Smackdown Women’s champion, Becky Lynch is fast becoming the most popular superstar not only in the women’s division but all of the WWE. Her feud with Ronda Rousey was the hottest thing going into Survivor Series until the match was de-railed by a concussion and broken nose courtesy of Nia Jax. So why when we are looking for the next “top guy” to replace Roman Reigns are we not considering the next “top guy” be a woman?
First, let’s look at the reaction that Becky Lynch is getting from the fans. In her feud with Charlotte, despite her role being cast by creative in that feud as the heel, Becky was clearly the fan favorite. Her scrappy nature and underdog status who had to scratch and claw for everything that she got cemented her as a face in the eyes of the audience. She was relentless woman from Limerick. And let’s be honest, American audiences do like scrappy Irish.
Lynch turned her back on her best friend in the business to win the Smackdown Women’s Championship for a second time almost two years after being the inaugural champ. For anyone else, this would have been a heel turn of massive proportions. Just think about the chair shot from Seth Rollins to his Shield brothers, Dean Ambrose and Reigns, or the recent heel turn of Dean Ambrose attacking Seth Rollins on the same night that Reigns announced his leukemia diagnosis. But this didn’t happen with Lynch. Instead, the fans agreed with her. Lynch was right. Charlotte had stolen the spotlight from Lynch time after time. It was Becky’s title shot at SummerSlam that Charlotte weaseled her way into and then pinned Lynch to win the title in a triple threat match after breaking up the submission that Lynch had Carmella, the champion at the time, in.
The led to one of the best feuds of the year in Becky versus Charlotte, which culminated in a hellacious Last Man Standing match at WWE Evolution, the first WWE all-women’s PPV. In an evening where each match on the card was solid, this was easily match of the night, surpassing the Rousey-Nikki Bella match which would main event the PPV. With her defeat of Charlotte, Lynch dubbed herself “The Man” in references to Charlotte’s father old adage, “To be The Man, you have to beat The Man.”
Now Lynch turned her sights to the champion versus champion match at Survivor Series against Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey. Leading up to the match, Lynch was straight fire on Twitter with Rousey showing signs of just not getting it. First, Rousey made the moniker of “The Man” about gender calling out Lynch for “wanting to be a man” and “penis envy.” It’s clear that Rousey didn’t understand that this was never about gender. Rousey also hurled insults about Lynch being “The Millennial Man,” using criticism hurled at men in the millennial generation for not being “masculine” enough and fitting into traditional gender roles, but Rousey’s missteps is really a topic for a whole other blog. The point is that being THE Man is not the same as being a man. Being “The Man” is about being the best, and there is no real female equivalent in wrestling as women wrestlers were viewed as being inferior to their male counterparts. So instead of just being “The Woman,” Lynch bucked traditional gender roles to adopt the moniker. It was a bold statement.
Then the Monday before Survivor Series, while leading an invasion of Raw, Becky Lynch took a straight punch to face which left her bloodied. But Becky fought on and stood tall at the top of the stairs in the crowd. I think this says it all.
This was arguably Becky Lynch’s “Stone Cold moment.” She is the hottest thing in WWE right now. So isn’t time for the next “Top Guy,” the face of the company, to be a woman? Some might point to Rousey’s crossover appeal as a former UFC champ to put her in that spot, but Rousey’s cracks have shown in the feud with Lynch. You want the next Top Guy to be the face of the company, this fan thinks that you don’t need to look past The Man, Becky Lynch.
