WWE Raw: Becky Lynch vacating is bittersweet, but journey was great

In light of Becky Lynch vacating her WWE Raw Women’s Championship, now seems like as good a time as any to reflect on her reign in all its greatness.

If you just saw Monday Night Raw right now, then you know the shocking news: Becky Lynch, after holding the title for just over a year’s time, has been forced to vacate the WWE Raw Women’s Championship.

To say that the end of Lynch’s reign is a bittersweet pill to swallow would be an understatement. However, the ending should not nullify just how great the past 400 days of her reign have been.

In the context for something like a movie, an ending can sour someone on the entire movie, even if everything before it was entertaining. A video game with a bad story ending or frustrating final level may make the most hardcore of gamers second guess ever playing that game ever again.

For that same reason, in wrestling, some of the best storylines have been overshadowed by disappointing matches story payoffs. Becky Lynch’s title reign ending with a disappointing vacate risks following that same trend, but it shouldn’t.

For the past year, Becky Lynch has gone out of her way to elevate her opponents and her brand in anyway she can.

As a wrestler, she tried to make rookies like Lacey Evans look like seasoned veterans and put a spotlight on seasoned, overlooked vets like Natalya. She gave Sasha Banks a warm welcome back to WWE with a pair of MOTY candidates. She helped fresh challengers like Asuka and Shayna Baszler look like a million bucks every time they shared the screen together.

To elevate her brand, Lynch made appearances everywhere from MTV to ESPN to spread the gospel of the company she represents. Beyond media appearances, she’s worked hard to represent WWE in Hollywood, most recently guest starring on Billions and set to star in films next for Marvel and with Roman Reigns and Stephen A. Smith.

And it doesn’t even need to be said that The Man has given us some of the best matches and promos that WWE has produced in the last year, constantly thriving to improve her craft in every area possible. All of the hard work she’s committed over the last 400 days is exactly why she was once WWE’s top merch seller and one of the company’s top stars. If not, the top star.

So overall, the ending of Becky Lynch’s title run didn’t have a perfect ending, but the journey to how we got here will always have replay value.