'The Man' - Becky Lynch Thread

[Prime Time]

According to Cagematch it's been over a month since her last match now, anyone know when she's likely to be back? I imagine what with it being concussion, that they are taking it very carefully.

[Powder]

She is scheduled to wrestle at TLC on Sunday, and I believe its all but confirmed. There was no write off on last night's Smackdown, and she was involved physically in the brawl. so, she is all set to go.

[Prime Time]

Ah, that's good. Thanks for the update.

[Team Farrell]

Yeah, I think that I read last week that she had been cleared from her concussion but was only about a week out from being cleared from her orbital fracture.

[Powder]

I find it very concerning that during the entire TLC match last night, Cole kept talking about Charlotte's resolve and not about Becky. It is clear that the WWE is going to try to dampen Becky and push Charlotte again.

[Oliver]

WWE have always been all about Charlotte, though. Becky, let's be honest, was never supposed to catch on like this.

Personally, I didn't notice what you're saying there, Powder, and would question whether you (and some others who have said similar) are being slightly sensitive in expecting that WWE will put Charlotte over Becky at every opportunity.

However, if what you're saying is true, WWE could be playing their cards deliberately here - they clearly want to do something with Ronda, Charlotte, and Becky. Now, it might be that they run Ronda vs Charlotte at the Rumble, then Becky vs Ronda at Mania (via a Becky Rumble win). If that's the case, it makes sense to focus in on Charlotte a little bit more to subtly build towards the Rumble match, whilst letting Becky take what would be a very natural groundswell of fan support to continue her heat. Don't forget, we're only three months or so removed from WWE trying to turn Becky heel against Charlotte and it backfiring massively on them because the crowd hated Charlotte - it kind of makes sense for WWE to try and rehabilitate her relationship with the fans, subtly or overtly.

As a sidebar, I really like that WWE is having the Raw and Smackdown women's rosters continue to crossover. I'm a bit fearful of a soft draft to take Charlotte and Becky off Smackdown and onto Raw, which would damage all the good work the Smackdown women's roster has done recently. Personally I hope they just keep a bit of crossover going. It makes next to no sense that the two shows don't interact with each other, and I'm kind of tired of it. If they've already got dual branded pay per views, why not have some roster fluidity around that?

[LK3185]

Becky and Charlotte basically ran thru the entire Smackdown roster tho. The IIconics are a dead act because of it. Trade Becky and Charlotte for Sasha and Bayley

Also, I think we're going to see Becky vs. Charlotte vs Ronda at Mania

[Oliver]

Becky and Charlotte basically ran thru the entire Smackdown roster tho. The IIconics are a dead act because of it. Trade Becky and Charlotte for Sasha and Bayley.

Thing is, if you do that, you're taking two characters that are hot and at the top of their division, and exchanging them for two who need serious rehabilitation before anybody can really take them seriously at the top of a division. You're essentially leaving the Smackdown women's division with Asuka and not a lot else until those two (or someone else) gets some momentum to challenge her. And, I mean, I want to see Asuka vs Sonya Deville as much as the next person, but let's not pretend for a second that's a match or feud that should be following on from the last 4/5 months where that women's roster has established itself as the hottest thing on either show, to the point where they're main eventing a dual branded, mixed gender pay per view.

Or what you do is you keep one of your hot acts going on Smackdown, and swap the other for someone on Raw, I suppose. You could do Becky vs Ronda at Mania for the Raw title via Rumble win for the former, and Charlotte vs Asuka II for the Smackdown title. That'll give you room to improve a couple of other people on the undercard on each brand to be ready for the post-Mania season, while keeping the programs on the top of each roster hot for the most important period of the year.

It's only a three month cycle, and if you twist Charlotte and Becky into your two Rumble contenders because they both want to face Ronda (and yes, I suspect those two will at least be the final four) that's at least the next six weeks of story sorted out into the Rumble on the Smackdown side. And in all honesty - fuck the Raw side. There is nothing interesting they can throw at Ronda there after spending recent months feeding her one person after another whilst the rest of the roster eats itself, and I sincerely hope that she rips Natalya's arm out of it's socket next week and shoves it in her mouth and then basically takes the rest of the month off into the Rumble.

[Powder]

Well what about the new woman from Sanity, anikki Cross? Send her to Smackdown, where she could add a spark to the division.

Also after Mania, call up Shayna Baszler, and send her to Smackdown. Build her up for a few months via, Asuka, Charlotte and Becky. Then you could build to a Rousey/Baszler match or a Horsewoman vs Horsewoman summer slam or Survivor Series match.

[LK3185]

You have time to build these things up as you say. If they do what I suspect, a triple threat at Mania for the Raw Title (Becky/Charlotte/Ronda), Then you can build up Asuka's challenger in interesting ways and post mania, it wouldn't take that much to rehab Sasha or Bayley since they are both well liked.

There's going to be a shakeup post mania anyway, with Nikki Cross and Lacey Evans now in the mix. I can't see Charlotte and Becky both on Smackdown post mania. Maybe one but not both. Now if its Ronda vs. Becky only, that changes things but not for the better imo. Becky and Charlotte both have a beef with Ronda. It makes sense to settle it at Mania.

[Powder]

But Becky deserves her 1 on 1 with Rousey that she earned but never got, and it should be at Mania. The easy way to do this, have Charlotte vs Ronda at the Rumble, where a Rousey wins, then have Becky wn the Rumble as stated.

Becky should not have to settle for a triple threat, when she earned and deserves her 1 on 1, and Mania moment.

[LK3185]

They're not pushing Charlotte to the side.

And They are not going to have Ronda beat Charlotte clean at the Rumble either. Meaning, they would have to involve someone else anyway for Charlotte to wrestle at Mania.

Asuka/Charlotte 2 (3 in this case) really doesn't get you anything like building up a new act in Sonya or Mandy by defeating Asuka at Mania would.

[Powder]

But why penalize Becky for Nia’s actions? Why should she not receive what she deserves? Charlotte can have another opponent for Mania, like Asuka. And it’s not pushing Charlotte aside. A major title match at Mania is pretty high profile.

[LK3185]

Any women's match that doesn't involve Ronda at mania is secondary. I don't see Charlotte in that spot. I also don't feel its penalizing Becky if she doesn't get a one on one match with Ronda.

[Powder]

I understand why a match NOT against Rousey could be considered secondary, BUT a title match is a major match.

And it is penalizing Becky. Becky was legit hurt and could not compete, so the WWE went out and correctly put Charlotte into the match. But then they decided to elevate Charlotte over Becky in the process of that match. On the RAW prior to Survivor Series, Becky was white hot, and she still is. Every time Rousey is on screen, the crowd chants for Becky. The crowd made Becky into a star, and the crowd wants Becky vs Rousey 1 on 1.

By putting Charlotte in to a triple threat match is exactly the same situation that made Becky into the star. When she turned on Charlotte for getting put into her 1 on 1 match for the Women's Title at Summerslam. The story was told, and the WWE should have had Charlotte put up a good fight in her replacement match, but lose cleanly. Like how both Bryan and Styles did against Lesnar.

Becky gets the second thought treatment again if there is a triple threat at Mania. Have the triple threat on a secondary PPV, like Backlash after Mania, but allow Becky to face Rousey 1 on 1, and to beat Rousey clean.

I would argue, and no one can really put up a decisive counter argument, that Becky vs Rousey is the biggest match that the WWE could put on this year, based on the crowd's reactions of the past few months.