Forget Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair Steal the Show at Evolution

By what seems like a mere technicality, the blood feud between Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair didn't main-event Sunday's WWE Evolution, taking a backseat to the showdown between Nikki Bella and Ronda Rousey. 

In the aftermath, match order itself is the only way Lynch and Flair actually landed behind the main event participants. 

After all, WWE couldn't have the entire women's roster—legends and Stephanie McMahon included—celebrating with Lynch at the end of the show, embracing a villain of sorts while Flair was down the ramp in shambles among broken bits of table. 

Instead, it was the casual-friendly Rousey hoisting a belt at the end, though the second-to-last spot for Lynch and Flair not only stole the show and is a likely five-star match by certain metrics, it cemented WWE Evolution as one of the best pay-per-views of the year. 

That's not bad for an event that WWE hardly promoted beforehand, especially once it got lost in the noise about a certain pay-per-view taking place in Saudi Arabia. 

One could see the show-stealing act coming a mile away, of course. Lynch and Flair are money together and were telling WWE's best outright story well before Sunday's event. The story and smooth integration of any time and anywhere—thanks to encounters at the performance center, photoshoots and otherwise—built anticipation for what was sure to be a stellar payoff match. 

And what a way for the rivalry to end, if it does. Both women told a fun story during the match itself, with plenty of offense for both sides and Flair taking some of the most wicked bumps any performer will take all year. A brutal women's match that pushed the boundaries at the first-ever all women's pay-per-view was only fitting. 

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All this came with an innovative last-woman standing slant, which was perfect for the story itself and featured enough brutality that even the only-here-for-Rousey viewers who are new to the product were sure to enjoy it. 

While not everyone will agree, the right victor emerged, too. Flair has done enough in her repeated chances as champion and pulling off not-so-popular feats like ending Asuka's streak. Becky is one of the hottest names in the sport right now, and despite playing the scared villain right at the end, she pulled off the dastardly counter to retain, ensuring Flair looked strong in the process. 

In short, those who predicted Lynch and Flair would steal the show were right on the money.  

And this isn't meant to throw too much shade at Rousey. But trying to outperform a feud built as well as the Lynch-Flair encounter on top of knowing they're two of the best in-ring performers WWE has outright is an uphill battle. So too is trying to convince fans Rousey will actually drop the belt, whereas the match before they went on had a 50-50 shot of either woman winning. 

But the match itself was superb. Nikki once again showed she can go much better than her misguided public perception suggests. She got plenty of dominant offense in early, as expected. The Brie interferences were there. Rousey eventually took them both down at the same time. But the story worked—the Bellas used the numbers game to bring Rousey back down to a human level. The eventual counter into an armbar finished it off. 

Mission accomplished, as both came out looking like a million bucks and as if they had been in a war. Nikki had bruises all over the place and Rousey had bloodied scratches all over her face. They took a shoo-in storyline and ran with it, and the match landed atop the card in the same way a Brock Lesnar match does. 

At the end of the day, there is always room for a fun, snappy Lesnar-Goldberg showdown and otherwise on any card. 

But this time WWE got the order wrong. Both matches had strong storytelling and performances, but only one had Lynch. 

That's really what it boils down to right now. Rousey might bring in the viewers who wouldn't typically check out WWE—which, believe it or not, is a powerful asset for the company to have and benefits everyone on the roster. 

But Lynch and others have the talent to captivate those newcomers and turn them into fans who come back. More specifically, Lynch is one of the most organically popular Superstars WWE has had at its disposal this side of Daniel Bryan's unforgettable run.

There's no telling where WWE go with Lynch from here, but it sure wouldn't be a bad development to see her square off with Rousey somehow (Survivor Series is coming up, after all). 

Billed as an event sure to match its name, Evolution delivered in large part because Lynch and Flair put on a gripping show sure to go down as a match of the year contender. It's a shame WWE didn't evolve to the point of sticking the surefire show-stealer over the causal main event. But in hindsight, it isn't hard to see which match will stick out as more memorable at the inaugural event regardless of what order WWE had them on the card.