12 WWE Face & Heel Turns That IMMEDIATELY Backfired
4. Becky Lynch Turn Exposes Charlotte Flair (2018)
Becky Lynch was supposed to be the villain of the piece when turning on Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam 2018 (after the pair's Triple Threat with Carmella). Instead, fans rejected that booking and cheered hard for her because they legit looked at Becks as somebody who'd been overlooked and deserved a shot at glory. That led to grumbles behind the scenes.
WWE’s writers were forced to pivot, and fast. Fan response to Lynch hammering Charlotte exposed the truth that Flair couldn’t be a likeable/sympathetic figure no matter how hard she tried. The warped thing about all of this is that Charlotte often comes across as a likeable person away from the ring in interviews. She has fears and issues just like every one else, but her silver spoon presentation is what it is.
Crowds rebelling against WWE's wishes accidentally created Becky's iconic 'The Man' character. Had people not hopped on her bandwagon as hard as they did, then there's simply no way she, Ronda Rousey or Flair would've headlined WrestleMania 35 like they did. That was a byproduct of the rebellion first seen during the summer of 2018. The 'Summer Of Punk'? Nah, this was the 'Summer Of Becks'.
Lynch's promo on the post-SummerSlam edition of SmackDown was supposed to be riddled with heel heat as she portrayed herself as a snot-nosed victim, but an organic response in Brooklyn to her fiery words paved the way for Becky's rise towards 'female Stone Cold' status. Unfortunately, as aforementioned, it also laid bare just how little peeps were into the thought of rooting for Charlotte.
Oops.