This Becky Lynch Storyline is Complete Nonsense

I know that none of us should be surprised that WWE royally forked up Becky Lynch’s trajectory in favor of Charlotte again, but we all told ourselves for a while that this would be different. When it was just Becky/Carmella, it was obvious that this would be a feel-good Summerslam victory. When Charlotte got added, well, maybe Charlotte will turn on Becky because she’s a much better heel.

So of course Becky Lynch does something overly aggressive but overall forgivable/justifiable and it becomes a heel turn.

Lately I’ve been much better at just adhering to kayfabe when it’s not egregious instead of getting too meta about things, but in this case I can’t. I like Charlotte as a wrestler, but nine times out of ten she’s miserable as a face, especially when she’s paired against the wrong heel. Becky Lynch is the wrong heel. A likable underdog who snapped after being put upon for years versus a generally heelish legacy multi-time champ who waltzes into title shots whenever? Who in the world gets confused about who to root for in that situation?

The decision to have part of Becky’s “heel justification” be wavering fan support when she is easily the most beloved female babyface on Smackdown and probably the entire main roster is laughable. “You people turned on me” is a great heel motivation but it just doesn’t make any sense in this context. It would’ve been perfect for the natural other person to make the heel in this feud.

Everything about the storyline reeks of artifice. None of it is true for a second. It’s a rejection of the obvious but good in favor of the twist that you then have to spin out into a ridiculous story. Yeah, it would’ve been predictable for Charlotte to turn on Becky. That’s fair. But at least then everything that came after could’ve been an opportunity for surprises and twists, and the plot would’ve felt authentic. Instead, you can almost literally see the writers scrambling to figure out how to make people boo Becky and cheer Charlotte.

Wrestling isn’t that complicated.

When you can this strongly feel the invisible hand of a creative team beating against the current, you’re never going to have a good story that feels natural and believable and right. It just can’t happen.

Just pull the plug on this. Give us a double turn before Evolution and have them fight for the title the way that works: plucky underdog vs. entitled monster.

It’s wrestling. It’s simple. It makes sense.

-Bobby Murphy (@RobertJMurph)

Image courtesy WWE.com