Report: Becky Lynch And Charlotte Flair Had ‘Heated’ Confrontation Following WWE SmackDown
Image Credit: WWE
Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair swapped their respective WWE Women’s Championships on WWE SmackDown, and fans apparently weren’t the only ones who were unhappy with the segment.
Mike Johnson of PWInsider reports that Lynch and Flair had a confrontation backstage following the show, with the issue stemming from the title swap between the champions. Per Johnson, Flair “voiced concerns” about the exchange before WWE SmackDown; she reportedly didn’t want to look weak, and she was also concerned that the swap would harm the perception of her title reign. Still, WWE went through with the segment as planned.
Johnson then noted that, during the swap itself, Flair threw the belt to the ground, which was not the planned direction; likewise, Lynch throwing her title at flair was not in the script.
During the Championship Exchange segment, there was a moment where Flair was to hand the belt to Becky but instead pulled it away and threw the belt on the mat, which was not the way that exchange was expected to go.
Though the segment got back on track and finished as intended, Johnson wrote that Flair and Lynch had a confrontation backstage due to Flair allegedly disrespecting Lynch by “trying to make her look bad,” per a source. Johnson noted that while this face-off was “heated”, it did not get physical.
Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT added additional details in a separate report; per his sources, he wrote that, in the segment, Flair was supposed to try and play “cat and mouse” with the titkl, and Lynch was supposed to touch the championship, but a “timing error” caused the belt to fall to the floor.
McCarthy noted that Lynch, Flair and Sonya Deville, the (storyline) WWE official who moderated the swap, were unhappy with the situation. He also wrote that WWE officials were “concerned” about the subsequent confrontation between the two champions backstage before he stated that their friendship has been “strained” for a while now.
Additionally, McCarthy reports that Vince McMahon wasn’t pleased when Flair left gorilla position without talking to him. Overall, McCarthy wrote that “no one involved” was happy about the title switch segment; though it was discussed throughout the day, it still went on as planned.
WrestleZone will provide more details as they become available.