WWE WrestleMania 35 preview: Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch, winner take all

It’s “Winner Take All” as Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch battle at WrestleMania 35 for both the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championship.

For the first time in history, the women of WWE will close the show as the main event of WrestleMania as Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey, SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch will battle in an unprecedented triple threat match with both championships on the line.

The build to this “winner take all” bout has been incredible, and it’s crazy to think that it was an accident that caused so much of this. Following her big turn at SummerSlam, Lynch would eventually win the SmackDown Women’s Championship from Charlotte at Hell in a Cell and retained the title against her former best friend on numerous occasions. This included a phenomenal last-woman standing match at the first all-women’s pay-per-view event in WWE history, Evolution, considered by many to be the best WWE match of 2018. It seemed that the feud with Charlotte had come to an end but it wouldn’t be long before The Queen would find her way back into the picture.

As the SmackDown Women’s Champion, Lynch was all to take on the Raw Women’s Champion, Rousey, in a champion vs. champion match at Survivor Series. Lynch stormed Raw the Monday before the highly-anticipated matchup, and after attacking Rousey in the locker room, a massive brawl ensued in the ring between the Raw and SmackDown brands. In the chaos, Lynch caught a vicious (and legitimate) right hand from Nia Jax, giving Lynch a concussion and broken nose that kept her from the dream match. She broke the news on SmackDown Live that night and was forced to name a replacement. Even with the friction between the two, she chose Flair to take on Rousey and the intensity of this program only grew from there.

(I interviewed Becky Lynch the day after this happened as this was the same day The Marine 6 was released and I could sense the disappointment in her voice. We talked about the experience of making the movie with The Miz and Shawn Michaels and how that helped her in WWE but as we moved into talking about Survivor Series, she couldn’t even get into it as nobody knew at the time that she wouldn’t be able to compete due to the injuries she’d sustained the previous night. I promised her that I wouldn’t say a word about her being out of the match.)

Rousey and Flair put on a fantastic match at Survivor Series. It was hard-hitting and intense and it was here that we saw Flair revert back to an attitude that we hadn’t seen in a while. Frustrated that she couldn’t put Rousey away, Flair went the weaponry route, using kendo sticks, the ring steps and a steel chair against the Raw Women’s Champion and got herself disqualified. A few weeks later at Tables, Ladders and Chairs, Rousey exacted her revenge on both Lynch and Flair, inserting herself into the action during the triple threat ladder match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Near the end of the match, as Lynch and Flair battled on one of the ladders, Rousey came to the ring and simply pushed it over, taking both out of the match, which allowed Asuka to capture the title.

Lynch would attempt to regain the title in a match with Asuka at the Royal Rumble but was unsuccessful, tapping out. However, she caught a break when Lana couldn’t participate in the women’s Rumble match itself and Lynch entered at No. 28. Unsurprisingly, she and Flair were the final two women in the match and even with a leg injury sustained in the match (once again at the hands of Jax) Lynch was able to overcome the odds and eliminate Flair to get herself to WrestleMania against the champion of her choosing.

Lynch didn’t waste any time in making her choice as she showed up on Monday Night Raw the following night and challenged Rousey to the match that she’d been waiting for since Survivor Series. However, those plans quickly changed as Lynch wasn’t medically cleared from the damage her knee sustained at the Rumble. The news sent Lynch into a rage that took the form of attacking both Triple H and Stephanie McMahon and as punishment, she was pulled from the match at WrestleMania by Vince McMahon. He also suspended Lynch for 60 days, a suspension that would have ended five days after WrestleMania. That meant a new No. 1 contender to Rousey’s Championship had to be named and the Chairman selected — who else? — Flair.

Stephanie would eventually reinstate Lynch, but her spot at WrestleMania wasn’t also given back to her. At the Fastlane pay-per-view, Lynch had to once again defeat Flair to get to WrestleMania. Lynch did so when Rousey hit the ring and struck her, giving Lynch a disqualification win and officially making the WrestleMania title fight a triple threat. Things became even more interesting as just 12 days before WrestleMania, Flair won the SmackDown Women’s Championship from Asuka, adding a new twist to the main event.

Many wondered how Flair’s title win would affect the match. Stephanie kicked off the go-home episode of Raw with the announcement that not only would Rousey’s Raw Women’s Championship be on the line, but Flair’s SmackDown Women’s Championship as well in a “winner take all” match. Later that night, the three participants teamed up to take on The Riott Squad with the stipulation that if any of them attacked the other during the match, that woman would be eliminated from the WrestleMania bout. That didn’t end up happening — but as soon as the match was over, Rousey attacked Flair and one of the craziest, most chaotic segments we’ve seen in a while ensued. After going at one another for a few minutes (while also taking out some security guards and cops) all three women were eventually handcuffed. But that didn’t stop them.

The brawl continued in the backstage area and  in the backs of police cars as every woman got their shots in on one another before being hauled away. It was a scene reminiscent of the crazy backstage segments between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince from the Attitude Era, and it made for really entertaining television.

Now, there’s only one thing left to do. The match is set. With both the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championships up for grabs, it’s Rousey vs. Flair vs. Lynch in the main event of WrestleMania. The winner will be the undisputed top woman in the company.

Who’s your pick to win the main event at WrestleMania 35? Join the conversation in the comments section below.