After weeks of hype, WWE has been forced to cancel the big Survivor Series showdown between Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey, due to injury. It's been a wild year for Lynch, often called the "Irish Lass Kicker" by WWE's announce team. At only 31-years-old, the redheaded competitor has already accomplished a lot in the world of professional wrestling, first making a name for herself in WWE's NXT developmental brand after being trained to wrestle by fellow WWE star Finn Balor.
Lynch made the jump to WWE's main roster in 2015, but it wasn't until the company reinstated its "brand extension" that she captured her first piece of WWE gold, becoming the first SmackDown Women's Champion. Unfortunately, her reign was brief, and it would be a long time before she entered the title picture again. Still, Lynch remained popular with the crowd. At SummerSlam in August, after multiple failed shots at regaining the belt, WWE opted to run a story where she turned heel, attacking best friend Charlotte Flair out of frustration. A funny thing happened though, as the fans totally sided with Lynch, and have continued to do so over the months since.
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While the fan reactions clearly weren't what WWE had intended, they took notice of Lynch's molten crown response and quickly put the SmackDown Women's Championship on her at September's Hell in a Cell event. With this Sunday's Survivor Series show slated to feature multiple Raw vs. SmackDown matches, "Becky Balboa" had been set to take on Raw Women's Champion (and former UFC star) Ronda Rousey. It was many fan's most anticipated match, but unfortunately, now it won't happen, as made official on Tuesday's episode of SmackDown. Due to an injury sustained in Raw's show-closing brawl between the women's rosters, Lynch isn't cleared to wrestle.
Fans will recall that Lynch ended Raw's big fight with blood all over her face, a rare occurrence in today's PG-rated WWE environment. That's because a particularly stiff shot from the large and powerful Nia Jax managed to both break Lynch's nose and give her a concussion. While the SmackDown Women's Title remains in Lynch's possession for now, she did come out to the ring on Tuesday to pick her replacement for Survivor Series, choosing recent rival and old friend Charlotte. Flair vs. Rousey will certainly be a big match too - many had predicted it to happen at next year's WrestleMania - but many fans are sure to wonder what might have been if Becky were good to go.
It remains to be seen how long it'll take for Lynch to be cleared for action, or if she'll eventually have to be stripped of her title due to not being able to defend it. One wonders though why Jax felt the need to throw such a devastating blow Becky's way so close to a big pay-per-view. Isolated clips of the incident are available online, and it doesn't at all look to have been an accident. Then again, things aren't always what they appear to be, especially in WWE's world of sports entertainment.