Now Is The Perfect Time For Becky Lynch’s WWE Return

At the mid-point of 2020, there was a seismic shift in WWE’s women’s division. Becky Lynch delivered a poignant promo in which she relinquished her Raw Women’s Championship to Asuka and announced her pregnancy. The Man hasn’t been seen on WWE television since. Now, more than ever, WWE needs her back.

The Marquee Babyface

From 2018 to 2020, Becky Lynch emerged as the face of women’s wrestling in WWE. She developed an organic groundswell of fan support that led to her winning the 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble. That set her up to become the first woman to win a WrestleMania main event, pinning no lesser star than Ronda Rousey. She went on to reign as Raw Women’s Champion for over a year, which included working a PPV main event mixed tag team match with Seth Rollins, and headlining Survivor Series.

Losing Lynch, not to mention having Charlotte Flair out for extended stretches has left the women’s division feeling short on star power, though. Despite Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks putting on arguably the greatest women’s match in WrestleMania history, and Rhea Ripley beating Asuka clean, neither victory registered as profoundly as beating Lynch would have. Indeed, as the saying goes, to be the man, you have to beat the man. With The Man herself out of play, it’s hard for anyone to broach her level of success.

On top of all of these considerations, both men’s world champions—Bobby Lashley and Roman Reigns--are heels, besides which The Tribal Chief is clearly cast as the current top star in the company. WWE could really use a top babyface to balance the scales, and Lynch is The Man for the job.

Competing For The Title She Never Lost

Whenever a champion relinquishes a title due to medical circumstances, there’s a readymade storyline awaiting his or her return---competing for the championships they never lost. Indeed, while Rhea Ripley has been well received and can certainly go in the ring, there’s still some questioning her legitimacy as a champion. Becky Lynch held that Raw Women’s Championship, for a over a year, emerging as one of the best female babyface champions ever. Moreover, she was never pinned or forced to submit to drop the title.

So, whether Ripley continues her reign, or Charlotte Flair or Asuka take the title off her in the near future, whoever winds up with the title will naturally fall in The Man’s crosshairs when she returns. While it’s probably too optimistic to assume Lynch won’t have ring rust, coming off a year out of the ring, not to mention pregnancy and childbirth, her promo ability alone stands to elevate the Raw Women’s title picture.

The Measuring Stick

Calling a wrestler “the measuring stick” is a bit of cliché for top talents who’ve been around for extended runs. Nonetheless, it’s a fitting way of looking at stars like Sheamus or Seth Rollins in the men’s divisions who’ve worked up and down the card across nearly a decade, and who can still go at the highest level in the ring. That title can apply to Becky Lynch, too.

Related: 9 Potential Rivals For Becky Lynch's Return

Indeed Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Asuka have offered measuring sticks for the women’s division over the last year. They’re capable of delivering quality matches against anyone, and offering someone whom it’s a meaningful kayfabe accomplishment to defeat. However, only Lynch carries the lineage of a star-making performance when she won a WrestleMania main event, beating Ronda Rousey, and quite arguably being the true face of the company--among women and men alike--for at least a period of months. WWE needs a star of that credibility in the mix.

Demonstrating A Woman In WWE Can Have It All

There’s a longstanding narrative that WWE is reluctant to push smaller wrestlers on top, if only because they’re more human. Smaller bodies are, at least in theory, more fragile and thus prone to injury. That’s beside the desire to feature larger-than-life super heroes as opposed to wrestlers who look like average Joes.

One of the problems with this setup is that it automatically disadvantages women, who are genetically predisposed to be smaller. All the more so, WWE faces a fundamental conflict. They’ve touted the fact that they’re pushing the advancement of female talents for over five years now with the Women’s Revolution. But what happens when the top woman in the game reaches the top of the mountain, only to step away from wrestling due to pregnancy?

WWE has the opportunity to tell a new and important story right now. Becky Lynch is already a star. More than a highly talented wrestler or a charismatic personality, though, she can now be the champion of working moms everywhere in returning as a mother who can still raise hell opposite her heel enemies, and headline PPVs with epic fights. While parenthood has a huge impact on any individual’s life, it does not have to yield a negative impact on a woman’s career. WWE is uniquely positioned to champion this message as soon as Lynch is back in the ring.

Next: 5 Things Becky Lynch Does Better Than Charlotte Flair (& 5 Charlotte Is Best At)