Very early Friday morning, Diva Dirt broke news that a title match for Royal Rumble was confirmed for Asuka vs. Becky Lynch, as reported on WWE Main Event. It looks like the match is no longer confirmed.
Friday afternoon, ex-General Manager of SmackDown Live, Paige, posted this tweet on her Twitter account.
The tweet comes shortly after her removal as the General Manager of SmackDown; a byproduct of WWE’s promise to make Raw and SmackDown more “fresh”, and to listen to their fans.
The announcement came from Shane McMahon on Tuesday’s SmackDown episode, in front of the entire roster.
So, what does this mean for Asuka, Lynch, and the fans?
The first question is: who messed up on WWE Main Event? If indeed the match was first confirmed on the show featured on Hulu, then this is WWE’s attempt to correct a wrong. There’s no viable reason to believe that Paige actually tried to make this match happen, because if she had, the WWE Universe would have already known about it.
The assumption is, then, that someone made a mistake, and WWE is using the outgoing GM to make the correction.
Fans are pretty pleased to hear the reversal of the announcement, because it opens up the possibility that Lynch wins the women’s Royal Rumble match, and gets to choose her title shot opportunity. Which, historically speaking, is at WrestleMania.
So, who does Asuka face at Royal Rumble then? Will Asuka lose her championship as quickly as she received it?
Will Becky win the Rumble and come after Ronda Rousey? After Rousey’s interference in the TLC triple-threat match, it’s not hard to imagine that either Lynch or Charlotte Flair is out for her blood.
And, what about Flair? Will she win the Rumble, and go after Rousey? Or will she stay blue and face Asuka?
Will any of these questions actually matter, now that Natalya is getting her title match against Rousey?
There’s no way to tell what WWE is actually thinking, but the fans are happy about one thing: “The Man” will most certainly cause a storm at Royal Rumble.
