Becky Lynch’s return has been highly anticipated ever since she announced her pregnancy and hiatus. A bittersweet moment to see The Man leave, especially since she was in the middle of her title reign and especially since she was one of WWE’s most popular superstars. Speculations on her return started before Lynch could even find out her baby’s sex. Fans definitely made it known they missed Becky. When Lynch did give birth, the return rumors only grew more fire. Fans speculated big events like the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania for her return, and The Man did what she did best and trolled fans by teasing her return on Twitter only to never show up. Fans finally got their wish when she showed up at SummerSlam. However, this return was met with excitement, confusion and frustration. It’s like they say, be careful what you wish for.
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SummerSlam was set to be the stage for Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair’s highly anticipated WrestleMania rematch. However, things didn’t go as planned as Banks was announced unable to compete. Carmella was Bank's replacement and obviously the crowd wasn’t too pleased to not get their match as advertised. The new match was about to start until Becky Lynch’s music hit and the crowd exploded. The noise level was unreal; you could barely even hear her music over the crowd! After 15 months, The Man was finally back. Lynch disposed of Carmella, leaving her and Belair to have a stare down in the ring. Lynch suggested the two have a match for Belair’s title and, like the fighting champion she is, Belair accepted. The crowd cheered to see a match they definitely didn’t expect, but not disappointed in the slightest to see. The bell rang and Lynch reaches out for a handshake. She took advantage of Belair’s guard being down and hit one rock bottom, then pinned the champ. 1,2,3. Becky Lynch was the new SmackDown women’s champion. The crowd was shocked. The crowd was confused about what just happened. Of course, everyone was glad to see Becky back, but people were more concerned about Bianca’s reign. Bianca was just so over and so loved by fans that losing her title in 26 seconds didn't feel right. Who could possibly gain anything from this? Bianca’s reign was just getting started and seeing her lose so fast made her look foolish. And why ruin Becky’s return that fans were begging for by leaving a sour taste in their mouths? Well, it seems that was the plan all along.
Becky made her first TV appearance in over a year on the SmackDown after SummerSlam. Lynch kicked off the show while getting an outstanding reaction from the crowd. Lynch herself seemed to be overwhelmed and took it all in. The crowd was littered with “The Man'' signs and the “Becky” chants were deafening. Lynch told the crowd she missed them and gave a passionate promo on how hard she’s worked to get back in shape and how she’s now better than ever. She mentions SummerSlam and immediately the crowd boos; remembering Belair’s loss. Lynch responds by saying she's sorry… “for absolutely nothing”. Why should she be sorry? Timing is everything in WWE and that night Becky won fair and square. Here we see the hints of seeing a more cocky than usual Lynch. Bianca then comes out, ready to get her rematch as soon as possible. After many distractions, Belair proposes the two have a match tonight. Lynch replies with a simple “nah” and exits the ring. Lynch seems to not be quite the fighting champion she once was. This was the same woman who once defended both of her titles in one night. But hey, maybe she wasn’t ready that night! Timing is everything.
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The next week, Lynch came out to a more mixed crowd, but still getting a pretty loud reaction in her favor. This week, we can see some more entitlement from Lynch. She makes a comment on how she didn’t even get a “you deserve it” chant from the crowd last week; feeling as she more than earned it. Becky cuts a promo and talks about how some folks are portraying her as the bad guy in this whole situation. From a kayfabe point of view, what Becky did wasn’t technically wrong or malicious. She was just the better woman that night who capitalized on the right moment. The problem is the love and adoration for Bianca outshines whatever hype people had to see Becky win the title. Bianca comes out during this segment and puts on a great and passionate promo and once again asks for her rematch. Becky once again declines, a little more forceful than before, and leaves the ring, leaving the EST high and dry yet again.
Bianca was given her rematch eventually by officials for Extreme Rules. The two had a contract signing, and this is where we really see the new Becky Lynch shine. Bianca mentions how the old Becky would never run from a match, but it seems things have changed. She’s right, something has changed in Becky. Becky comes out wearing a ridiculous red fur coat and oversized glasses. It’s an interesting choice for a contract signing (Or anywhere really). Her presence is something to note. She’s slumped in her chair and seems annoyed at the whole situation. "You can be a fan, or you can be The Man," Becky says into the mic, “Ain’t no shame in buying a ticket and sitting out there with the regular people.” The crowd obviously boos, not enjoying being called “regular people”. Becky doesn't see the problem with what she said. After all, they’re not a champion or star like she is. Becky then threatens to not even sign the contract as the crowd yells at her to sign it. This really frustrates Becky, and she even jumps out her seat and exclaims, “Really?!”. She then mentions how she would sit at home as "these people" would chant “We want Becky”. Genuine anger flushes The Man’s face. Lynch even tells the crowd she left her baby for “you people”. It’s an interesting choice to reduce the fans to “you people” when the whole “Man” movement only succeeded because of the fans rallying behind Becky. However, it seems Becky has grown used to the chants and success and now feels she’s entitled to it all still. She is genuinely confused by the fact that now she’s back, fans are now chanting for the “EST” over her. Lynch left her baby to come back. She has been training harder than ever to get back into shape. Now she’s questioning why she had to give up so much up for such ungrateful fans. She won the championship (technically) fair and square, so why is she getting booed? Why are fans cheering for the girl she beat? Becky doesn’t see anything wrong with her attitude because the fans hyped up and asked for her return for months. Unintentionally, the fans created a monster.
