Fightful Select have come through with a report that WWE changed several title plans leading up to WrestleMania 39. One of those plans reportedly involved a title match featuring Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 39.
For the SmackDown Women’s Championship picture, creative adjustments for Ronda Rousey led to WWE altering the Flair/Belair matchup. In November, WWE was planning to have Charlotte Flair return to the RAW roster, and it looks like she would have faced Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 39. However, Rousey ended up taking January off. As a result, she lost the title to Charlotte when she returned to WWE on the December 30th edition of SmackDown.
As a result, Rhea Ripley became the No. 1 contender for Charlotte’s SmackDown Women’s Championship.
On the men’s side of things, as far back as November, WWE was planning to have Seth Rollins face either Cody Rhodes or Drew McIntyre in a world title match. There was a time when two title matches were slotted for the men’s division, with Cody Rhodes listed as an option for both of them. One matchup listed “TBA/Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns,” while another had “Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre/Cody Rhodes.”
As it stands now, it appears that Rollins and McIntyre are headed elsewhere for ‘Mania. Rollins looks to be locked into a feud with Logan Paul for the Showcase of the Immortals. Meanwhile, it looks like McIntyre could be headed for a match against GUNTHER for the Intercontinental title.
Since The Rock ended up being unavailable for this year’s WrestleMania 39 pay-per-view event, Rhodes won the Royal Rumble, and Roman Reigns remained the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. Rhodes vs. Reigns is currently slated for the main event of WrestleMania (Night Two).