A Desperate Queen

SmackDown Women’s championship match

Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch (c)

Breaking down the latest in a what has lately been a surprisingly one-sided rivalry.

The Road to Money in the Bank

In 2018, The Lasskicker became The Man and everything about this rivalry flipped on its head.

Charlotte, a 4-time Raw Women’s Champion and a 3-time SmackDown Women’s Champion, always seemed to be able to get a victory when it mattered most against Lynch. At least that’s what it felt like, right? Charlotte Flair was the daughter to wrestling royalty and constantly in the hunt for championships. Lynch? She was still finding her way top.

But then “The Man” happened and...well. Lynch has evolved into something Charlotte’s been unable to solve. In fact, here’s a trivia question for you, Cagesiders: when was the last time that Charlotte was able to cleanly defeat Lynch?

…

…

Ready for the answer?

SummerSlam 2018.

That’s right; it’s been nearly a year. Lynch got the best of Charlotte at Evolution. She got the best of the Queen in the Royal Rumble. The Man stood tall yet again at WrestleMania. An interesting side effect of these losses has been the toll they’ve taken on Charlotte; she’s become increasingly vicious in the ring and arrogant when it comes to her own talents. In fact, she’s been looking for any reason she can to claim superiority over Lynch.

Even more notably, it seems like no one’s buying Charlotte’s inherent superiority anymore. After falling to Lynch again at WrestleMania, Charlotte wanted another shot at the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship. And sure, she never got pinned; but how many shots are you supposed to get?

What’s at stake?

That’s the most engaging part of this story, I’d say. Not only are the SmackDown Women’s Championship and Charlotte’s sanity at stake, but the outcome of this match might also have an impact on the Raw Women’s Championship. Lynch is fighting twice at Money in the Bank, and you know that’s the sort of thing that must be driving Charlotte nuts.

She demands attention, and she demands respect. Lynch seems content to satisfy neither of those quotas.

Think about it from Charlotte’s perspective for a second. She’s got the locker room breathing down her neck for title opportunities and the only way out is to defeat an opponent she hasn’t been able to overcome.

...Good luck.

I think we’re going to see a particularly nasty Charlotte Flair in this match, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this match happens before the Lynch vs. Lacey Evans fight. But does that mean Charlotte can finally put Lynch away?

Lynch was the first to complain about having to deal with Charlotte yet again, but the SmackDown Live locker room also stepped up at last. Bayley appeared to challenge Charlotte, but the Queen was able to fend off the competition for her final shot at Lynch.