WWE did not think much about the draft in October. Which led to Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair having championship belts from the wrong events. So the “WWE Women’s Title Exchange” segment was scheduled late in October. The segment aired on the night when Charlotte Flair reportedly went into business for herself. She did not adhere to the script, resulting in an argument backstage with Lynch.
In her recent appearance with Steve Austin’s The Broken Skull Sessions. Becky clarified what was supposed to happen during the controversial segment:
“It should’ve been easy. It was supposed to be a straightforward thing where we were supposed to exchange the titles. I grab it out of her hand unknowingly. I’m Becky Two Belts for a second. Then I toss her the title, and then she tells Sonya to pick it up. And then she challenges me to a fight, and I back out of it, and I go. So everybody was supposed to get their moment there, you know?”
Lynch said there was a lot of heat in the aftermath:
“Oh yeah. Yeah, there was a lot of heat there. As in, there was a lot of heat there afterwards. Because that was the way that it was supposed to be done. In advance, I told some people that this isn’t what’s gonna happen; when I try to grab it she’s gonna drop it. And that’s what happened. And so, when all of that was going on, I was just fuming. Mostly because I knew in advance what was gonna happen, and I had no way to stop it.”
“It should have just been a plain and simple easy thing. It didn’t need to be complicated. Everybody was gonna get their moment.”
Later on, while discussing how the four horsewomen (Lynch, Flair, Bayley, Sasha Banks) have changed the professional wrestling industry. Lynch expressed her admiration for all of them, including Charlotte:
“Lots of love and admiration, honestly for all of them. And love is quite close to hate. And I’ve said it about Charlotte, maybe when we’re done with this industry, maybe we’ll be friends again. But right now there is tension, there is animosity there.”
It’s evident Becky isn’t convinced that Flair lost the championship accidentally. Becky affirms that both wrestlers had to gain something from the match when it was scripted. This is why it shouldn’t be difficult. But the fact Becky admits she knew Flair could depart from the script indicates that she knew Flair was not convinced that they both had an opportunity to shine.
If Flair dropped the belt with intention, and she did it on purpose, then she’s definitely in the wrong by acting unprofessionally. I know that the top wrestlers want to safeguard their image or place of honor; however, I’m not sure if the supposed original script affects or harms any wrestler. Match finish times are generally more important in this respect.
I’d suggest that both wrestlers appear somewhat silly in a section in which they must exchange belts. In the end, WWE could have had the opportunity to avoid this awkward part entirely if they thought about the draft more strategically or had booked titles changes during a couple of days between draft time and the segment.
Do you agree with Becky’s viewpoint regarding how the events played out during The WWE Women’s Title Exchange?