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Charlotte Flair made history by winning the Women's Royal Rumble this year and choosing to go after the NXT Women's Championship at WrestleMania. Interestingly, The Queen was not the original pick to win the Royal Rumble match — it was Shayna Baszler.
As per a report from Fightful (via Cageside Seats), Baszler was penciled to win the Royal Rumble this year. They also stated that the Cagefighter was then set to become the Money In The Bank winner, which also never happened.
Even though Baszler did not win the Royal Rumble match, she did face Becky Lynch for the RAW Women's Championship at WrestleMania 36. The report also suggests that initial plans were for Baszler to beat Lynch at WrestleMania. Here is what Fightful and Cageside Seats stated:
At various points this year, Fightful reports Shayna Baszler was pencilled in by WWE to win the Royal Rumble, the Raw Women’s title at WrestleMania 36, and Money in the Bank. Then in each case, “plans changed.”
There had been reports that stated that Vince McMahon was not high on Baszler and her push would not continue. However, the former two-time NXT Women's Champion made her RAW return last week.
It is possible that Baszler will be next in line for the RAW Women's Championship once Asuka's feud with Sasha Banks is over.
Why Vince McMahon allegedly dropped Shayna Baszler's push
Dave Meltzer of WON had reported previously that McMahon had soured on Shayna Baszler which is why she was absent from television. Per Meltzer:
"While she (Lynch) actually was pregnant at Mania she didn’t know it until a couple of weeks later, but she did know they were trying and it would be best to get the title off her. WWE rejected the idea. The idea at the time was Baszler would eventually get the title and they did a finish to build for a rematch using the Money in the Bank stip because Baszler was scheduled to win that match. Vince nixed that and went with Asuka."
However, now that Shayna Baszler has returned, it will be interesting to see how she is booked.
