Bianca Belair Was Not WWE’s First Choice To Win 2021 Royal Rumble
Bianca Belair was victorious in the 2021 Royal Rumble but a former WWE writer has explained that a familiar face was originally slated to win that match.
Since the women’s Royal Rumble debuted in 2018 no woman has ever won the match on two occasions but that could have been quite different in 2021.
Speaking on the Public Enemies Podcast former WWE writer Chris Dunn explained that Charlotte Flair – the winner of the match in 2020 – was originally slated to win the women’s 2021 Royal Rumble match until that was changed at the last minute for one very good reason:
“I was in a Tampa Hotel room and we were watching some sort of football game and an assistant had just left the Royal Rumble (2021) night-before meeting and they changed the finish and Charlotte [Flair] was going to go over and they rehearsed Charlotte going over and Bianca [Belair] was going to get eliminated like midway through the match and it got changed to Bianca going over and I think a lot of people voiced it but this guy, Ryan Ward, he’s been there for like 14 years, he was [John] Cena’s writer and probably, for my money, I think has had the biggest hand in the women’s revolution.”
“He was the lead writer in the golden days of NXT with Kevin [Owens] and Sami [Zayn] and The Four Horsewomen, all that stuff. From my understanding, what I heard, he kind of said something to Vince McMahon to the effect of, ‘Vince, if you look at the Royal Rumble tomorrow, you have Edge winning and Charlotte winning. We’re not making any new stars’ and I think that really resonated and Bianca was on such a roll where it kind of made sense and she also had to, again, right after that match, really nail that post-match promo and she did it and she was just awesome and great.”
As a result of her win, Bianca Belair found herself defeating Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women’s Championship on night one of WrestleMania 37.