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At WrestleMania 36, NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley walked out to have her WrestleMania moment after challenging Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair to an NXT Women’s Championship match.
Rhea Ripley could have just sat back and watched Flair challenge a RAW or SmackDown Champion without even thinking about her. However, Ripley wanted to get noticed and take the fight to the most decorated woman in the history of WWE.
At the event, Ripley performed her heart out against The Queen but ended up submitting to The Figure Eight lock after taking a lot of punishment to her knee.
The result crowned Flair as the new NXT Women’s Champion and took her into her second reign as the Champion.
In this article, we will look at the 5 reasons why The Queen defeated The Nightmare at WrestleMania to win the NXT Women’s title again.
#5 To make the bookings more unexpected
Before WrestleMania 36 began, fans were backing Rhea Ripley to get a victory. Many believed that Ripley’s reign as the Champion had just begun and that if NXT had chosen her over Shayna Baszler, then she’d go ahead and have her WrestleMania moment.
While others were hoping Flair would take the title home, no one would have imagined how long this match went on for. Nobody even knew how good this all was for the youngster before she gave up her title to The Queen.
This isn’t Flair’s first title in WWE, nor will it be her last. But it took a large piece away from Ripley who was just getting started ruling the Black & Gold brand. After all, it was Ripley who laid down the challenge to Flair for the match and wanted to have her WrestleMania moment.
After all is said and done, one thing WWE did right was keep the unpredictability alive in this one. While fans were easily able to guess the outcome of a few matches, this was the tricky one and Ripley seemed to go strong into the match but lose it in the end.
The different bookings will help WWE keep ratings of shows high, and a new Champion will help them steam forward while giving Ripley a chance to redeem herself.
#4 To shake things up on the NXT roster
NXT has one of the strongest rosters in the entire industry. Once seen as the third brand of WWE, the brand has clearly shown that they now have Superstars who can take on anyone from RAW, SmackDown, or any other promotion and give them a tough fight.
Last year, Finn Balor headed back to the brand where he started his career and mixed up the overall look of the brand. Tyler Breeze, Fandango, and Killian Dain were the other Superstars who also went back to NXT to pick up some new rivalries there.
The women’s division was largely untouched till now, and Charlotte Flair’s arrival will surely add a lot more to the women’s division of the brand too.
The most decorated woman in WWE will get a chance to lead the fresher NXT roster at a time when RAW is being led by Becky Lynch. SmackDown, on the other hand, is in the capable hands of Bayley and Sasha Banks.
NXT had a leader in Shayna Baszler not too long ago, but no one will be able to lead the young and fresh roster like the experienced Flair.
#3 New rivalries for The Queen
Over the past five years, Charlotte Flair has taken on almost every single competitor on both RAW and SmackDown. From taking on Becky Lynch multiple times a week to going against Sarah Logan, Flair has tried her hands at every rivalry possible.
The repeat bookings were working now and then, but making things a bit too predictable and boring for The Queen. After all, she’s held the RAW and SmackDown Championships multiple times and had several Superstars come after her.
What The Queen needed was to refresh her own character. NXT is very different since the last time Flair competed there. And, having her as the Champion on the brand will not only boost the brand but also the Superstar.
Women like Candice LeRae, Bianca Belair, Io Shirai, and Mia Yim can give The Queen a tough fight. And with her holding the title, we’ll see a handful of unexpected Superstars come after her.
The new rivalries will give NXT a lot more to play with and develop Flair’s character while giving newer Superstars a chance to work with the greatest.
#2 To give WWE's competitors a tough time
One of the many reasons we’ve seen NXT’s rise over the past year has been the emergence of competitors. Yes, competitors always existed for WWE, but new competitors are giving the company a harder time than they expected.
NXT airs every Wednesday night, and so does a competitor brand that competes for ratings with the company. Keeping that in mind, one can say WWE allowed Finn Balor to go back to the brand, Kevin Owens to appear in matches, and allowed NXT to win at Survivor Series. All of this could've been to show that NXT is the third full brand of the company.
With the best female Superstar of all time back on the Black & Gold brand, one can be assured that the overall quality of the brand and the show will go up remarkably. This will help the brand knock up its ratings and give the fans something different to look out for every night.
With Finn Balor in the men’s locker room and The Queen leading the female locker room, one thing that the company will achieve is higher ratings. Their fans will tune in to NXT from next week to watch their favorite wrestler perform every Wednesday now.
#1 Strengthen the Black & Gold brand
All the previously mentioned points will lead to something that Triple H has been trying to do for several years now, and that is strengthening the Balck & Gold Brand.
Triple H has taken NXT and made it one of the biggest wrestling brands in the world in no time. His efforts will be helped with the arrival of The Queen who could take the entire women’s division off his shoulders and take it on her own.
We’ve seen Flair lead a flimsy SmackDown women’s division in the past and remain prominent in a loaded RAW roster. As such, her experience can help the extremely loaded and talented NXT women’s roster become stronger.
The fans will see NXT as a more complete brand now as one of WWE’s biggest stars will be heading back to compete on the brand. Charlotte will defend her title after returning to where she started off. This will, in turn, confirm that NXT is a complete brand that is ready to compete at the world stage.
With NXT and NXT UK putting up great shows every week, Flair will be able to help build the future stars of the company by directly competing with them on NXT and giving them the rub to move forward.
A WWE Hall of Famer called out AEW fans HERE
