5 Challengers for Charlotte Flair if she becomes the NXT Women’s Champion at WrestleMania 36

Charlotte Flair is one of the most decorated females in the history of sports entertainment, and The Queen has done it all and won it all during her stay in WWE.

Flair is ready to make history again, as she will be the first-ever challenger to the NXT Women’s Championship at a WrestleMania event. Rhea Ripley will become the first NXT Women’s Champion to compete in a match at WrestleMania and defend the title she values so much.

While Ripley seems to just be getting warmed up as the Champion, it seems highly possible that Flair will cut her title reign short and defeat her at The Show of Shows to bag her second NXT Championship reign.

While this won’t stop The Nightmare from remaining on the offense, one must keep in mind that Flair has nothing to lose and will enter the match as a favorite to win the NXT Women’s title.

With that in mind, we will look at 5 women who could challenge The Queen in NXT if she manages to win the NXT Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 36.

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#5 Shotzi Blackheart

Blackheart can be a good first challenger for a heel like Flair

Shotzi Blackheart may be new to all the happenings in NXT, but we’ve already seen that she is among the most talented women in the NXT female locker room.

Blackheart has already had some high-profile matches against the likes of Shayna Baszler and Chelsea Green. While Blackheart is only just getting started, we could watch the company give her some top opportunities to get her started in the business and give her a push later on.

Blackheart has proven to be a crowd favorite, and her entrance is loved by everyone who is a wrestling fan. Since Flair plays a heel character, we could watch Blackheart emerge as a great placeholder challenger for Flair to get restarted on the brand if she wins the title at WrestleMania 36.

Blackheart has given Baszler a tough time during a match which is something incredible, and that could allow her to give Flair some real competition too at a time when many of NXT’s emerging talent is doing as well as any established star in the company.

#4 Io Shirai

Io Shirai would be a great choice to pit against Flair

Io Shirai was out with an injury that required some time to heal, but the Genius from the Sky was able to overcome the odds once again and returned to action far quicker than expected. She’s defeated Aliyah on NXT during the Ladder Match qualifier and will compete in the Ladder Match to crown the next challenger for the NXT Women’s Championship after WrestleMania.

While Shirai had her chances against Shayna Baszler earlier, fans are aware of just how talented and skilled the Japanese Superstar is. Even though she’d been unlucky before, we could watch her win the Ladder match and emerge as the next challenger to the NXT Women’s Champion.

Charlotte Flair is a favorite at the moment, and if she defeats Rhea Ripley at Wrestlemania, fans could be in for a rivalry of a lifetime as Shirai is as good as anyone in the ring and could be a real threat to The Queen.

The outcome could be a clash that no one is expecting at the moment but can take the entire brand by storm, and we won’t be surprised if NXT chooses Shirai to be the one to end Flair’s reign whenever they have to.

#3 Bianca Belair

Belair has a score to settle with Flair

Bianca Belair was Rhea Ripley’s biggest threat when Ripley decided to go out on RAW and challenge the Royal Rumble winner for a match at WrestleMania herself.

The EST of NXT was not too pleased and continued to target both Ripley and Charlotte Flair in her promos and segments. After the match between Ripley and Belair for the NXT Women’s Championship which was won by Ripley ended, Flair appeared to not only attack Ripley but also attacked Belair before leaving.

This would have not worked well with the braid-swinger who is known to never back down and instead always steps up to the challenge.

While Belair still has a score to settle with Ripley, she will now have even more bad blood against The Queen who will be on her hitlist no matter which brands the two are on.

If Flair goes on to win the NXT Women’s title at WrestleMania, we could actually watch Belair emerge from nowhere after the match and attack The Queen, immediately starting a rivalry between the two women.

If that does not happen, we can still expect Belair to come up as the next challenger to Flair as she has a score to settle with The Queen and will not just sit and wait for her turn.

#2 Candice LeRae

LeRae has been searching for her big moment

One woman who should have had at least one major title reign under her belt already is none other than Candice LeRae. For a long time, NXT kept her in the shadows of her husband, Johnny Gargano, but the fact that she is as good as Gargano or anyone else in the industry will never change.

LeRae has had only one major title feud in NXT which came against Shayna Baszler, and Baszler’s friends ruined her chase for the Championship which was heartbreaking for the fans.

LeRae has something about her that helps her play a natural babyface character and the fact that she would work extremely well as the underdog against someone like Charlotte Flair makes us wonder why this feud hasn’t happened yet.

Flair vs. LeRae could be a dream match for many fans as both women are excellent in the ring, and this match could turn into a reality if LeRae goes on to win the Ladder Match while Flair could win her match at WrestleMania to set things up well for the fans.

This is a pairing I’d actually pay to watch at a pay-per-view!

#1 Rhea Ripley

The Nightmare is only just getting started in WWE and the woman who moved from NXT UK to NXT has already led Team NXT to success at Survivor Series and defeated the undefeatable Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship.

Rhea Ripley has been excellent at whatever she’s done, and the daring young Superstar was the first to go out and challenge the Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair to face her at WrestleMania.

While we hope that Ripley will have a long and healthy NXT Women’s Championship reign, the only woman who seems set to break her is Charlotte Flair. Flair, as we all know, is great at everything she does and has the most female Championship wins to her name for a reason.

If Flair does manage to defeat The Nightmare at WrestleMania, expect Ripley to not stand down for too long and rather step up to take on Flair once again to try and reclaim her title.

A rivalry between Ripley and Flair is highly likely if Flair defeats Ripley for the title at WrestleMania, and we could expect the two to give us some of the best matches of the year in the months to come.