Evaluating recent booking of Becky Lynch on the road to WrestleMania
Becky Lynch has been the hottest act of WWE since she turned heel on Charlotte at SummerSlam last year. 'The Man' proved to be the anti-hero presence that was severely lacking on the women's roster and has since become the poster woman of the entire division - in no small part due to her impeccable social media game. Winning the Royal Rumble was a testament to the faith that management has in her.
However, since the most ground-breaking victory of her career, Lynch has seen her relevance depend on the status of her physical well-being, specifically her knee injury (which was initially the right knee and then the left). After refusing to undergo a medical check-up, Becky went on attack Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, tugging on the 'anti-authority' trope yet again.
On the February 11 edition of Raw, Lynch put her pride aside, got cleared and apologized, thus getting her WrestleMania match back. The perceived novelty of the injury idea was non-existent, considering Becky underwent a real-life concussion and broken nose at the hands of Nia Jax right before Survivor Series last year. Moreover, Vince McMahon took offense to Becky's 'bad attitude' and gave her spot in the WrestleMania match to Charlotte, while suspending Becky until after the biggest show of the year.
Since then, Becky has been transitioned into a bona fide babyface, having to jump through all the hoops placed by the McMahon family, all focused around sneak attacks and selling her knee injury. Becky showed up at a live event, violating her suspension, to attack Charlotte, followed by a crutch-assisted beatdown of both Charlotte and Ronda Rousey at Elimination Chamber. Owing to the back-and-forth nature of such narratives, Becky has faced the brunt of retaliation from both her adversaries and now - as has typically been the case - most of the uncertainty and excitement surrounding Becky is about her knee injury - at least she got reinstated for her troubles and for her storyline jail time.
But the icing on the cake was put this week on RAW, where Lynch limped to the ring and signed the 'Hold Harmless' agreement to take part in the title match at Fastlane, with the false belief that Rousey had relinquished her title the previous week. 'The Baddest Woman on the Planet' returned and laid waste to Becky, who in true resilient babyface fashion, took a brutal beating with a smile on her face.
The way things stand, Becky will have to beat Charlotte at Fastlane to earn her way back to the title match at WrestleMania, while Charlotte is there for no legitimate reason - other than being a draw and having a household last name (and 'knowing her lane'). What was the point of Becky winning the Royal Rumble? Non-sensical booking like this trivializes the significance of the Royal Rumble match and makes outcomes painfully predictable. What are the odds that Becky loses at Fastlane? Unless of course, she loses and then is added anyway the next night on RAW.
Sneak attacks and overcoming the odds make for plenty of 'OMG' moments, but is it worth sacrificing logical booking over and over? The usually-sharp Becky, who hesitated to apologize due to her pride, took her demotion with her head held high, and her body broken. It is only due to Becky's charisma that fans will very likely continue to cheer and salvage the mess that this storyline is otherwise in.