5 Reasons why Nia Jax should be the one to dethrone Becky Lynch

Prior to WrestleMania 36, and even after the Royal Rumble, it was widely thought that Shayna Baszler would be the woman to end the historic title reign of Becky Lynch. Baszler was the last person eliminated in the Royal Rumble and decimated the competition in the Elimination Chamber match.

No one has ever eliminated every other competitor in the match, but her competition wasn't what it could have been. Asuka is arguably the best performer in the women's division whereas Natalya, Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan stood little chance of stopping the Queen of Spades.

But due to both current worldwide circumstances and an adjustment from NXT to the main roster, Lynch ended up retaining her RAW Women's Championship at WrestleMania 36. Now that the person who literally took a piece out of the champ's neck has been beaten, who's next for the Man?

We saw the return of Nia Jax on the Monday Night RAW earlier this week. She was nursing a double knee injury suffered after WrestleMania 35 and is back to destroy the competition. Jax did just that in her return bout with Deonna Purrazzo. Since almost the entire RAW women's roster has fallen to the Man, I think it's time for the former RAW Women's Champ to be the one to finally dethrone Lynch.

---

#5 She could try to take credit for Becky's whole ascent to the top of the WWE

Lynch won both titles at WM 35.

Prior to Survivor Series 2018, we were slated for the highly-anticipated match between Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey. But during an invasion of RAW one night, Lynch was knocked silly by a powerful punch from Jax. The Man kept her title but the bout with Rousey was off. In her stead, Charlotte Flair took the former UFC fighter to task at Survivor Series.

By literally knocking Lynch out of active competition for a few months, it actually prolonged the feud between the two alpha females. The Man would go on to win the 2019 Royal Rumble but also have to jump through a few more hoops just in order to get the title match she earned at WrestleMania 35.

Had the planned match with Rousey gone ahead, that whole second half of the "the Man's run to dominance" and the top spot in WWE may have gone differently. Jax never got a one-on-one shot with the Man following the punch but she could easily take credit for the success that Lynch has had following the invasion. It would be an easy way to reignite the feud and Lynch would have to be at her best physically.

#4 Someone has to at some point

Baszler was the latest to try to wrest the title from the Man.

Becky Lynch has undoubtedly been entertaining in her role as the top woman and sometimes top star in WWE. That role, however, has often only been as good as her opponent. Against Charlotte Flair, Ronda Rousey and Asuka, things were great. Against Natalya and Lacey Evans, not so much. The Batman needs his Joker, Superman needs his Lex Luthor and the Man needs proper enemies to bring out her best.

While Asuka, Flair and Rousey are relatively similar in size to Lynch, they each do things differently. The Empress of Tomorrow is a flamboyant striker and submission artist who mocks opponents during the match. Flair thinks she's better than everyone. Rousey has the legitimate background of being a judoka and a UFC Champion.

Nia Jax is a bigger woman than practically most women in wrestling. The industry needs performers of all shapes and sizes to truly work and be unique. Since Lynch has basically run through all of her other competition, it would make logical sense for Jax to get a shot sometime this year. She never faced Lynch for the title and the rest of the roster (unless they fast-track Bianca Belair to a title) has either had their shot or doesn't seem like they'd have much of a chance.

The Man's reign has surpassed a year in length. Even though those types of reigns don't happen a lot in today's landscape, it's time that someone else is given a chance to rule the women of RAW as Champion.

#3 They have a recent history

Lynch looked a lot different after that punch from Jax.

As mentioned on the first slide, it's no secret that there is bad blood between Lynch and Jax that could and should be revisited. They never had a one-on-one match and it's one of the few feuds left for Lynch that would make sense.

Feuds based on a shared history or a shared moment often make that battle seem more real and believable. We just need to go back to WrestleMania 36 and the matches between Randy Orton & Edge or even Bray Wyatt & John Cena. With such a rich and meaningful history of moments to borrow from, it greatly increased the effectiveness of each match. Edge and Orton were friends and enemies but had over 15 years of history that was rolled into their 'Mania angle. Wyatt blamed the Franchise for the downward spiral his career took after he fell to Cena at the Showcase of the Immortals.

Jax will need a feud soon before the return squash matches get old. And although Lynch probably isn't done with Baszler, anything can happen between when a plan forms and when that plan is enacted. Since they have footage and heat that a feud can be built around, it wouldn't be hard to bring Jax back into the focus of the Man.

#2 She's a physical threat

Every move by Jax is magnified by her strength.

The whole "David and Goliath" aspect between Lynch and Jax is that way with every opponent that Jax faces. She's just bigger than everyone else and - as is the case in wrestling - is always considered a threat to anyone. How many times do announcers pick the likes of Braun Strowman, The Big Show, or Jax as winners of battle royales only for them to be eliminated by like five or more stars?

To date, none of the people that have challenged the Man for the title were significantly bigger than the Champ. I know Flair is taller and a few stars maybe a little heavier or lighter than Lynch. But for the most part, every one of her challengers hasn't been as physically imposing as someone like the former RAW Women's Champion.

Even Tamina was treated like a dangerous person during the brief build to the SmackDown Women's title match at WrestleMania 36. We all knew that she wasn't going to win and it took a move from every other competitor just to eliminate her from the match.

The simple fact is that physical threats are just as dangerous as psychological or emotional threats. The main thing that matters is the type of damage that is done. Lynch has already handled emotional and psychological battles during her reign but very few (if any) have provided substantially physical obstacles.

#1 She can be an easy heat magnet

Jax reveled in her handiwork after punching the Man.

Right after Jax delivered that punch and knocked Lynch out of Survivor Series, it put enormous heat on the former RAW Champ any time she entered an arena. When she picked up a mic and tried to speak, Jax experienced a loud chorus of boos. Lynch was starting to obtain top star status akin to when Stone Cold Steve Austin rose to the top of the WWF.

King Corbin has done the same with heat for most of his run over the last few years. At first, he was just annoying, but he did so well in his role that he used that disdain from the fans against them. If we tell him what we don't like about him, he's going to lean into that to continually anger fans.

Since the WWE Universe was already enraged that Jax's punch deprived us of Lynch vs. Rousey, it wouldn't be hard to revisit that. It's obviously more difficult now due to performing without crowds, but if the feud is saved for when things return to normal, then it would be perfect timing for Jax to target the Man.

Instead of volleying back and forth between heel and face like she did during her title run, they need to have Jax lean heavily into being a bully monster heel. She started to do that in her return match and if she did that to someone like Liv Morgan, it would make her even more hated. If Jax captured the title from Lynch, she would be even more of a heat magnet and the quest to have someone beat her would be a great angle.