WWE WrestleMania 33: Becky Lynch Should Win SmackDown Women’s Championship

With Naomi’s untimely injury shifting plans ahead of WrestleMania 33, “The Irish Lass Kicker” Becky Lynch stands to gain a lot from a SmackDown Women’s Championship title hunt into Orlando.

The world of professional wrestling is filled with heartfelt moments. We may not get what we want every single week, but in reality, having those special occasions remain few and far between just makes them that much sweeter. Think back to Daniel Bryan’s monumental victories at WrestleMania XXX against Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista to win the WWE World Championship.

Fans were upset when Bryan was screwed out of the title at SummerSlam by Orton and “The Game” about eight months prior, but without their epic double-cross we wouldn’t have been treated to that hugely gratifying moment in New Orleans.

We got to witness the end to yet another deeply emotional journey at Elimination Chamber – not just with Bray Wyatt in the main event, but with Naomi finally getting rewarded for her immense heart, determination and unparalleled athleticism in the form of a SmackDown Women’s Championship victory over Alexa Bliss to give the former Funkadactyl her very first taste of championship gold.

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Unfortunately, with the good comes the bad all too often, and just like Daniel Bryan had to relinquish the WWE World Heavyweight Championship as a result of an urgent need for neck surgery back in 2014, this week’s SmackDown Live broadcast saw Naomi surrender her recently earned title to that very same man, due to a knee injury sustained during the championship match at Elimination Chamber.

This is a heart-breaking development, to say the least, considering Naomi had been hyping her title match with the added incentive that becoming champion would allow her to walk into WrestleMania in her hometown of Orlando, Florida with the gold.

The show must go on, however, and WWE handled the circumstances of Naomi’s injury quite well this week by jumping straight into the next chapter of the title picture with a championship match between Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss.

In typical Bliss fashion, the former champ picked up her second title victory with a strike to the throat and a handful of tights, unbeknownst to the referee.

If you consider this, along with the fact that the beef between Lynch and Mickie James is far from over, it looks like Becky now finds herself alone on SmackDown Live.

With Naomi now on the shelf, and Nikki Bella seemingly setting up for an angle involving Maryse, The Miz and John Cena at the Show of Shows, Lynch is the only babyface in the SmackDown Live women’s division with her eye on the title – up against fierce competition in Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, Natalya and even Carmella.

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The only logical route to take is for Becky Lynch to slip right back into a comfortable role as the underdog as she heads towards what will surely be a title opportunity at WrestleMania – even if the stacked card forces it down to the pre-show.

Remember that this isn’t the first time Becky Lynch has had the odds stacked against her. She had to deal with countless betrayals in 2016 alone from people she once considered friends, and her efforts only started to pay off when she was drafted to the blue brand and became the first SmackDown Women’s Champion.

Now that she finds herself back in that familiar position once again, it seems only poetic that her final stretch to WrestleMania is met with success.

Last year, Becky took her rightful place in the revolutionary triple threat match against Charlotte and Sasha Banks that took the WWE’s collective women’s roster to the next level – quite literally, with the removal of the term “WWE Diva” in favor of the much more flattering “WWE Superstar” and the introduction of a brand new title.

With Banks and Charlotte, along with Bayley and Nia Jax, undoubtedly going to be participating in a high-stakes match at WrestleMania, it seems only fitting that Becky herself is given her time to bask in the spotlight on the grandest stage of them all.

As the only member of the Four Horsewomen to be drafted to Tuesday nights, Becky Lynch was gifted with an opportunity to step forward as the leader of her own women’s division, and she’s more than accomplished that over the last half-year. It would be a shame for her not to get recognition for that hard work while her former best friends got prime positioning just for being on the flagship show.

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SmackDown Live promised us a heart-warming moment at WrestleMania, and though it may not be quite what we expected, we can still get that with a Becky Lynch championship victory on such an enormous platform, whether it comes in the form of a one-on-one match against Alexa Bliss or something a little more complex.