WWE SmackDown Live: Becky Lynch Must Not Win Money in the Bank

In SmackDown Live’s Women’s Money in the Bank Rematch, there is one woman who absolutely must not win. That’s Becky Lynch.

This Tuesday, SmackDown Live will hold a rematch for the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match. Now, whether this is a stroke of genius on the part of WWE or a horribly near-sighted move, it’s happening. Who wins, however, is still up for debate. Carmella winning makes the whole thing pointless. As for Charlotte Flair and Natalya, the briefcase is unlikely to change their spot on the card. If there’s one woman whose situation trumps all of those, one woman who cannot, must not win, it’s Becky Lynch.

A week and a half ago she was a front runner. As the first ever SmackDown Women’s Champion, a member of the 4 Horsewomen, and a protegee of Finn Balor, her resume certainly qualified her for it. The story wrote itself, Lynch literally climbing over adversity to gain the opportunity to reclaim her championship. It would have been a heroic victory and a feel-good moment, but that moment is gone. There’s no getting it back. This time, Lynch’s resume isn’t enough because the story has changed. A Money in the Bank win like this would only serve to hurt her.

After the match last Sunday, Lynch went backstage and cut the promo of her life. She managed to nail the perfect balance between passionate and fed up. Granted, that could stem from actual frustration over the scripted finish of the match. Regardless, she sold it. To her, that finish represented unfair opportunities. Lynch isn’t wrong, at least not in Kayfabe. WrestleMania 32 saw Becky pinned while Rick Flair pulled Sasha Banks out of the ring. Mickie James dressed up as La Luchadora and cost her a championship match against Alexa Bliss. “No matter what I do, no matter how hard I train, how good I am in that ring,” said Lynch, “if I’m the best there is there is going to be someone…and they’re just gonna take it from under me.”

It was killer. The promo was reminiscent of the one she cut immediately after her heel turn in NXT when she said Sasha Banks was the only one she could rely on. For the first time since Lynch’s call up as part of the “Diva’s Revolution,” it feels like she has a defined character with concrete motivations. Lynch became a star in NXT when she lost to then-champion Banks, telling a story in the ring that prompted the crowd to sing her theme song to her after the loss. That connection has dissipated but she can get it back if she digs her heels in with this character. Lynch is tougher than any woman in that ring and she is over playing nice. Every time a cheater knocks down her down, she’s going to come back swinging twice as hard. After all, success is the best revenge.

Where does Lynch go from here? The answer is not winning the Money in the Bank rematch. That would kill this character. She finally has grasped something real on the main roster. To have her struggle for one whole week and then be victorious is a waste. Her promo can be a pivotal moment for her character, a moment when she decided that she would no longer be a victim and started to fight back. That’s a story, a good one, but it will take time. It’s a story worth fleshing out over months of Lynch taking two steps forward and one step back. This is not the sort of thing you can wrap up with a bow over the course of seven days.

Simply, Lynch needs to go to the bottom. She can feud with Lana and put Lana over, perhaps with help from Rusev. This crisis of confidence is exactly what Lynch needed. It’s the chance for her to rebuild the Becky Lynch brand. Sure, she’s over in the sense that people will cheer for her because her music is catchy and her look is cool, she’s a delight in the ring, and has an adorable accent. That’s not the same as being over because the crowd is buying into her character. The crowd will, however, buy into this. There’s no one who hasn’t stood where Lynch is standing right now. Over the next year, Lynch needs to take the time to find this character and get us to buy in. Then, her win at next year’s Money in the Bank will be spectacular.

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If Lynch walks away Tuesday night as Ms. Money in the Bank, all of that will be lost. The promo will probably never make it out of YouTube and that character will never see the light of day. It will be business as usual for Lynch, a likable babyface without a lot of depth. Alternatively, she can grow something special out of this. She is the one now who has an opportunity to elevate herself and propel her career forward. Lynch must lose Money in the Bank because, in many ways, she has always been the real winner.