WWE has taken an interesting direction with the Women’s Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair this year and she has chosen to face NXT Champion Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania, instead of choosing a champion from Raw or SmackDown.
Though it appears that Ripley’s appearance will be the only major involvement of NXT at Mania as there are no other NXT title matches planned for the show.
Dave Meltzer talked about the upcoming event on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio and revealed that there are currently 14 matches planned for WrestleMania.
However, the Ripley vs. Flair bout is the only NXT Championship match scheduled for Mania and as of this writing, no other NXT titles are expected to be defended on the event.
While the NXT stars can still be used in the male or female battle royals at the PPV, the current plans are for Rhea Ripley to be the main representative of the Black And Yellow brand on WrestleMania.
On a related note, Meltzer revealed that the NXT Champion is being paid under her standard NXT contract but she is receiving bonus pay for any Raw appearances she makes to build her feud with Charlotte.
There is no word yet on what she will be paid for her actual match at the Grandest Stage Of Them All but it’s not hard to imagine that WrestleMania will be a big payday for her and any other involved NXT stars.
