Becky Lynch’s Story Has Unnecessary Twists

Imagine how simple Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey could have been.

You have Lynch, the hottest star in the company who won the women’s Royal Rumble and earned her title shot against Rousey, the crossover star from UFC who was one of the biggest pay-per-view draws in the history of combat sports.

It’s a match that could main event WrestleMania 35 in New York next month, and not a single person would question the logic behind it.

But that’s not what WWE has delivered. Instead, the feud between Rousey and Lynch has been overbooked to the point of exhaustion. It’s almost difficult to follow the never-ending developments.

After winning the Rumble, Lynch had her title shot stripped by WWE chairman Vince McMahon, who instead awarded the match to Charlotte Flair. Lynch has had to jump through hoops put in front of her by the McMahon family, including gaining medical clearance, apologizing for attacking Stephanie McMahon, and then this week on Raw she had to sign a hold-harmless agreement.

Triple H and Stephanie are in a weird middle ground, where we can’t tell if they’re the evil heels aligning with Vince or if they’re more down-the-middle authority figures.

Now an injured Lynch is trying to earn her way back into a match she already earned by winning at Fastlane this Sunday.

Convoluting the storyline even more, Rousey apparently turned heel on last night’s episode of Raw, attacking Becky Lynch in the process.

I’m fine with stacking the deck against the babyface and making the hero break through barriers and face adversity. But what WWE has done with Becky Lynch feels so over the top, there’s little logic in the storytelling and it’s made worse by the company insisting that it shoehorn Charlotte into the match at WrestleMania.

Charlotte Flair is great. But she has no business in the WrestleMania match between Rousey and Lynch. She doesn’t need to be involved, and I’m not sure why WWE is insisting upon it.

Perhaps they’re worried about the “workrate” of the match at WrestleMania. Sure, Rousey is green as a wrestler and maybe she wouldn’t have a classic five-star match against Becky Lynch, but that’s no reason to force a triple threat. At the end of the day, people are interested in seeing characters collide in a match. WWE didn’t force Randy Savage or Ricky Steamboat into the Hogan vs. Andrew match at WrestleMania 3 to improve the workrate. WWE didn’t make sure Undertaker vs. Sid at WrestleMania 13 had Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart thrown into the mix. Heck, the company ran the main event at WrestleMania 11 that featured Lawrence Taylor, an NFL linebacker, against Bam Bam Bigelow.

Bottom line; there’s no reason to force Charlotte into this match and the storytelling and sympathy WWE is trying to put on Lynch has the potential to backfire, due to illogical storytelling.