WWE Rumors: Former Women’s Champion Returns For ‘WrestleMania 33’ Title Match


With just five days to go until WrestleMania 33, WWE fans got a major surprise on the latest SmackDown Live episode on Tuesday night. The latest installment of the blue brand took place in Richmond, Virginia, at the Richmond Coliseum as the biggest professional wrestling pay-per-view of the year continued to get hyped. One of the main matches that will be on the card will involve the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship which will be defended by Alexa Bliss. The current champion already had her hands full with four opponents, but on Tuesday she learned that there will be a fifth competitor involved.

According to ProWrestling, the latest SmackDown episode included a women’s match involving Carmella against Becky Lynch early in the program. Women’s champion Alexa Bliss and Mickie James were on guest commentary but the two superstars ended up bickering to the point they stood up and went at it physically. Their confrontation eventually moved into the ring, which caused Mickie to strike Becky, causing the referee to throw out the match. As in typical WWE fashion, this led to a new match which involved tag teams after a commercial break.

Alexa Bliss is the WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion heading into WrestleMania 33. [Image by WWE]

The new match featured Carmella teaming up with Alexa to take on Becky and Mickie James. The two teams went back and forth with Alexa eventually gaining control in the ring. However, the other woman who will be in their match on Sunday, Natalya, decided she needed to come to ringside to give guest commentary. Natalya watched from the announcers’ table while Carmella eventually was able to get a surprise win for her team. Post-match, Natalya got in the ring as all of the women brawled.

Fans got a surprise when more theme music hit. This time it was none other than Naomi, who came back to surprise the fans. Naomi hit a huge headscissors move while coming down the ramp before getting in the ring. She ducked Carmella and struck down Alexa Bliss. After clearing the ring, Naomi made her intentions known. She was not just back for this one moment, but she was heading to WrestleMania for her moment as well.

As fans know, Naomi was the WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion a month or so ago, but had to relinquish the belt due to injury. However, it was minor enough that she was able to stay on the sidelines until she was cleared to compete again. Now she’ll head into WrestleMania 33 for a chance to become a two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion just like Alexa Bliss. Naomi previously defeated Alexa for the title at the WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view just last month to claim the title for her first-ever reign.

Former WWE Women’s Champion Naomi returned on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live. [Image by WWE]

One would have to speculate that with Naomi returning for the match in her home area of Orlando, Florida, she’ll now be the favorite to win. As of this report, there were no betting odds listed for the SmackDown Women’s title match on Irish sports book Paddy Power or on the Betfair sports book, most likely due to the fact that it’s still unknown how many women will be in this particular match. There have been rumors that former women’s wrestling greats or new NXT stars could show up to try to win the prestigious newer title. Names that have been rumored include everyone from Lita to Trish Stratus to NXT Women’s champion Asuka.

According to Sportskeeda, this particular WWE WrestleMania 33 match is scheduled to take place on the Kickoff Show rather than the main card. That will give WWE fans the chance to watch Naomi back in action along with the other talented women’s stars of the SmackDown Live roster. Also on the pre-show will be the fourth annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal featuring Big Show, Braun Strowman, and many other WWE superstars.

WWE fans, will Naomi capture the WWE SmackDown Women’s title in her hometown of Orlando for WrestleMania 33? If not Naomi, who will win Sunday’s big title match?

[Featured Image by WWE]

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