Stone Cold Becky Lynch Re-Awakens Attitude Era
Becky Lynch leads the SmackDown Live’s women’s division to a total beatdown of the RAW women’s division. Photo Courtesy of the WWE and USA.
By Matthew Klink (@klinkmatt)
November 13, 2018
A week before Survivor Series, we aren’t sure what to care about. Should we care about AJ Styles vs Brock Lesnar? Lesnar looks poised to destroy him. Should we care about Rollins and Nakamura? Rollins said last night that “he doesn’t give a damn about Shinsuke Nakamura”. What about the men’s Survivor Series match? Eh…I guess I like the Bryan and Miz dynamic and I hope that McIntyre destroys Shane…but not really.
So while the night seemed very “meh” for a go home show (for Survivor Series), we were ready to hit the “hard-stop” time of 11:00 PM and we still didn’t know who the RAW women’s Survivor Series team would be. Sasha Banks and Bayley were in the ring, trying to figure that out. All the while, Sasha and Bayley were giving us the most “meh” moment of the night (maybe fueled by the fact that it was our supposed main event).
Speaking of fuel…the end of the night and the RAW women’s roster was doused in it. Only to be lit ablaze a moment later, when the fiery redhead, Becky Lynch, made her way to the ring to open a can of whoop ass!
Becky Lynch, ‘the Man’, Brings Attitude Era to RAW
In what felt like an old Attitude Era segment, the brawl to end the night actually got started in the locker room area. Sure, in the ‘good old days’, Jim Ross would tell us that something was going on backstage before seeing a cameraman run into the locker room area. But today, we know better. All we needed to see what the bouncing camera running through a doorway and all we needed to hear was the screams coming from that room.
Turning the corner we saw a bright, blue shirt with cascading red locks over it. That person had a firm grip on their victim’s arm and was ready to rip the arm straight from its socket.
I am of course talking about Becky Lynch (the attacker) and Ronda Rousey (the victim). How many times had we seen Stone Cold do the same thing to the Rock? To Triple H? To his Survivor Series opponents? And it's not like we haven’t seen a locker room fight in a while, but it has been a long time since it’s been appropriately attached to a “don’t give a sh*%” type of character. She’s outrightly evil…she’s just looking to prove herself and take her piece of the pie.
The only thing was…Becky Lynch thought her piece of the pie was in Ronda’s hand and the only way she was gonna get it was by taking that arm home with her.
Lynch comes to the ring
Just like in the 90’s, the camera came back to the “stage” area. The RAW women’s Survivor Series team watched the same footage we just watched and were stunned. Maybe even a little scared.
And once again, looking back at the Attitude Era, Becky Lynch reminded us how great an entrance can feel.
It was only a matter of seconds, between Becky ripping Ronda’s arm off and her appearance in the ring, but the moments in between felt so exciting and gripping. I couldn’t look away and I couldn’t wait for her to come out! It was that moment of elation we waited for, in the late 90’s, that was the arrival of our anti-hero to come to save the day. After substituting glass breaking for a cymbal crash and guitar riff, our anti-hero had arrived.
She made her way to ring…looked her five other competitors down, who are all staring back at her…and put both arms out, in a “Come at me bro” way. Which worked perfectly in getting the jump on Alexa Bliss and her gang.
Becky Lynch bleeds for this business
If it wasn’t painfully obvious, how much Becky Lynch cares for this business, then it was a painful accident in the ring that presented the evidence for us. And believe us, we didn’t need to see this, even a little bit. We love Becky Lynch and have written more stories about Lynch in the last month than any other superstar.
That being said…it was beautiful and glorious!
The moments that we always remember are the ones that organically change the business. I’m sure Becky didn’t plan on getting her eye cut open or breaking her nose (I’m not sure what happened yet), but because it happened, it gave us the imagery of Becky wanting to put her own (real) blood on the line. The fact that it happened organically will add to the legend that is this heel/face/antihero character shift.
And while I do my best to make this moment about Becky Lynch and all she is doing for the main roster…I can’t help but bring up the double-turn at WrestleMania 13. The result of character shifts wasn’t the same, but the impact was made greater because of the image we saw on screen. Whether the cuts are premeditated or not, you can’t deny that the image is powerful.
Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13 and Stone Cold Becky Lynch last night.
Becky Lynch is the leader of the entire roster
Even though ‘The Man’ is an Irish Lass Kicker, I can’t help but see a little William Wallace in her. Becky Lynch put on the war paint last night and got the entire world talking about pro wrestling again. As I said, there's no way she’s blading her eyeball and breaking her own nose, so this wasn’t EXACTLY planned. But that’s where the beauty, at this moment, comes from. She goes all out and continued to fight even after getting busted open.
If anyone in the locker questioned if they are doing enough to help this company, Becky showed them how far they can go. She wasn’t concussed. She wasn’t bleeding out. She wasn’t in danger or likely to botch anything due to the injury. Why not let the show go on?
The show did continue and Becky Lynch may have just put herself into a status of legendary (or at least this will be one of the moments we look back at and say “this was the start of everything”).
Is this the moment they can use to ensure Becky Lynch will stay strong after her eventual loss to Rousey? OOOORRRRR…is this an opportunity to send Lynch into the stratosphere and have her put down the “baddest woman on the planet”?
We really don’t know what the end game is or if the WWE will jump on this opportunity to create a super-duper-star, but I know that for now, they have struck gold. The gold they found is in the form of a fighter. A plucky, no-nonsense, takes what she wants, and does it well…fighter. Like the captain of any team…Becky has set the bar. The rest of the roster doesn’t need to do this, but if they’re asking themselves if they’re doing enough…all they need to do is look to their leader: Becky Lynch.
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