With less than a month remaining before WrestleMania 36 , a new report suggests that WWE chairman Vince McMahon has some doubts about one of the bigger names that have been rumored for the event — former NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler.
As quoted by Sportskeeda , Dave Meltzer wrote on this week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that McMahon didn’t appear impressed by Baszler, who made her in-ring Monday Night Raw debut earlier this week in a victory over Kairi Sane. While the former mixed martial artist is among six women who will be facing off at Sunday’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view to determine Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch’s challenger at WrestleMania 36 , reports have long hinted at the possibility of Baszler and Lynch fighting for the title at the annual event.
“[T]here was negativity and uncertainty regarding McMahon’s reaction to Baszler’s match with Kairi Sane on Raw not getting the desired reaction and Baszler not coming off like a WrestleMania headliner,” Meltzer wrote.
Keeping the new rumors in mind, it’s not clear whether Baszler is still the top favorite to become the No. 1 contender for the Raw Women’s Championship at Elimination Chamber . However, the possibility of a dark horse winner at Sunday’s event might loom large, considering how the “Queen of Spades” was also favored to win the women’s Royal Rumble match in January. Sportskeeda noted that instead of going with Baszler, McMahon changed his mind one week before the Royal Rumble PPV and decided to have Charlotte Flair emerge victorious in that match.
Hi, Becky.
This is @QoSBaszler . She’s been waiting a looooong time for this. #RAW pic.twitter.com/mAzEam53Ld
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) November 5, 2019
Despite the possibility of a late booking change and the rumors that McMahon isn’t sold on her ability to perform at the big event, the publication added that Baszler is still the likeliest woman to face Lynch at WrestleMania 36 , further speculating that anyone else winning the women’s Elimination Chamber match on Sunday will be a “big surprise.”
If McMahon does go with someone else as Lynch’s opponent, it won’t be an unprecedented move for the billionaire, if recent reports are anything to go by. While it was largely expected that “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt would be defending his Universal Championship against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 36 , a previous Wrestling Observer report (via WrestlingNews.co ) hinted last month that McMahon was leaning toward Goldberg beating Wyatt for the title at Super ShowDown . The above rumors proved to be accurate, as Goldberg will indeed be facing Reigns at WrestleMania for the Universal title, while Wyatt is now scheduled to go up against John Cena in a non-title match.
