WWE: Becky Lynch Will Prosper Regardless Of Storyline Direction

At WWE SummerSlam 2018, Becky Lynch turned heel against her best friend Charlotte Flair, who pinned her for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at the very moment that the “Lass Kicker” had the title in her grasp.

As far as social media is considered, Becky Lynch is one of the biggest stories in WWE right now,. I mean, of course, The Shield’s reunion on Raw, Braun Strowman’s impending cash-in, the WWE Championship match at Hell in a Cell, and Roman Reigns’s first title defense as Universal Champion are huge stories that are likely bigger overall. And oh yeah, Ronda Rousey just won the Raw Women’s Championship.

So the fact that Becky’s heel turn at SummerSlam, subsequent promo on SmackDown Live, and social media banter have generated interest is meaningful. Lynch is usually behind the other Four Horsewomen in Google searches, but she and Charlotte Flair have become the story in WWE’s Women’s Division since SummerSlam.

Lynch has turned heel in the eyes of WWE management, who wrote this storyline with the intention of getting The Lass Kicker to join the dark side, a la former Mixed Match Challenge partner Sami Zayn. But the WWE Universe remains vocal in their support for Becky. They cheered her at SummerSlam, they stayed in her corner on SmackDown Live, and they’ve taken to social media to tell Road Dogg that they’re seeing a different story than the one WWE wants to tell.

Before SummerSlam, Becky may have been the most well-liked babyface in WWE, and, after SummerSlam, that hasn’t really changed. When she was given a promo about how the WWE Universe turned their backs on her as a reasoning for her actions against Charlotte, the fans weren’t buying it.

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They knew that Becky had praised them on the day of SummerSlam, so this explanation seemed quite illogical to them. Furthermore, the fans believe that Charlotte swooped in and stole a title shot without having climbed nearly as much as Becky to earn it, and they were just as upset when she chose to pin Becky for the pinfall victory.

Turning against your best friend for a championship isn’t exactly a babyface move, which is WWE’s perspective here. In their eyes, Becky is the villain for betraying her friend, even if she did it for a title opportunity.

The problem is that, in an ideal world, WWE doesn’t get to choose who the “good guy”in a story is. No, that privilege generally lies with the fans, who buy the tickets, make the noise in the arena, and occasionally live through the characters they see on television.

Becky has a special connection with the crowd, and that isn’t going away anytime soon. WWE can decide to fight the fans, forcing her into a heel role that doesn’t fit her. Yes, Becky may have been wrong to attack Charlotte, but she did so due to boiling frustration. She did so because Charlotte Flair clearly does not understand how important the title is to Becky, perhaps as a result of Flair’s perceived privilege leading to seven women’s title reigns in WWE.

As long as the crowd remains fully behind her, as they were this Tuesday and pretty much every other night since her main roster debut, Becky Lynch will thrive. Everyone likes to bring up Roman Reigns as an example of someone who got/gets reactions that oppose what WWE purportedly wants, yet Reigns still prospers. He has loyal fans, he has loyal haters, he gets massive search traffic, he pushes merch, and he kills it in the ring.

Meanwhile, Becky has loyal fans without the loyal haters, even if she doesn’t have a fraction of Reigns’s merchandise power and search engine interest. Part of the reason for that lack of interest had to do with months and months of Becky being pushed to the side in WWE storylines, which, you know, has helped lead to the sudden interest now that she is in a meaningful story.

This week, the Lynch/Charlotte segment on YouTube received 1.8 million views, which seems to be the most views Becky has ever received in a YouTube segment. Her heel turn has led to much more interest and a high-profile feud that could culminate in a Hell in a Cell match with Charlotte, yet she still remains as popular as ever.

Basically, Becky is in a great spot. Fans, wrestling writers, and others have debated the future direction of the Becky/Charlotte story, and we’re in murky waters since it’s a fluid situation from a booking standpoint. But what is clear is that Lynch is in the best position of her career since dropping the SmackDown Women’s Championship at TLC 2016.

Yeah, it’s been a long time coming for a woman who has cut some of the best backstage promos and put on some of the best women’s matches in 2018.