More Backstage Notes On WWE Changing The Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair Feud

Charlotte Flair might have repelled the challenge of Carmella in a SmackDown Women’s Championship main event last Tuesday, but she could not escape an “Irish Lass Kicking” from her former best friend, Becky Lynch, who challenged “The Queen” to a title match at the WWE Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event on Sunday, September 16.

Charlotte couldn’t celebrate her victory over Carmella for long as she was quickly met with a blindside attack from Lynch, who knocked her to the canvas and began to hammer away with some stiff haymakers. Becky then grabbed the microphone and told her former best friend that she was going to take the SmackDown Women’s Championship before throwing a massive insult at Charlotte.

“When I get my way, come Hell in a Cell, I’m taking my title back … you bitch,” Becky told Charlotte before dropping the microphone on her beaten body.

For the second week in a row, Lynch’s attack on Charlotte drew a massive babyface reaction and it looks like WWE creative is changing the direction of their feud as a result.

John Pollock, who hosts a podcast called Rewind-A-SmackDown, was told after SmackDown LIVE by a WWE source that creative is dropping the heel aspect of Lynch’s new persona. Instead of this being a traditional babyface vs. heel feud, it will be a feud between former best friends. The end result for Lynch probably won’t change — with her capturing the SmackDown Women’s Championship — but WWE creative doesn’t want fans completely turning on Charlotte or for her to come off as a heel.

Pollock said (H/T WrestlingNews.co), “So I was told this after [this week’s SmackDown LIVE] that last week, based on the reaction Becky got, that they have slightly changed the direction here where the idea now is much less of a heel/babyface dynamic and instead it’s two ex-friends that both have valid points and neither is going to back down from the other and still getting Becky to the same place they wanted to but not so much wanting Charlotte to be a heel as a result of this. So it seems like they did learn from last week how everyone was into Becky.”

Pollock added, “Credit that they learned from last week. To me, it was a bad idea trying to turn Becky. If in fact, they realized it, tonight you definitely did not get the same Becky as was presented last week.”

On Thursday, Pollock offered more insight on WWE’s portrayal of Lynch.

“As I stated on Rewind-A-SmackDown, the portrayal of Becky Lynch has been slightly adjusted coming off last week’s reaction to her turn. The new idea is for Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair to have less of a babyface and heel dynamic and instead, they are two ex-friends that each have valid reasoning for their actions. It is not designed to be a double turn,” Pollock wrote on PostWrestling.com.

“The thinking behind turning Becky initially was to freshen her character and have her in a bigger spotlight, which they feel they can still achieve this way. While they are many examples of the WWE fighting the audience on specific characters, this is one where they seem to have realized immediately that there is a better option to achieving the same objective.

“Ultimately, I feel Charlotte is a better heel, but this story can work very well without a defined heel in the program and to me, makes it more relatable and believable than having Becky turn on the fans out of the blue. It was apparent at the close of this week’s episode that this is the direction, given how Becky attacked Charlotte and called her a “bitch”, which was going to receive a positive reaction and it did.”

Here is footage of Lynch’s assault on Flair. The part where Lynch calls Charlotte a “bitch” is censored.

• Rare images of Becky posing in her underwear