4 reasons why Becky Lynch isn't the new Stone Cold Steve Austin

The Man or not?
The Man or not?

Becky Lynch has created waves across the WWE Universe over the past few months with her new 'attitude'. Her winning the Royal Rumble truly sent fans into ecstasy and she deserves her spotlight.

But is she really the next Stone Cold Steve Austin?

Becky was always a popular superstar, and when her attitude change resulted in a SmackDown Women's title run, fans ate her up.

However, with each passing week, Becky's momentum seems to be stalling a bit. While there are quite a few similarities to Stone Cold's and Becky's personas, on closer inspection, the differences stand out quite intensely.

This list takes a look at four reasons why Becky is not the new Stone Cold.


#1 She comes across as a brat rather than a badass

Ronda Rousey didn't take kindly to Lynch's tweets from last week
Ronda Rousey didn't take kindly to Lynch's tweets from last week

When Becky Lynch came out to replace Lana in this year's Royal Rumble and eventually eliminated Charlotte in spite of a bad leg to book a WrestleMania ticket, that moment became the signature of the PPV. She did seem heroic to fight through the pain to punch her way to WrestleMania, but the badass gimmick is slowly losing steam.

She has been on crutches since then on TV, trying to beef up the injury angle - but the longer that goes on, it just convinces people that it is a work. The way Lynch attacked Ronda Rousey last week with full utilization of her bad leg didn't really sell her injury all that well.

Becky has really embraced her character and is really into social media to promote herself in this new age. But many of her Twitter interactions come across as downright disrespectful.

Engaging in a war of words with Chris Jericho - one of the most respected wrestlers of all time - did not really hold her in good light. The banter was for no apparent reason and Lynch just came across as someone making noise just to sound cool.

She also had segments on RAW recently where she threatened former World Champion Edge and disrespected John Cena. Challenging an 11-time World Champion who can no longer wrestle because of health reasons did not come across as a badass move, but more like that of a high school bully.

As for the Cena situation, while it is supposed to earn an up with the so-called 'smart fans', Cena hadn't been seen in the WWE for a long time that people have actually started to miss him and so getting one over on Cena wasn't the most popular move.

To cap it all of, Lynch seemed to go over the line last week with a series of tweets against Ronda Rousey which even involved pot shots against Rousey's husband. It seemed to legit upset Rousey, who shot back -

"Rebecca Quin (Lynch's real name), I don't care what the script says, I'm beating the living s— out of you the next time I see you"

Even if all this had been a work, Rousey came across as a wronged wife looking for revenge and Becky as a brat who deserved a trip to the woodshed - which she duly received after Rousey beat her up on this week's RAW.

#2 She isn't really the smart anti-hero

Lynch has been out-smarted too many times
Lynch has been out-smarted too many times

WWE had been very protective of the 'Stone Cold' character and he was always portrayed as a resourceful babyface who more or less always outsmarted the heels. The Austin vs McMahon feud would not have been as popular as it was if McMahon made Austin look like a fool in a majority of their exchanges.

As for Lynch, she is portrayed as more of a hot head rather than a smart anti-hero. Ever since her new attitude, she has lost her SmackDown women's title, tapped out to Asuka, lost her WrestleMania main event spot and seems to be taken on a ride by the McMahons at every corner. Just look at how her winning the Royal Rumble has made no difference now.

In the storyline, Rousey had to just get cleared by the WWE doctor to make her WrestleMania title match official. She didn't do that for weeks and when she eventually did, she was cleared. Much ado about nothing, then? In the meantime, she apologized to two of the biggest heels in the company on national TV and then promptly got screwed out of the title match.

When Stone Cold Steve Austin found himself without a path to the WrestleMania main event in 1999, he beat up the evil Vince McMahon, made the debuting Big Show look like a fool, and earned a WrestleMania title shot.

As for Lynch, she has lost her earned title shot, made to look like a hypocrite for apologizing to Triple H and Stephanie, still didn't get her title shot back, and has now allowed a third wheel to join the title match.

Not the smartest set of moves!!

#3 She isn't 'The Man' yet

Asuka made Lynch tap out at the Rumble
Asuka made Lynch tap out at the Rumble

When Stone Cold Steve Austin was raising hell in the WWE in the late nineties and early 2000s, he was unquestionably 'The Man'. Despite a stacked roster featuring the likes of The Rock, The Undertaker, and Triple H, nobody questioned the Rattlesnake's right to have top billing.

Even restricting our focus to the narrow women's division, Becky Lynch hasn't earned 'Numero Uno' status yet. Ronda Rousey is essentially the top female wrestler in the WWE and Charlotte is a close second.

Has Becky surpassed both of them because of her recent popularity? Not really.

The Survivor Series injury happened at a really bad time for Lynch, as Charlotte - who was getting ready for a quite few months - was thrust to face Rousey in a RAW vs SmackDown match.

When Charlotte beat up Rousey, she got more eyeballs that whatever Lynch accomplished a few weeks earlier. Add that to the fact that Lynch never did get any proper revenge on Nia Jax for injuring her in the first place - that doesn't make her look great.

Tapping out to a now irrelevant champion in Asuka was supposed to have been forgotten in the euphoria of her Rumble triumph, but she comes across as a naive babyface who cannot even protect the match that she earned.

Consider that the likes of Alexa Bliss might be just one hot angle away from reclaiming their prominence on the cart, Lynch's popularity might not soar any higher.

#4 Management is not completely behind her

Stephanie McMahon is portrayed as a level above Becky Lynch
Stephanie McMahon is portrayed as a level above Becky Lynch

During his heyday, Steve Austin had the full support of the WWE machine and there was a good reason for it, too.

Austin got people to tune in to WWE and made the company millions in merchandise sales. For all of Lynch's popularity, it is reported that her merchandise revenue is negligible compared to the likes of John Cena and Roman Reigns. Neither does she have the mainstream appeal Ronda Rousey has.

The higher ups seem a bit reluctant to accept her too. The no-sell guru of WWE today - Stephanie McMahon, warmed up to Ronda Rousey in such a way that she has allowed Rousy to dominate her in almost all their exchanges. This coming from someone who gave back exactly one WrestleMania bump to the Authority's opponents all year for several years is indeed high praise.

Lynch, on the other hand, basically sold out when she apologized to the she-devil on RAW and has done really nothing to make the Authority sweat. She might just be the female Braun Strowman - highly popular, but just not good enough to carry the company.

Hopefully, this changes in the build-up to and during WrestleMania, but Lynch needs to distance herself from the Stone Cold comparisons and develop her character in her own unique way.

Triple H and Stephanie have proven over the past five years that they will never allow themselves to be booked like Vince McMahon of the 90s - an authority figure who gets his/her comeuppance more often than not.

Unless they change their tune, Becky Lynch will always come across as a Stone Cold wannabe who promised much but delivered little.

What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.