During last night's post-
NXT TakeOver: Portland media call, Triple H was asked about the plan to have Rhea Ripley defend the NXT Women's Championship against Charlotte Flair at
WrestleMania.
There's been a lot of speculation about WWE's thought process behind the match, including the possibility that the USA Network has pushed for it in a bid to increase NXT's ratings every Wednesday night on the Road to
WrestleMania.
"Actually, USA Network had no involvement in it at all," The Game revealed (h/t Fightful). "To be honest, it was shocking to me when it was first mentioned to me. I believe that this was just a decision from Vince’s part on understanding the other stories for the women."
"To me, you have opportunities where you look in a moment in time and ask is Charlotte going after Bayley and Sasha Banks, does she come after Becky Lynch. You’ve seen that before and we’re looking into something fresh and you see that with Shayna Baszler going after Becky Lynch and you see that in different ways on SmackDown with where they’re going. So this was a way for Charlotte Flair needing to be in that big, epic role. I think it really had nothing more to do with that. It’s good storytelling and that’s what the goal is here, good storytelling."
This is an interesting perspective, and it does arguably make more sense for Flair to go after Ripley given how many times we've seen The Queen square off with Becky Lynch and Bayley. It's obviously an advantage that NXT receives the spotlight too, though, especially with it going head to head with All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite every Wednesday night.
What are your thoughts on this match?