WWE Makes Major Changes To Royal Rumble 2023 Plans
Saturday's Royal Rumble 2023 premium live event almost looked a LOT different for WWE.
WWE's first premium live event of the year, Royal Rumble 2023, takes place this Saturday (28 January) - and it sounds like the promotion has altered its plans for the show along the way.
Fightful Select has reported on several switch-ups made to WWE's Women's Championship storylines for 2023's first quarter. The outlet notes that Raquel Rodriguez's failed challenge for Ronda Rousey's SmackDown belt, which aired on 30 December, was originally going to take place almost a month later, with the contest originally scheduled for the Rumble PLE.
WWE ended up bringing the bout forward, then pulling Charlotte Flair's comeback onto the same show. In her first appearance in months, Flair defeated Rousey to become SmackDown Women's Champion, doing so immediately after the Rodriguez clash.
Fightful notes, too, that other WWE plans needed to be changed as a consequence of the above. Originally, Charlotte Flair was listed as a tentative Raw Women's Title challenger for Bianca Belair. Raw's Rhea Ripley was once booked to face Rousey for the SmackDown belt, too.
Rousey, who has been off WWE television since losing to Flair, had been presented with several creative options, though none of them panned out.