Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
Charlotte Flair and Jey Uso won this year’s Royal Rumble matches, meaning unless something happens like an injury or major twist to their storylines, they will be fighting for a world title of their choosing at WrestleMania 41.
The general consensus online is that it’s a foregone conclusion Flair will challenge Tiffany Stratton, while Uso will go after Gunther’s World Heavyweight Championship (which he indicated as much already, too). But should that happen, or should WWE go in another direction?
My question for you today is “Who would you book these two to challenge, or would you even have them lose their title shots somehow?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As far as my answer…
I’ll start off by saying that I’m confused about the Jey Uso pick, and I’m not particularly fond of it whatsoever, but I also think I must be higher on it than a lot of folks who are super upset about it. I think it’s a mistake, and I don’t think the feel-good moment trying to recapture KofiMania is going to really happen with the same fervor, but I commend WWE for at least trying to make him into a top star, even if I can picture his title reign being short and I think other people would be more interesting opponents and the card will look weaker with Uso/Gunther on it.
But he has to challenge Gunther. He can’t fight Cody Rhodes. That has to be reserved for John Cena, so they can main event WrestleMania Sunday. Jey, meanwhile, will probably beat Gunther in the opening match of one of the nights, freeing up a main event spot for Saturday night that can go to I guess Flair against Stratton, whoever faces Rhea Ripley, or what I’m assuming will be a Triple Threat between CM Punk, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.
That three-way, if it does happen, doesn’t have a belt on the line, so I can’t see the justification behind it being in a finale spot, even if it ultimately will have more people interested in it than Gunther/Uso despite it being for nothing. That’s one of my issues with how WrestleMania seems like it’s lining up, as it looks like their philosophy this year was a collection of names and “That’ll work” rather than actually crafting the best possible card with the most meaning behind it. Then again, maybe I’m wrong, as absolutely nothing has been made official yet.
To backtrack, I do think Flair is challenging Stratton. I just also think WWE is going to go about this the wrong way and be forced to pivot. By many reports, Flair wants to be the babyface, but I can guarantee that won’t be the case. That’s especially true if WWE books Stratton in a feud opposite Nia Jax for February and March, as that will condition fans to be cheering for her. Then, The Queen steps in and challenges Stratton, and people will be even more inclined to boo Flair. Look at all the dislikes she’s gotten on her YouTube video of her Royal Rumble victory for proof of how people are simultaneously understanding of her Hall of Fame career, but don’t necessarily translate that to being a “fan” of her anymore.
If I had it my way, these two wouldn’t be the winners. Of course, if I had it my way, I’d have forced The Rock to wrestle Cody Rhodes at some point in 2024 and we’d be looking at The Rock versus Roman Reigns on this lineup, with Cody against Randy Orton, and all sorts of other alternatives, but I don’t think a single match I would have booked is going to be on this card in any fashion. Given the results of Flair and Uso, and if you hired me for a spot on WWE Creative today with me unable to change those results without booking some weird roundabout thing, I would just say they’ve made their bed and we have to lie in it now—Uso vs Gunther, Flair vs Stratton, neither of them quite deserve to be the main event of night 1, but one of them will be.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!