The REAL Reason Daniel Bryan Just Won The WWE Title
On the night Roman Reigns actually f*cking won a title, Becky Lynch failed again. But her post-match heel turn at SummerSlam triggered a transformative chain of events that catapulted her to the very top of the promotion before Nia Jax nearly knocked her head clean off on Monday's Raw.
Her babyface promos had been stellar, but her heel ones were even better. Echoing Stone Cold Steve Austin during his fiery post-King Of The Ring 1996 pomp, Lynch spoke with outrage over being overlooked and with confidence that she wouldn't let it happen again. And like Austin, she backed up her bluster.
Steamrolling Charlotte at Hell In A Cell, she bailed on their Super Show-Down clash to save herself for their Match Of The Year candidate at Evolution, and strode beyond that as 'The Man' - a brilliantly subversive spin on the way others in her division are pushed as second rate citizens compared to their male counterparts. Even her t-shirt adorning the words looked to be a modern take on the gazillion-selling Austin 3:16 original.
The perception was the reality. Lynch rapidly went from considering herself the biggest star in the company to being it. Only weeks after raging on the company for leaving her out of pay-per-view posters, she was front and centre of one with Ronda Rousey. WWE's biggest success story of the year was set to do battle with WWE's biggest success story right now. Rousey/Lynch had outgrown Survivor Series before their match had even happened, particularly when the go-home Raw left the air with a bloodied 'Irish Lass Kicker' braving her crimson mask just as 'The Rattlesnake' had during his iconic star-making WrestleMania 13 scuffle with Bret Hart.
The only thing that derailed Austin's inexorable rise to glory in 1997 was a devastating injury along the way. Vince McMahon did everything in his power to retain his next top star's aura ahead of WrestleMania 14 then, and over-delivered with his main events in his absence. Just as he has done here.
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