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The next week Becky becomes even more disrespectful when she crashes Bianca Belair’s homecoming celebration. It was a nice ceremony for Belair, where she got to receive love from her friends, family and city. If she already didn’t have the crowd on her side, she definitely had her home town’s support. Upset to see Bianca getting all the attention, Becky comes out in even more ridiculous shades than last week and ruins the fun. The crowd chants “you don’t go here” to Lynch, and she sounds genuinely frustrated when the crowd drones her out when she tries to speak. Becky then urges Bianca to shake her hand and Bianca reluctantly agrees; flashbacks to their encounter at SummerSlam. Bianca’s smartened up since then and doesn’t let her go. Bianca gets Becky on her shoulders but Becky counters it and hits a man handle slam. Now, Becky could justify this by saying she had no choice but to defend herself! And she’d technically be right. Well, she did interrupt the homecoming celebration, but she didn’t aggravate a fight. But who knows what she would have done if Belair did let her go. Which is what makes this new character from her so interesting. For the most part, the choices Becky has made haven’t been all completely “bad” or heel choices. Yes, she’s gotten too big for her britches and said some things that have sounded hurtful towards Bianca and the fans. However, she’s just doing what anyone else would have done in these moments- capitalizing and taking advantage. Her actions lately seem to be why she is getting booed and Lynch for the life of her can not understand why. She felt she was doing a service to WWE and to the fans by stepping up and doing the match at the last minute. She left her newborn baby for this! And where’s her thanks? Where’s her “You deserve it” chant? Where’s her party?
The two have a final face off during the go home show before Extreme Rules. The crowd was even more against Becky than the first week she came back. Becky gives a fired up promo where she solidifies my points from earlier. “What choice did I have?” she says as she paces back and forth in the ring. What should she have done at SummerSlam? What should she have done when Bianca wouldn’t let go of her hand? What choice did she have? Becky's avoided Bianca’s rematch requests. What seemed to us as a champion avoiding a fight, Becky justifies this as giving Belair time to recover from her embarrassing 26 second loss at SummerSlam. She’s giving Bianca the time to prepare. Which I suppose doesn’t sound too bad when she says it like that. Then again, this is a different Becky, so we don't know her true intentions. Bianca comes out and gets a super loud “EST” chant and you can see the jealousy on Becky's face. Then the crowd follows up with rivaling “Becky” chants and Lynch has a huge grin all over her face again. Despite it all, Lynch still wants the glory she used to have. Belair lists her accomplishments like winning the Royal Rumble, main eventing WrestleMania, winning an espy- and doing it in a fraction of what it took Becky to. Becky becomes furious and fires back, “You’re only good, cause I showed the world how to be great.” Becky has had her own accomplishments, and in a way feels responsible for opening the door for future stars. Bianca goes for a handshake and Becky replies with a slap to the face. The two brawl and Bianca manages to hit the kiss of death on Becky, giving her a taste of what she can expect at Extreme Rules now that she is prepared.
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Every passing week, we’ve seen The Man become more and more cocky, arrogant, annoying but most of all: confused. This confusion has manifested into frustration. Frustrated there's a new woman who has accomplished so much in the fraction of the time it took her. Frustrated she is being shunned for winning the title the way she did. Frustrated she no longer has the complete support of the fans. Frustrated she left her family for this. I can see why the crowd is so split every week. Becky is one of WWE’s biggest stars, and it’s going to be hard to get her completely booed by the crowd. I talked a lot about Bianca in this piece, despite it being about Becky’s character. That's because Bianca was such a huge part in why Becky is the way she is now. Bianca never made excuses for losing in the way she did. It was Becky who would constantly bring up the fact Bianca lost in 26 seconds. Bianca never called the match unfair or threw a pity party for herself. She simply got back up and started the chase for the title all over again. I can see this attitude, and the other things I discussed, frustrating Becky. She failed to get under Bianca’s skin and could not phase her. The star struck from seeing Becky return faded real quick for Belair, and any respect she had for her was lost too.
Becky Lynch is not the same (wo)man she was before. While Lynch's character was always cocky, a little arrogant (but endearing) and a hot head; she was also brave, a fighter and stayed true to those who supported her along the way. Now her ego is too big for her own good, she’s rude, and she’s dismissed fans for not being completely team Becks. She’s also just lost. Lost on to what she’s done wrong. She came back because WWE asked her to. Wouldn’t anybody else do what she did if given the chance to be champion? And that’s what makes this new Lynch so interesting to me. It’s the reason the split crowd work in her favor. Maybe the new Becky is an egomaniac coward. Maybe she’s misunderstood. I’ll leave that up for you to decide.
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