12 Ups And 16 Downs For WWE In 2021

5. The Man Comes (Back) Around

Becky Lynch
WWE.com

Earlier this summer, WWE’s women’s division was in bad need of star power with some of their biggest stars out of action. (Re)enter The Man.

Becky Lynch had been teasing a return for a couple months by the time SummerSlam rolled around, but that didn’t make her re-emergence any less shocking or impactful. Lynch returned to topple Bianca Belair in seconds in an unscheduled match to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship, which she would hold onto until she was drafted to Raw, at which time she traded titles with Charlotte Flair, literally.

Unlike her previous run, Becky was no longer the cocky babyface. She was now “Big Time Becks,” an outwardly cocky and self-assured champion, but someone whose bravado was hiding insecurities that showed themselves in the shortcuts she took to win matches.

There’s a good argument to be made that this heel run isn’t working as well as it could or should, and that WWE has forced it rather than just run with the babyface fans want, but like all great performers, Lynch is able to make something workable out of it.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.