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“Becky Lynch turns heel” is not a sentence that WWE fans thought they would read after waiting 15 months for The Man’s much-anticipated return.
Lynch gave birth to her first child with fellow WWE star Seth Rollins, Roux, in December 2020. After dropping several social media hints about her in-ring comeback, the WrestleMania 35 main-eventer finally returned at Saturday’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view.
Bianca Belair was originally supposed to defend her SmackDown Women’s Championship at the event against Sasha Banks. However, as Banks was unable to compete, Lynch stepped in and defeated Belair in a match which lasted just 27 seconds.
According to PW Insider’s Mike Johnson, the surprising storyline development was the beginning of a heel turn for the new SmackDown Women’s Champion:
“PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple WWE sources that Becky Lynch is now a heel,” Johnson wrote. “Yes, you read that correctly. We are told that going forward, Lynch will be positioned as the top heel on Smackdown, initially feuding with Bianca Belair.”
The main question going around on social media right now is simply why? Becky Lynch was arguably WWE’s top babyface between August 2018 and May 2020, so why has she reportedly returned as a heel?
In this article, let’s try to explain the possible logic behind the four-time SmackDown Women's Champion's rumored character change.
#5. Becky Lynch's heel turn can make Bianca Belair a bigger babyface
The social media reaction to Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch has been less about Lynch’s return and more about WWE’s unusual treatment of Belair. The general consensus among fans is that WWE “buried” Belair by booking her to lose her title in such a short match.
WWE has booked similar match finishes in the past, most notably in 2019 when Brock Lesnar won the WWE Championship from Kofi Kingston. On that occasion, Lesnar quickly hit an F-5 to end Kingston’s six-month title reign in a seven-second match.
Kingston received a lot of support from fans due to the manner of his defeat. However, WWE did not capitalize on fans' reactions because Lesnar immediately entered into new feuds with Cain Velasquez and Rey Mysterio.
In Belair’s case, the support she has received since her unexpected title loss will only grow stronger if she feuds with a heel Becky Lynch.
In 2018, fans were not ready to boo Lynch because there was still so much for her to achieve as a babyface. Three years later, if Lynch fully commits to her heel role, she is talented enough to make fans dislike her and get behind Belair instead.
#4. WWE has lots of SmackDown babyfaces who Becky Lynch can face
Becky Lynch is inevitably going to be among the highest picks in the WWE Draft if it takes place in October. For now, though, let’s assume WWE plans to move forward with the babyfaces and heels who are currently part of the SmackDown women’s division.
Female babyfaces on SmackDown include Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Naomi, Shotzi, Tegan Nox and Toni Storm. Belair and Naomi are both former SmackDown Women’s Champions, but the other four women are up-and-coming stars who need top heels to work with.
Other than Sasha Banks, Carmella and Zelina Vega are the only active heels who perform as singles competitors right now. Both Carmella and Vega have lost a series of matches recently, which left Belair without a serious threat to her SmackDown Women’s Championship.
With Banks ruled out for unknown reasons, perhaps WWE’s higher-ups decided that the SmackDown women’s division needed a drastic shake-up.
After all, one of the biggest criticisms of Becky Lynch’s remarkable 2018-2019 rise was that she faced the same opponent, Charlotte Flair, too many times. If Lynch really is going to work as a heel on SmackDown, there is no shortage of babyface opponents for her to face.
#3. Did Vince McMahon want Becky Lynch to be a heel all along?
Becky Lynch’s last heel turn took place at WWE SummerSlam 2018 after Charlotte Flair defeated her and Carmella in a Triple Threat match. Following the match, Lynch attacked Flair in a moment that was originally supposed to be viewed as a heel turn.
In the weeks that followed, WWE continued with the heel turn storyline even though fans refused to stop cheering for the popular Lynch. Eventually, WWE’s higher-ups were left with little choice but to embrace fans’ reactions and allow Lynch to become the top fan favorite in the company.
Speaking on Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast shortly after WWE’s failed attempt to turn her heel, Lynch said fans knew her heel promos were insincere:
"Well we tried that [heel turn] and the crowd were like, 'Ah, come on now, Becky… you know that we were there with you the whole time,'" Lynch said. "And I'm like, 'Yeah, look, I'm going through some stuff. I'm trying to figure it out, I'm trying to figure it out, lads.'" [H/T Comic Book]
Needless to say, Vince McMahon is a man who usually gets his way. The WWE Chairman allowed fans to boo a babyface Roman Reigns for over five years before he finally let the current Universal Champion turn heel.
Regarding Becky Lynch’s character change, McMahon already gave fans what they wanted when he nixed plans to turn her heel three years ago. Now that enough time has passed, perhaps we will finally see the heel Becky Lynch that McMahon had in mind after SummerSlam 2018.
#2. Could Becky Lynch replace Roman Reigns as SmackDown’s top heel?
The first night of the 2019 WWE Draft saw Becky Lynch (RAW) and Roman Reigns (SmackDown) chosen as the first and second draft picks, respectively. Two years on, it would not be surprising if both superstars feature in the top two spots again if another WWE Draft occurs in October.
Before the 2019 WWE Draft, RAW was known as WWE’s number one weekly show. Nowadays, SmackDown is viewed by the majority of fans as WWE’s most entertaining show, hence why it usually outperforms RAW in the television ratings.
RAW desperately needs more star power if its ratings and overall product is going to improve. To help do that, WWE will almost certainly move some top names from SmackDown to RAW in the next round of roster changes.
Roman Reigns is undoubtedly the biggest full-time star in WWE right now. Along with Becky Lynch, Reigns frequently appeared on RAW and SmackDown in 2019 as WWE attempted to draw more eyes to both shows.
Although fans would likely prefer Reigns to stay on SmackDown, his presence on RAW would definitely make the show feel must-see once again. It would also open up a spot for another superstar (i.e. Becky Lynch) to emerge as SmackDown’s top heel.
#1. Could Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins form a heel alliance?
In the summer of 2019, then-RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and then-Universal Champion Seth Rollins were the top babyfaces on RAW. Lynch’s character remained largely the same until her WWE absence began in May 2020, but the same cannot be said for Rollins.
Right now, Rollins is producing some of the most entertaining work of his WWE career as a villain on SmackDown. The problem, however, is that he no longer seems a credible threat to Roman Reigns’ Universal Championship.
The former Shield member has lost against Cesaro (WrestleMania 37) and Edge (SummerSlam) in his two biggest pay-per-view matches this year. He also failed to win the Royal Rumble match and Money in the Bank ladder match.
With wife Becky Lynch by his side, perhaps Rollins could turn his fortunes around and become a serious title contender once again.
Rollins recently said on The Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch that he and Becky Lynch do not need to work together on-screen again. But as long-term WWE viewers know, the company’s higher-ups will ultimately have the final say on whether the Rollins-Lynch partnership returns to WWE television.
Rollins and Lynch defeated Mike and Maria Kanellis, Andrade and Zelina Vega, and Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans in tag team matches in 2019. If WWE decides to reform the newlyweds in 2021, another married couple – Montez Ford and Bianca Belair – would be obvious first opponents.
