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The Man is back in the WWE.
Becky Lynch returned to the WWE at Summerslam and defeated Bianca Belair for the WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship.
Back where she belongs.#SummerSlam @BeckyLynchWWE pic.twitter.com/Bl0GLC5zRf
— WWE (@WWE) August 22, 2021
With Belair in the ring and set to face Sasha Banks, it was announced that Banks would not be able to compete. Instead, Carmella was inserted into the match. Right before the match was set to start, Lynch walked out, beat up Carmella around the ringside area, and then stood face to face with Belair before requesting a title match. Belair obliged and the bell rang. Lynch immediately tried to shake Belair’s hand, but clocked her in the face and connected with her finisher for the 1,2,3 win to become the new WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion.
#TheMan is BACK ON TOP.@BeckyLynchWWE becomes the new #SmackDown #WomensChampion at #SummerSlam! pic.twitter.com/iWli9IpnhV
— WWE SummerSlam (@SummerSlam) August 22, 2021
Becky Lynch won both the Smackdown and Raw women’s championships in the main event of WrestleMania 35. At WrestleMania 36, Lynch defeated Shayna Baszler to retain the Raw Women’s Championship, but relinquished the title after the 2020 Money in the Bank PPV event to have a baby. Summerslam 2021 was her first appearance since leaving over a year ago.
They squashed Belair after 6-8 months of building her up. I have never cared for her gimmick; it feels racist to me in some ways. But they could have had Lynch come back without the heel tactics. She assaulted one competitor of a match, asked for a title shot, was graciously given one, and then promptly struck her opponent — a fellow baby face — in the mouth, hit one move and hit the pin fall and the title.
Really? That’s a baby face in 2021?
WWE’s creative has no imagination and no spine. Since this is the weekend where Punk returned to wrestling, let me say Vince McMahon and his start and stop pushes are getting really old.
Essentially handing Becky the belt struck me as a hotshot move, as did bringing Lesnar back. This SummerSlam was all about trying to undo the past several years of not getting big crowd pops.