When Did WWE Make Charlotte Decision + Final WWE HOF Member Is…

-By now, everyone should be aware that SmackDown has a new Women’s Champion.

Charlotte Flair defeated Asuka in what was termed an impromptu match. By defeating the Empress of Tomorrow, Charlotte becomes an eight time champion, and the WrestleMania main event, in theory, for now, gets a lot more interesting.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer, this was not a snap decision, per se. The report indicates that Vince McMahon has considered putting the blue belt on Charlotte for some time now. Ultimately, the decision to go forward with the change came down yesterday afternoon.

The late decision would explain why such a big match-and big change-did not benefit from any build up or hype, either from the prior SmackDown, RAW this week or social media.

That it’s been long considered does give us hope that WWE has a plan here. What that plan is, relative to the SmackDown Women’s Championship and, to an extent, the WrestleMania main event, remains to be seen.

-The WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2019 seems to be nearly complete. With just a couple shows left, there is not much of a chance left for additions, though there seems to be one more member.

Per PWInsider, a New York City radio station has been running advertisements for the Hall of Fame. In those ads, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake is mentioned as a 2019 Inductee.

Considering most of the announcements this year were merely covered on SmackDown or RAW, but actually “announced” via a main stream outlet (ESPN or other news source), the Beefcake announcement could come at any time and via any actual source. WWE could even simply post it to the WWE.com site, or announce via social media.

That said, Beefcake would seem to check that box for a past Superstar who was never a top guy, but who was around a while and was well liked by fans. Given his work alongside Hulk Hogan, one would think Hogan would induct Beefcake, as Hulk is already confirmed to be involved in WrestleMania.