WWE: How A Charlotte Losing Steak Could Lead To A Huge Royal Rumble Win

Former SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair was on top of the world earlier this year, until a program against former-friend Becky Lynch tore her down. WWE may need to continue Charlotte’s story of redemption in a seemingly contradictory way that leads to a great payoff at Royal Rumble.

When WWE turned Becky Lynch heel after she lost an opportunity at the SmackDown Women’s Championship at SummerSlam, people were outraged over the apparent booking misstep. Lynch was the clear face, an absolute fan favorite, which should have made Charlotte Flair, Lynch’s now-former best friend and new champion, the de facto heel.

Cut to three months later: Becky Lynch’s heel turn has proven to be the best decision WWE could have made, and Charlotte’s position on SmackDown is in limbo. The fallout from the Lynch feud, including Charlotte being unable to stand at the end of their Last Woman Standing match, has clearly taken its toll on the star.

It’s a peculiar place to find Charlotte. Earlier this year, she’d been given the honor of ending the winning streak of the once undefeatable Asuka for her SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 34. She returned from injury just before SummerSlam to find herself inserted into another championship match which ultimately found her victorious again.

WWE has backed up the decision to turn Lynch heel by making her absolutely vicious, on-screen and off, but the question now becomes – how does WWE back up the decision to deflate the sails of the beaten-down Flair?

The answer may look contradictory to the problem. Since she lost yet another opportunity to win back the SmackDown Women’s Championship at Evolution, Charlotte hasn’t been herself. She even declined an opportunity to captain Team SmackDown at Survivor Series.

Then, last Tuesday on SmackDown, when she was announced as just a part of the team, Charlotte was a no-show. It seems like the loss has impacted Charlotte so profoundly that she can no longer put forth the positive, resilient face that she usually has.

To me, these are details that can open the door for a Charlotte storyline that could become big enough to justify keeping her face throughout the Lynch feud.

Charlotte needs to continue losing and have the comeback of her career at Royal Rumble – and perhaps even WrestleMania.

Keep two things in mind: firstly, it’s been widely rumored that Charlotte is almost a shoe-in to face Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey next year at WrestleMania 35, and she will need an excuse to cross brands to face Rousey.

Secondly, Charlotte was thoroughly unbelievable as the babyface in her feud with Lynch because so many people genuinely believed the argument Lynch presented about Charlotte being unnecessarily inserted in the championship scene constantly, almost matter-of-factly.

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I find often times that the best way to get the crowd to side with a performer who they feel like is being pushed unfairly or receives special treatment is to remind them of the performer’s humanity. It’s humanly easier easier to root for someone if you have empathy or compassion for them. They need to want someone to win from an emotional standpoint, plain and simple.

That’s of course why the opening WWE has given Charlotte’s character is so pivotal – because it gives her an opening to become human and for the crowd to find it’s footing steadily behind her again.

Charlotte should be really affected by her loss(es) to Becky Lynch, because she did lose a lot. She lost her championship, she lost her best friend, and in the end she lost any opportunity for her to reconcile any of that in her own mind, because Becky turned out to be right. Becky was better than her.

WWE should allow Charlotte to be affected by that on television instead of having her bounce right back. Charlotte should have in her head that she wasn’t the performer she needed it to be, and it should show in her performance, all in hopes that the WWE Universe will empathize with Charlotte’s struggles and really rally behind her as a babyface again.

I say “in hopes of”, but in all actuality, that formula has worked for WWE before. Let’s not forget John Cena’s heartbreaking loss to The Rock at WrestleMania 28. Heartbreaking to whom, you may ask? Definitely John Cena, who then went on a nearly-year-long losing streak after being so devastated by the loss.

The elation felt when Cena eventually won the WWE Championship from The Rock at WrestleMania 29 (poetically in the same venue this year’s WrestleMania will be held at) was overwhelming, and the win felt like a just reward for a year’s worth of feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy.

There is no reason why WWE wouldn’t be able to pull this off with Charlotte. As a matter of fact, this journey for Charlotte should be even more impactful, because there was so much more at stake for Charlotte when she lost at Evolution than just a championship.

I am indeed alluding to the fact that Charlotte’s next win shouldn’t be until she wins the Women’s Royal Rumble in January. From now until then, book Charlotte to look worn down, looked at differently by all the women on the SmackDown roster (bonus points here if she actually joins Team SmackDown at Survivor Series and costs them the win), until she secures a surprising yet well-deserved win at Royal Rumble.

To up the ante a bit, too, they should have Charlotte enter at a relatively early number to make her look even more like an underdog and win seem that much sweeter. From Royal Rumble until WrestleMania is when WWE should focus on her rebuild again; have Charlotte emphasize how much she’s learned about herself in that time, good and bad.

We can assume for now that Charlotte will indeed face Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania. She challenges Ronda for her Raw Women’s Championship. Why would Charlotte, who would just have had the hardest struggle of her carrier choose to challenge an unbeaten champion?

By this point in time, Ronda is probably riding high, having yet to take a pin in WWE or lose her championship, and it’s gone to her head. Ronda may feel like she’s entitled to her championship. At this point, Ronda probably has some shady and condescending stuff to say about Charlotte in interviews (one of WWE’s sly tricks used to start feuds).

I wouldn’t be surprised if Charlotte challenges Ronda simply because she knows she has something to prove to Ronda, to the audience, and to herself. Her win at Rumble would reignite a fire inside of her that once told her she was the best in the world– and that now tells her she can become the best in the world.

Hopefully then, somewhere along that journey, the WWE Universe will believe that again as well.

WWE has already laid the foundation for Charlotte to make the comeback of the year whether they realize it or not. Charlotte fought long and hard to ultimately lose a war against Becky Lynch, and there’s a chance that even in defeat, even in a lot of defeat, Charlotte can make her losses worth something greater.