To think it all started with Nia Jax

[feartear]

If we're here today witnessing the first ever women's main event at Wrestlemania, it's all because that one punch.

That one example of Nia Jax's clumsiness is what TV Tropes would call "For Want Of A Nail", and event that drastically change history, a snowball that rolls down a mountain and becomes an avalanche.

Let's recap:

Becky Lynch is scheduled to face Ronda Rousey in a champion vs champion match at Survivor series, however less than a week before the event Becky is badly injured by Nia Jax and is forced to rest to recover, thus missing the match with Ronda. The consequences are as follows:

-Becky is more over than ever before
-Becky chooses Charlotte as her replacement
-at Survivor Series, Charlotte (despite NOT BEING BECKY) is cheered as she never was before in her career, which also reveals that the WWE Universe lost its interest in Ronda Rousey
-thanks to this unexpected reception, Ronda becomes increasingly bitter
-while occupied with her incoming title defense at TLC, Becky Lynch is still eager to fight Ronda Rousey and loves to provoke her via Twitter
-at TLC Ronda interferes and causes the loss of both Becky and Charlotte, while Asuka becomes Smackdown Women's champion
-at the Royal Rumble Becky loses the rematch with Asuka, but she later enters the Royal Rumble in substitution of an injured Lana and wins, eliminating Charlotte for last
-Becky chooses to face Ronda at WrestleMania
-the McMahons are involved
-Charlotte is inserted in the match
-Becky is arrested
-while Becky continues to be popular, Ronda finally snaps from all the pressure started at Survivor Series and breaks keyfabe

And if we also want to consider the collateral effects:

-the injures suffered by Lana, which allows Becky to enter the rumble, is also the reason why Shinsuke Nakamura won the US title from Rusev
-thanks to her increased heat, Nia enters the Men's Royal Rumble and is beaten up by three former world Champions to massive cheers
-R Truth, from who Nia stole his spot in the rumble, is refunded with a match with Nakamura for the US title, which he wins

If Nia didn't punch Becky in the face, not a single thing in these lists would have happened.

[Mozenrath]

Necessity in wrestling is very often the mother of invention, and the best can come from the unexpected. Like, take 18 seconds with Bryan.

I do actually think WWE was *trying* to protect Bryan, not bury him, with that, and make it seem like it could get pinned on AJ, but the fans were pissed that Bryan got denied a proper match, and his popularity exploded to much higher levels than it had ever been before. In that error in judgment, WWE accidentally sparked a pretty powerful flame.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

I love butterfly effect things like this.

["Magic" Mark Hurr]

It was the punch that broke the WWE Universe.

Which is different than Big Show's, " The Punch that couldn't bring back his strip mall."

[Dub H]

I mean,it started with Becky turning on Charlotte,people were already saying before the punch that they should save Becky vs Ronda for WM.

But the Punch was the Catalyst that changed the whole situation

[Slingshot Suplay]

Mar 26, 2019 7:01:33 GMT -5 Dub H said:

I mean,it started with Becky turning on Charlotte,people were already saying before the punch that they should save Becky vs Ronda for WM.

But the Punch was the Catalyst that changed the whole situation

The punch saved Becky from her terrible heel turn.

[theironyuppie]

I’m sure they’re aware of the effects that punch had. Nia has talked about being in a dark place over all the vicious criticism she got for her botch, but over the Xmas holidays Charlotte talked to her about it and told her that it really sucked at the time but ultimately benefited everyone, which helped Nia come to terms with it emotionally. (I’d argue the Charlotte substitution also benefited her in another way as it ended up showing her and Ronda’s excellent ring chemistry.)

Also, it’s the second time an errant hand has had profound effects on women’s wrestling. Back at Wrestlemania XXX and it’s 14-diva title match, Naomi was meant to not properly lose, so that she could then challenge AJ Lee the next night and win the butterfly belt. Unfortunately, in the moment she messed up the finish and tapped out normally. Because of this, she couldn’t challenge and so Paige got called up earlier than expected, so that the originally planned Paige/Charlotte NXT women’s title match never happened. To replace Paige, they held a tournament, which led to the classic Natalya/Charlotte match at Takeover Arrival, which was the first time Natalya got no time limit in constructing a match, and which Charlotte (who has wrestled her first TV match only 10 months earlier) has often credited as the match which gave her the confidence she needed to go forward. So without Naomi’s botch, a lot could have changed.

[ASYLUMHAUSEN]

Nia's still doo doo though.

[Abdullah]

I think, and who knows if he's right, Meltzer said that if Becky faced Ronda at Survivor Series then the finish would have been the same. Becky wouldn't have lost.

[Deleted]

She'll be rewarded by winning the titles at WrestleMania.

ALL HAIL THE NIA JAX

[Deleted]

It'll continue with Nia Jax too as I'm sure she'll be Becky's first opponent post-WM.

[theironyuppie]

Worth remembering that Becky already got revenge on Nia backstage at TLC, but WWE might forget that if they want to do a fuller feud. Maybe Nia needs to avenge running into that barricade on the SS 2016 go-home show.

[Prince Petty]

I think we'd still be seeing the first women's main event, but it would just be Charlotte vs Ronda, and a lot of people would be unhappy about it (hell, it seems like a lot are anyway).

Becky's rise is clearly something the WWE didn't quite anticipate, but they've gotten behind it wholeheartedly (if not entirely competently) and I do applaud them for that.

[Talent Name]

Usually it starts with only a kiss and we are left wondering how did it end up like this

[CeilingFan]

Turning Becky heel was the seed, but Nia's punch was the blossoming.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Mar 26, 2019 12:48:30 GMT -5 Talent Name said:

Usually it starts with only a kiss and we are left wondering how did it end up like this

It was only a kiss!

[fw91]

I think we were getting a woman's main event anyway in Charlotte vs Ronda. Becky caught fire sure, but there were rumblings of a woman;s main event for quite some time

[Feyrhausen]

Mar 26, 2019 9:56:55 GMT -5 theironyuppie said:

Worth remembering that Becky already got revenge on Nia backstage at TLC, but WWE might forget that if they want to do a fuller feud. Maybe Nia needs to avenge running into that barricade on the SS 2016 go-home show. ;)

Becky got revenge for the punch. But theres still revenge for Nia injuring her knee at the Rumble.