The WWE has a lot of work to do leading up to WrestleMania, and every match requires careful planning and promotion. However, plans had to be changed when Ronda Rousey suffered an injury, and the WWE had to adjust accordingly. Originally, Rousey and Shayna Baszler were slated to compete for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles, but due to Rousey’s injury and the lack of time to build the match, plans were altered.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the WWE decided to protect Ronda Rousey by pulling her from the Women’s Title match. With the injury preventing Rousey from participating in a televised build-up for the match, the WWE felt that they couldn’t effectively promote the bout in time for WrestleMania. As a result, the WWE opted to scrap the storyline that was leading up to Rousey and Baszler getting a shot at the tag team titles and instead booked them in a four-way tag team match.
The decision was made to nix the planned storyline that was leading to Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler getting a shot (and presumably winning) the women’s tag titles. No direct reason was given, although the idea that Rousey has a fractured arm and thus wasn’t going to be around for a television build for a title match at Mania probably factored into it. The feeling is why throw on a WrestleMania title match when you can’t really build it effectively right now.
While no official reason was given for the change in plans, the belief is that Rousey’s fractured arm and inability to be present for a television build for the title match played a significant role. The WWE didn’t want to put on a WrestleMania title match without the proper promotion, so the decision was made to hold off on the Rousey/Baszler title push for the time being.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that WWE discussed Big E’s return in some capacity during WrestleMania. It is to be noted that this was before Kofi Kingston’s injury, so that might have nixed things for Big E.
Before the injury to Kofi Kingston, which did result in ankle surgery on 3/17, we had at least heard talk of the Big E return if only in skit form with the New Day together.
