COLOHUE DOGMA: The Ballad of Becky Lynch

There was a time, early in Lynch’s main roster career, that Paige referred to her as “…the least relevant of all of us.”

At the time, this was probably true. Becky was a new, fresh face in a division ruled by Total Divas. Meanwhile her teammates were embroiled in a bitter feud over the Divas title.

Paige also said something else though. “You’re never going to be a Divas champion.”

How right she was.

You see, Becky Lynch is a perfect example of long term booking and consistent storytelling. Becky Lynch is not playing a character, she is truly Becky. This allows her to steal the show, and our hearts, from the background.

The Ballad Of Becky Lynch

In her first title match, against Charlotte at the 2016 Royal Rumble, Lynch was beaten by Charlotte and completely overshadowed by Sasha Banks. She wasn’t forgotten though.

At WrestleMania that year she would compete with the two in a very well received triple threat match. Though she was the workhorse and put in the most offence, Lynch would eventually be the one made to tap out. Some might say she was there to protect Banks from losing the match. That said, even as a background player, we saw her.

That’s the thing with Becky Lynch you see. Even when it felt like the WWE had forgotten about her, they kept her visible. They kept her active. We saw her.

You see, there’s this recurring idea around Becky Lynch. An idea that WWE often cultivated and used. The idea that WWE doesn’t care about her, or doesn’t recognise her talent. Even though her current run is probably the greatest indicator that that isn’t true, there was another. That was the day she was the first female drafted to Smackdown Live.

Now Smackdown Live, in its infancy, was a curious place for women. While Becky Lynch was the undoubted jewel in the crown, Natalya was unquestionably the most experienced and polished performer. Meanwhile, Naomi was the only other member of the roster with any real experience. The remaining talent, Alexa Bliss, Carmella and of course Eva Marie, were very fresh, very raw and a bit flighty when you consider that Marie arrived, lost her top and then vanished forever.

I mean, it worked out when you consider that her push went to Alexa Bliss. She’s run with it and done a great job since. Unfortunately, it did mean that Lynch and Natalya both had to do a lot of work establishing the newer talent and putting them over. Nikki Bella’s return was welcome and her feud with Carmella was effective but the big story for Smackdown was Becky Lynch’s inaugural title run and feud with Bliss.

From the moment of her arrival on Smackdown Live, Becky was the division. Together with AJ Styles and The Miz she was part of a holy trinity of top performers who never put on a bad match and never delivered a poor promo. They were always over but it was at this time, with nobody standing above her, that Becky Lynch cemented herself as somebody who could not only carry a division but who could carry a whole brand and potentially even a whole company on her boulder shoulders.

A natural, impassioned speaker, Becky showed how much she needed to be away from Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks to flourish at that time. The Becky chants started and, in her first championship run, she developed into an independent and enrapturing performer.

Late in the year I expected the return of Mickie James to be at the expense of Becky Lynch. In her brand split debut Lynch would face Natalya and I expected her to lose there also, both times with the more experienced hand going over to re-establish themselves. Neither time did this happen.

Conventional storytelling can go far when predicting WWE. Not so when predicting Becky Lynch. Sadly, after Wrestlemania, it started to go south.

https://t.co/pyDm4chrfX

Iconic, don’t cha think?! pic.twitter.com/pyDm4chrfX

— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) August 6, 2018

You see, right after Wrestlemania, her title reign over and a series of losses to Alexa Bliss in the bank, Becky Lynch’s legend would be seriously damaged. Her position at the top of the card and the best in the women’s division was ended. Despite Alexa Bliss leaving to go to Raw, Becky was effectively shoved down a few steps by the arrival of her best Friend Charlotte Flair.

Now, Smackdown Live was not good at this time. Yes, Styles and Owens were delivering great matches but those matches were increasingly about Shane McMahon. The Miz was gone and Jinder Mahal was champion. What did the women have going for them? The Welcoming Committee. Yep, that thing. Natalya and Naomi were the designated push receivers and Becky Lynch was not a featured player.

After a number of six woman tag matches, we had Money In The Bank, and this is the moment at which Becky Lynch’s ground level support began to galvanise.

