Charlotte, Tiffany Unscripted Promo Buzz Enhances WrestleMania Match Amid WWE Rumors

Charlotte Flair will challenge Tiffany Stratton for the WWE Women's Championship on the grandest stage in professional wrestling, WrestleMania 41, live from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

What was once a relatively cold match though heated up exponentially on the April 4 episode of SmackDown thanks to an in-ring promo that saw both women venture off-script with some head-scratching mockery and intensely personal insults. There was heat on both for their actions, but it was also believed that the champion had to fight back against Flair, who overshadowed her in their previous split-screen promo.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select reported, "The idea for Charlotte Flair vs. Tiffany Stratton at WrestleMania was implemented even before Charlotte Flair’s return to the ring. Despite the fact that the two went at each other off-script on Smackdown, it hasn’t adjusted WWE’s plan."

WrestleVotes reported that Stratton had been warned in advance that Flair may go off-script and was able to have a response prepared ahead of time.

Despite what some might consider a disastrous promo segment that did not follow script in the slightest and featured unnecessarily personal verbal attacks between the participants, the controversy and headlines that have stemmed from it have done more to create buzz and interest in the contest than anything WWE had accomplished creatively to that point.

The Stratton-Flair match was almost an afterthought before they took to the squared circle for that promo, a match destined to happen because The Queen won the Royal Rumble and wanted to test Tiffy Time on the grand stage, with championship gold at stake.

That one promo and the intrigue that emerged from it woke fans up to the fact that there is, at least on the surface, some level of dislike between the performers. As former Raw general manager and WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff has noted countless times, controversy creates cash and Flair and Stratton definitely created their fair share of it with their work on the mic, intentional or not.

The challenger at WrestleMania followed it up with a parking lot attack on Stratton before SmackDown Friday night. Then, after Stratton's victory over Roxanne Perez, Flair again attacked, hurling her opponent over the announce table and standing tall to close out the segment.

Stratton will need to avenge the two attacks so she can save face and enter WrestleMania with some momentum on her side. Still, the intensity of the rivalry has picked up exponentially, which benefits the program and the fans' reaction to it.

It was a much-needed element in the rivalry, which now heads into WrestleMania Saturday with an opportunity to be one of the surprise show-stealers of that card.