What Should Becky Lynch Do?

SummerSlam 2018 will represent a crossroads in the career of several performers. Their fate on August 19 in Brooklyn could determine their career path for at least the next several months. A lot of WWE Superstars have a ton on the line, but the one who I think has the most on the line is getting her first SmackDown Women’s Championship opportunity in well over a year.

Becky Lynch is stuck in the middle of a conniving champion & a dominant challenger. That dominant challenger happens to be her best friend, who came back from injury & was immediately inserted into what had been booked as a singles match. It wasn’t Charlotte’s fault that General Manager Paige wanted to make things more interesting, but one can understand why Becky & her fans aren’t all that happy with Charlotte swooping in & being handed something that Becky had to work over a year to get.

The frustration’s starting to show.

Becky said on SmackDown that she & Charlotte aren’t Sasha & Bayley. This can mean two radically different things.

1. They have a stronger bond than Sasha & Bayley and are too mature to waste time being mad at each other.
2. They have a weaker bond than Sasha & Bayley and won’t waste months of their lives with will they/won’t they drama.

WWE wants us to think it’s Option 1, but the odds are pretty good that it’s Option 2. Paige isn’t going to make them be friends & go to counseling like Raw General Manager Kurt Angle did with Sasha & Bayley. She’ll gladly watch her former stablemates go at it. The big question is what their personalities will look like. Becky has a decision to make. There are reasons for each side.

Reasons To Stay A Face

She’s the best sympathetic face in her division.

Every division, whether it be men’s, women’s, tag team, singles, six-person, mixed match or whatever, needs a character that the fans can feel sorry for & get behind. People care when Becky Lynch loses. People care when she gets beaten up by her rivals. The same can’t be said for the other babyfaces in SmackDown’s women’s division. Charlotte Flair & Asuka are both portrayed as dominant females, so much so that it’s tough for fans to worry when they’re down.

Who would fill that void? Lana can be sympathetic, but she isn’t ready to be a championship contender. Nikki Bella is on the roster, but who knows when we’ll see her again. Of course, there’s always Naomi. She’s popular with the WWE Universe & has championship experience, but she seems to be busy with other things these days.

Someone had to oversee the cookie department https://t.co/ISni9CldqJ

— Trinity Fatu (@NaomiWWE) August 8, 2018

Hey, if I was backstage all the time I’d be doing the same thing. Can’t blame the girl.

Charlotte’s better off as a heel.

Charlotte has her dad’s genes. The Naitch always wanted to be the bad guy no matter how much the fans would cheer him. It just came more natural to him. Charlotte is the same way. I’m sure she’s a nice person, but her personality on television seems to lend itself more toward being the superior woman that nobody likes.

If we’re leading into a Charlotte/Becky feud, which looks like the way things are going, having both performers in the role they’re not as strong in doesn’t seem to make much sense on the surface.

Consistent characters are cool.

One of the main differences between today’s wrestlers and those from the 1990s is that they don’t turn nearly as often. People seem to stay face or heel for longer periods of time now, which is great for us fans. Back in the Russo days you needed a scorecard to keep track of who was on what side.

Becky made a couple of turns in NXT, but has been a face ever since debuting on WWE television as part of the Women’s Revolution. Everybody else involved in the early phases of the Revolution has changed alignment, but Becky has remained consistent. There’s something to be said for that.

Reasons To Turn Heel

She’s been stuck at a certain level the way she is.

As I’ve already pointed out, this is Becky’s first shot at the SmackDown Women’s Championship in over a year. She’s been stuck behind Charlotte & Asuka, who constantly get title shots & keep getting them because management thinks they are more deserving than Becky. The only way for Lynch to prove she’s better than Flair & Asuka is to beat them.

The heel side of the roster has more names on it. In addition to Carmella, we have the Iconics, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville are trying to earn the disdain of wrestling fans. Becky’s beaten most of them recently, so establishing herself on top shouldn’t be much of a problem. Making the turn would automatically get her higher on the pecking order than she’s been since losing the SmackDown Women’s Championship.

Sami would be proud.

The Mixed Match Challenge had some odd pairings on the surface that made sense when you thought about it. For most of Becky’s time in the company, the person that had the most in common with her was Sami Zayn. They were both ginger never-say-die babyfaces that always did the right thing. Sami turned heel just before the MMC, but he & Becky were still friends and were able to enter the competition together. Becky was hoping to get Sami back to his old ways, while Sami wanted to encourage Becky to accept his new views on life within WWE. He thought Becky should embrace her anger, and tried his best to make it happen.

Sami & Becky were unsuccessful in the MMC, and Sami is currently out of action with torn rotator cuffs. WWE has a tendency to ignore injured wrestlers these days, and Sami hasn’t been seen or mentioned on television since losing to Bobby Lashley at Money in the Bank. A Becky turn would give him reason to be happy, and they could even have him do a promo about it if they wanted to act like he existed.

A turn can be justified.

This is the most important part of any turn, whether it’s from good to bad or bad to good. The Superstar has to have a legitimate reason to change their ways. Otherwise, they’re turning for the sake of turning and nobody will care. Internet fans have called for John Cena & Roman Reigns to turn heel for years. They rarely had an actual reason why either man should have, they just said Cena & Reigns needed to turn heel to be more interesting. Not good enough.

Becky has been overlooked by SmackDown management for the past couple of years. She finally worked her way back into title contention, only for management to keep stacking the deck against her. Worst of all, her own best friend was the tool used to accomplish it. That has to make a person frustrated. If Becky loses at SummerSlam, most of us would understand if she took it out on Charlotte.

What Should She Do?

When I pitched this column idea to 411 management, I was solidly in the camp that thought Becky Lynch should remain the way she is. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? She’s a popular babyface that consistently performs well. Everything’s good. It could be better though. Becky has struggled to attain her full potential over the past couple of years. It’s no fault of hers, but a change of direction seems like a really good idea.

Carmella’s had a good run on top, but it can’t last too much longer. Charlotte can only lose so many title opportunities. There’s definitely a chance that Carmella emerges from SummerSlam as SmackDown Women’s Champion, but betting against Charlotte at major events is often foolish. The one thing Charlotte’s last title run lacked was a feud that people could really sink their teeth into.

A feud with a newly evil Becky Lynch would be just what the doctor ordered.