10 Ways WWE SmackDown Has Declined In 2017
4. Becky Lynch's Fall From Grace
The 2016 WWE draft put Becky Lynch in a great position to succeed. With Charlotte and Sasha Banks sent to Raw, Becky finally had the opportunity to lead her own division, and with a relatively inexperienced crew surrounding her, that looked like the plan. She was SmackDown’s first Women’s Champion following the brand split, but her reign lasted just 85 days, and she has since fallen-off.
Her popularity endures, but Becky has become another face in the crowd since dropping the title to Alexa Bliss. Unable to reclaim the belt, she has been on a slow, steady slide down the division’s rankings since the start of the year, and nobody has suffered more from the hectic multi-woman feuds that SD has been focused on lately.
Becky doesn’t stand out anymore, and that’s a problem. Only Charlotte can match her as an all-round SmackDown performer, and she’s easily the most natural babyface that the brand has. She’s the kind of wrestler the fans want to rally around, but she’s being beaten into the ground at the moment, and unless WWE give fans a reason to believe in her again, it won’t be long before the damage becomes irreparable.