13 Ups & 9 Downs For WWE In 2022
6. The Ballad Of Bianca Belair & Becky Lynch
It began as a lie started in 2021, but WWE made the Becky Lynch/Bianca Belair saga real in 2022, and paid it off masterfully at SummerSlam before indulging in the fruits of the labour at Survivor Series WarGames.
Handshake bookends were an excellent touch, featuring heavily in the SummerSlam squash that kicked it off, a bona fide WrestleMania classic and a SummerSlam finale one year on from the original crime committed against 'The EST'. The latter two matches were proper worldies, and one legitimate wrestling megastar genuinely helped make another. It became perfect pro wrestling distilled.
Them finally coming together as babyfaces having earned mutual respect even dovetailed into Bayley's return - 'The Man' had another reason to stand alongside Belair. Bayley’s turn all the way back in 2019 was at her expense, and she never forgot. Suddenly, there was an ideal time to remind her of that, as was the case when Lynch returned to action properly alongside the Raw Women's Champion against Damage CTRL at Survivor Series WarGames.