That right there? That was a year and a half ago and that’s still the Becky Lynch we know now. You want to get someone over? Just be consistent. Face or heel doesn’t matter, just be consistent. Becky Lynch spent the entire match, both matches in fact, booked to be the runner up. The also ran. The nearly woman.

There are few definitives in WWE, but caring about Becky Lynch runs very close on that scale.

The saddest part is that we can effectively fast forward for a whole year with nothing of note happening for Becky Lynch.

She wasn’t featured at Summerslam. She was the first woman eliminated at Survivor Series. She came into the Royal Rumble in number two and was essentially used as a safe hand to steer the veterans through their time before being eliminated early in the match end game.

At Wrestlemania she was in the pre show women’s battle royal, with her most memorable moment coming when she got offended by somebody else wearing orange. In fact, it isn’t until the next Money In The Bank, when she played the exact same role as she had previously, that things started to pick up.

Carmella, the champion at the time, was busy embarrassing Charlotte and Asuka. Becky Lynch however, started to amass a winning streak. With a feature film coming out later in the year, you could tell a push was coming but I don’t think anybody could quite predict what would come. After a lot of wins, Becky had a chance against Carmella and, had she won that match, she would have become champion and been the top player on Smackdown.

Instead, she did not win. Charlotte came in late to become a champion after a last minute addition and what we got instead was Becky Lynch become one of the top wrestlers in the world today.

How anybody in WWE thought we were going to boo Becky Lynch is beyond me. It was literally the most consistent bit of personality that any performer had shown in years.

The clip featured above is the only time that WWE tried to have Becky Lynch turn against the fans. It’s also been edited out already. From that moment on they have slowly rolled back on the anti-fan rhetoric. Yes, Becky Lynch did a little cheating for the sake of the story but the fans never went quiet.

We never went quiet. We saw Becky Lynch from the beginning. You put a woman in front of us who was easy to love, easy to respect and easy to support. What did you think was going to happen? It’s one of the easiest stories to tell.

Since then Lynch and Flair have had a number of good matches, not least the Last Woman Standing match that should have main evented Evolution. Meanwhile, Lynch took up the moniker of The Man and took to social media, ruling the internet and dominating opponents in a way that few have ever bothered to do before.

https://t.co/5JGZJIUhDW”>pic.twitter.com/5JGZJIUhDW

When you’re babbling on about avocados, I’m main-eventing my show AND your show. Did you hear that last night, Ronda? That’s the sound they make when The Man comes around. pic.twitter.com/5JGZJIUhDW

— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) November 13, 2018

“When you’re babbling on about avocados, I’m main-eventing my show AND your show. Did you hear that last night, Ronda? That’s the sound they make when The Man comes around.”

In three weeks Becky Lynch vs Ronda Rousey became the hottest feud all year. More importantly, despite Rousey facing Triple H and Stephanie, Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss and Nikki Bella all on PPV, her fight with Becky Lynch was the first time that Rousey felt threatened. I for one was crying out for this fight to main event the show and, for once, it felt like WWE were listening. It is a crying shame that that match will no longer be happening on Sunday but a battered and bloody Becky Lynch will still not stay down for long.

It’s official; today Becky Lynch overtook Charlotte Flair for Twitter followers, catching up on a gap that at one point reached over 300,000 people. Charlotte, the favourite, the woman who was due to overtake Trish Stratus’ record after beating an undefeated Rousey at Wrestlemania, is now second to Becky Lynch.

Ronda Rousey, the champion, the UFC legend, the number one draw in absence of Reigns, the woman who was brought in to legitimately main event Wrestlemania, is now second to Becky Lynch. This is how you grab one of those fabled imaginary brass rings. Becky entertained and the fans just kept chanting. The belief that they were defying WWE just made them chant louder.

Wrestling is fake#BeckyvsRonda pic.twitter.com/fLTDxu90bZ

— Tom Colohue (@Colohue) November 13, 2018

https://t.co/fLTDxu90bZ

At WrestleMania 32, I was rooting for Becky Lynch. At Wrestlemania 35, I will be doing the same. A down to Earth, funny, badass of a woman who is known for having a pun for any reason, being mean when she wears a Sami Zayn flatcap and eating a lot of red velvet M&Ms is a woman that I can’t help supporting.

She is likeable, she is fun and, most important, everything about her is genuine. What more do you need?