Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair SmackDown Title Rematch Set After The Man's Return
August 28, 2021
Becky Lynch appeared Friday night on SmackDown for the first time since making her shocking return at SummerSlam.
When all was said and done, a rematch between her and Bianca Belair for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship was set.
Lynch opened the show by telling the crowd and viewing audience that she refused to apologize for how things went down at SummerSlam.
Belair then immediately came out and said that she wanted a title rematch on SmackDown after losing her belt to Lynch at SummerSlam.
Before she could finish, Zelina Vega came out and wanted her own challenge.
The interruptions continued with Carmella wanting a shot at the champ before Liv Morgan did the same.
Lynch wasn't convinced by any of their cases and left the ring with her title belt in tow. The remaining wrestlers then attacked each other, and a fatal four-way match to determine the No. 1 contender for Lynch's belt began.
Belair took down Vega with the KOD:
Morgan pinned Carmella shortly thereafter.
Morgan put up a great fight against the ex-champ, nearly earning the contender spot.
However, Belair landed another KOD to earn a chance to win the belt back.
Belair was supposed to defend the SmackDown Women's Championship against Sasha Banks at SummerSlam, but Carmella was announced as a last-minute replacement right before the opening bell.
Lynch sensed an opportunity. She came down to the ramp to a massive ovation, attacked Carmella and dumped her out of the ring before issuing her own challenge to the champion. Only moments after the match became official, Belair was down for the count.
Lynch, who is engaged to fellow WWE Superstar Seth Rollins, gave birth to the couple's first child together in December.
Prior to taking a leave of absence, she was in the middle of one of the most dominant runs in WWE women's wrestling history. That run essentially began when she won the 2019 women's Royal Rumble match.
That victory gave Lynch the right to challenge for a title at WrestleMania 35, resulting in her bout with Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair in a Triple Threat match for the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships on The Grandest Stage of Them All.
The match was also the main event of the marquee pay-per-view, making it the first women's match in WWE history to accomplish that prestigious feat.
After that, The Man went on to reign as Raw women's champion for 398 consecutive days, with her most recent successful title defense coming at last year's WrestleMania over Shayna Baszler.
Lynch never lost the title and instead relinquished it to Money in the Bank winner Asuka the night after the same-titled pay-per-view on Raw.
Asuka embraced The Irish Lass Kicker as she handed over the Raw Women's Championship and congratulated her on her pregnancy, making for one of the most heartwarming and wholesome wrestling moments in recent memory.
At that point, there was no telling when Lynch would be back in the ring, and it wasn't even guaranteed that she would return to the wrestling business.
However, The Man is back in the fold after showing up SummerSlam, and her return will provide a significant boost to the SmackDown women's division.
There's also plenty of unfinished business between Belair getting her inevitable rematch and Banks justifiably arguing she deserves her own shot at the gold. That will provide plenty of drama in the coming weeks.
Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).