Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2023/01/24/former-wwe-writer-chris-dunn-reveals-charlotte-flair-was-penciled-to-win-2021-womens-royal-rumble/
The original plan for the 2021 women’s Royal Rumble match.
One year after joining WWE’s main roster, Bianca Belair went on to win the 2021 women’s Royal Rumble match and headlined WrestleMania 37 with Mercedes Moné f.k.a. Sasha Banks.
Fast forward to present day, Belair has been reigning as Raw Women’s Champion for nine months. Bianca’s rise was discussed on the Public Enemies Podcast by former WWE writer Chris Dunn.
He talked about the 2021 women’s Royal Rumble and revealed that Charlotte Flair was penciled to win that match. The finish had been practiced and Flair was going to come out victorious. Dunn shared that Belair was going to be eliminated midway through, but it was fellow writer Ryan Ward who presented his case to Vince McMahon about why Belair should win.
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 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.
Dunn detailed another pitch involving Belair’s name and said he wanted to form a team with Bianca and Jessica McKay (Billie Kay). Dunn wanted to present them in a similar light to The Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection.
I looked into putting a tag team together with her [Bianca Belair] and Billie Kay where I thought we could kind of do a modern Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection with them… It would’ve been awesome. But I was planning it…
Belair’s next title defense is taking place at the Royal Rumble Premium Live Event. She’ll be defending against Alexa Bliss.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit the Public Enemies Podcast with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.