Original Planned Winner Of 2021 WWE Women's Royal Rumble Revealed

While Bianca Belair ultimately won the 2021 Women's Royal Rumble, advancing to challenge Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women's Championship in the night one main event of WrestleMania 37, The EST of WWE wasn't the original planned winner.

According to former WWE Writer Chris Dunn, Charlotte Flair was originally booked to win the 2021 Women's Rumble before fellow writer Ryan Ward argued to Vince McMahon that Belair should be the one to win the match,

"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. 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," Dunn told the Public Enemies podcast.

"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."

Flair was in action at the 2021 Royal Rumble event, first losing the Women's Tag Team Championships with Asuka to Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler. Flair then competed in the Women's Rumble, being eliminated by Belair and Rhea Ripley. Flair was originally set to challenge Asuka for the Raw Women's Championship at WrestleMania 37 but the match was scrapped after Charlotte tested positive for COVID-19, being replaced by Rhea Ripley.

Charlotte Flair is already a former Royal Rumble winner, having won the Rumble in 2020.

H/T to POST Wrestling