WWE Has Becky Lynch and Charlotte Swap Titles On SmackDown

During Friday's SmackDown, with both Becky Lynch (the SmackDown Women's Champion) and Charlotte (the Raw Women's Champion) moving to each other's brands, WWE needed to find a way to switch the titles so that each show's belt would remain with its respective program. The company went with the easy solution and had the two women simply swap championships in the final segment of the night.

While both Lynch and Charlotte teased doing more than giving the other a belt, the booking team ultimately decided not to pull the trigger on something more creative. To close the first SmackDown episode post-draft, Lynch simply tossed her title towards Charlotte and Flair the same. There was a brief exchange where Flair teased the idea that both women would have a match that evening where the winner would take all, but nothing came of it. Instead, WWE brought out Sasha Banks to lay out a challenge to the new SmackDown Women's Champion.

As Banks addressed Flair, Lynch simply told the two women that "Well, I'm going to go to Raw and I'll let the two of you figure this out and I'll see one of you at Survivor Series." The Man tossed the microphone, left the ring and WWE never alluded to Flair vs. Lynch happening again. Banks and Flair did their exchange with the show closing as sent Charlotte crawling away after a brief physical exchange.

WWE Takes The Easy Way Out

The company has known for weeks that Charlotte would need to rid herself of the Raw Women's Title while Lynch would need to lose the SmackDown belt. There could have been a title change on any of the Raw's or SmackDown's leading into Crown Jewel and a title change could have taken place at the Saudi Arabia pay-per-view. WWE elected not to go there and brought the two women out to hand over their respective gold.

Fans didn't love the decision, but this isn't exactly new territory for WWE. They did this with the tag team championships in the past.