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What's the story?
WWE has confirmed a huge match for tonight's edition of SmackDown Live, with Becky Lynch facing off against Ruby Riott - the Lass Kicker's first official match since Survivor Series and her first singles match since defeating James Ellsworth on November 7th.
In case you didn't know...
Becky Lynch had been off TV until last week when she returned for revenge on The Riott Squad - who sidelined her with a brutal assault during a backstage segment on SmackDown Live.
The former Women's Champion had been written off of television for almost two months to film The Marine 6: Close Quarters in a starring role alongside The Miz and Shawn Michaels.
The heart of the matter
After the initial draft and a very successful run as SmackDown Women's Champion, Becky's push started to cool off. The hugely popular Irish Superstar returned last week to an incredible reaction to even up the numbers against The Riott Squad.
There's no doubt some time away has freshened up her character and, while she may not be heading straight back into the title picture, there's no doubt WWE has big plans for Becky Lynch with her starring in the WWE Studios film and getting a fair share of TV time before doing so - even seeing off James Ellsworth in what would be his last match for WWE.
Lynch has appeared at WWE Live events this week but has been taking to Twitter to tease her return tonight, which WWE confirmed today.
What's next?
Well, the match of course - unless we see some trash talk on Twitter beforehand.
Ruby Riott has been immensely popular since hitting NXT last year and has hit the ground running on SmackDown Live, proving to be the workhorse of the group both on the mic and in the ring.
Will this match go off without a hitch? Or will the rest of The Riott Squad make their presence known? Only time will tell.
Author's take
Well, no matter what happens, it's great to see Becky Lynch back in the ring. Before her time away on the set of Marine 6, she also struggled with some injury issues - so it's fantastic to see The Lass Kicker back to full health and going up against one of the hottest acts on the blue brand right now.
It'll be very interesting to see how WWE book this one with Becky having not been in action since November, and with Ruby Riott still quite fresh and gaining momentum.
Today also marks Ruby Riott's birthday, so it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
A clean finish? I wouldn't bet on it. Utter chaos featuring pretty much the whole women's locker room to build up to the Royal Rumble?
Much more likely - and I can't wait to see it.
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