduled to take place on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live, but a planned title change may cause further alterations to the Survivor Series card.
Charlotte Flair is rumoured to beat Natalya for the SmackDown Women’s Championship according to a report published by PWInsider.
In case you didn’t know...
Flair dominated the Raw Women’s Division in 2017 and became a four-time Raw Women’s Champion during the course of her feud with Sasha Banks.
Flair lost the title to Bayley in 2017 and was traded on SmackDown during the Superstar Shakeup. Flair turned face once she arrived on SmackDown and has yet to win any championship gold since.
The heart of the matter
Flair is currently slated to compete in the Women’s Survivor Series match alongside Becky Lynch, Carmella, Naomi and Tamina but a victory tonight against Natalya would set her up to face Alexa Bliss in the scheduled Women’s Champion versus Champion match.
If Natalya does lose the title on SmackDown, she is rumoured to take Flair’s place on the SmackDown Women’s Team for their Survivor Series Match.
A victory for Flair will mark her first SmackDown Women’s Championship, her sixth championship victory on the main roster and her seventh overall championship victory including the NXT Women's Championship.
What’s next?
Tonight’s episode of SmackDown will be the final show before Survivor Series, so Natalya will have no chance to invoke her rematch clause before the pay-per-view this Sunday.
Flair and Bliss have only faced once on the main roster in last year's Women’s Survivor Series match, so a title change tonight would lead to the first singles encounter between Bliss and Flair outside of NXT.
Author’s take
Many fans felt that Bliss fell right into Flair's role as the top heel on SmackDown, so it will be interesting to see who would win; The Goddess of WWE or The Queen?