Becky Lynch Must Remain Uncensored In Feud With Charlotte Flair

WWE needs to go all in on the SmackDown Women’s title feud, and that includes not suppressing the fiery indignation of Becky Lynch towards champion and former best friend Charlotte Flair.

The closing segment of last night’s SmackDown was some of the best dramatic television the Tuesday night brand has managed to achieve in quite some time. Some credit may need to be given to those behind the scenes who helped produce the end of the women’s title match, which saw Charlotte Flair successfully retain her championship against former belt holder Carmella. But the lion’s share of praise and accolades belongs to Becky Lynch in the excellently executed post-match attack.

Lynch blindsided Flair moments after the latter’s victory; the Dubliner throwing fists of fury at her grounded and vulnerable adversary. The onslaught was calculated but it was anything but cold blooded. Months of frustration and resentment fueled and ignited the balled up hands of the Irish Lass Kicker.

Lynch’s wrath continued as she channeled her rage through her feet in the form of a boot to the face of the recoiling Flair. The vengeful redhead then turned her attention to ringside.

“Give me a microphone! Give me a microphone, hurry up!”.

She wasn’t going to ask a third time.

With a mic in hand and oblivious to the crowd chanting “Let’s go Becky!”, Lynch picked up the SmackDown Women’s Championship belt and pressed it to her head as if it were a soothing balm. With her fire cooled and anger momentarily tempered, she dropped to a knee to address her former comrade.

"“When I get my way, come Hell in a Cell I’m taking my title back. You b*tch!” – Becky Lynch"

And with that Lynch threw the mic down and raised the belt above her head in defiance.

There is an issue however with how WWE has highlighted this moment. Forget the fact WWE will ignore the fans’ contrary response to Becky Lynch’s heel turn: history has shown the promotion will belligerently maintain course in spite of their audience giving them every indication to do otherwise (See Reigns, Roman).

No, the issue I have is with WWE choosing to censor Becky Lynch in their official YouTube clip. For in using the standard censor bleep, anyone who didn’t catch SmackDown live last night will completely miss the intonation and emotional beat of those final two words.

Live and uncensored Becky Lynch conveyed in those two words a weariness and fatigue to her disdain for her former best friend. Those two words revealed an exasperation and exhaustion from figuratively climbing the mountain from the ground up only to be denied reaching the summit by someone of privilege who flew in on a jet, landing just a few meters from the top. Worse still the person that did that to her should have been her closest ally.

The feel of that end moment is made numb through censorship of the replay. By WWE making this choice for fear of offending a few, many more will miss the nuance of Lynch’s vocal articulation. This should be of concern to anyone looking to invest themselves fully in this rivalry with Flair.

Becky Lynch’s biggest strength lies with her ability to come across as authentic; when Lynch is earnest and passionate there is nothing contrived about her words or delivery. At her best the audience completely buys her ability to emote and the effect as genuine. That is a rare talent in the world of professional wrestling that should be nurtured and allowed to blossom uninhibited.

Lynch needs to remain unbridled and be given almost free reign to make the most of this angle, and part of that includes leaving her artistic expression intact – even in WWE’s edited video clips after the fact.

For Lynch and Flair to tell the best story possible leading up to Hell in a Cell and beyond, the promotional build demands it.