Does The Becky Lynch & Ronda Rousey Picture Bother You?

WWE released backstage photos from Evolution, the first all-women’s pay-per-view in company history. A moment shared by Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey has people talking.

October 28 was a historic day for WWE. The company produced its first ever all-women’s pay-per-event, titled Evolution. The card brought together talents from different eras, with most of the focus being on the stars of today.

And the night delivered in a huge way.

On this week’s edition of The Greg DeMarco Show, Patrick O’Dowd and I were left wondering if the women of WWE need their own show, a stage upon which they can truly shine. This would need to accompany more of a focus on the other pay-per-view events throughout the year, especially WrestleMania.

But for one night, any other PPV–including WrestleMania–was inconsequential. For one night, nothing compared to Evolution.

WWE gave this event special treatment, and it was more than well-deserved. One such way was to provide behind-the-scenes photos, which are a unique touch usually reserved for WrestleMania events. The black-and-white style of many of the photos usually takes them out of the company’s normal vibrant, high-definition element.

One such picture, though, takes you out of more than element:

Innocent enough, it features the champion of each television brand–Raw’s Ronda Rousey and Smackdown’s Becky Lynch–spending time together before each defends their championship against a heated rival.

This was captured before Evolution, as Ronda doesn’t have her soon-to-be-trademark eye makeup, and Becky obviously hasn’t yet suffered the effects of her Last Woman Standing Match.

Here are some of the headlines that I have seen in association with this picture:

“New backstage photo of Becky Lynch & Ronda Rousey is a real buzzkill”
~CagesideSeats

“Backstage WWE Evolution Photos Kill Any Hype For Becky Lynch vs Ronda Rousey”
~WrestleZone

Soon after the event, Lynch would take to Twitter to bash Rousey and her inability to follow the Smackdown Champion’s performance.

She tried. pic.twitter.com/roO56ylSAJ

— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) October 29, 2018

Yes, the picture completely contradicts the tweet seen above. It also contracts this match announcement:

GET. READY. FOR. THIS.#RAW #WomensChampion @RondaRousey squares off against #SDLive #WomensChampion @BeckyLynchWWE at #SurvivorSeries! pic.twitter.com/ICHLsATWj8

— WWE (@WWE) October 30, 2018

Becky Lynch has never been hotter (an 11 on a scale of 1-10, if you ask her), and she is likely headed to the most anticipated match on the entire Survivor Series card.

Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura? Great, but not Becky vs. Ronda.

AJ vs. Braun or Brock? Seen one, and the other will be fun, but not Becky vs. Ronda.

I know it’s popular to say that Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair may main event WrestleMania 35, and I for one would love to see it. But I think we need to make the argument for Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey to main event Survivor Series. And for once, it’s not because of Ronda.

But what about that black and white picture? I mean, kayfabe, right?

Wrong.

You’d never see that picture come out of Ring Of Honor, New Japan, IMPACT Wrestling, or even Lucha Underground. MLW isn’t going to produce such a photo. Hell, Ring Warriors and Championship Wrestling from Hollywood won’t do it.

And they shouldn’t.

Does that make it right for WWE to do it? YES, it does.

WWE isn’t professional wrestling, and it hasn’t been for a long, long time. Sports Entertainment is a bad word to many pro wrestling fans, but to the majority of the WWE audience (of which we online are the minority) it’s exactly why they watch.

Bruce Prichard, who hasn’t worked for WWE since 2008, often quotes a three word phrase used by Vince McMahon for probably two decades now to describe the WWE product:

“We make movies.”

That’s right, we make movies. Another famous Vince quote is “we put smiles on people’s faces.”

I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Absolutely love it. If Disney puts out a backstage picture of Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Josh Brolin (Thanos) in costume and sharing a moment, does it ruin the experience?

Of course not–that would be moronic. It doesn’t ruin anything because people know exactly what they’re watching.

But here we have the WWE Women’s Division’s hero (Ronda Rousey) and anti-hero (Becky Lynch) sharing a behind-the-scenes picture, and suddenly the hype for their Survivor Series match has been killed for some guy at WrestleZone.

Internet wrestling fans watching WWE literally have no clue what they’re watching.

Yet they bitch about it, and in doing so they further prove their willful ignorance of what the product is. And then, instead of turning their attention to a product that actually presents what they want, they bitch more about how WWE isn’t what they want.

“We make movies” will never become “we make pro wrestling” again. But companies begging for your attention, like MLW, IMPACT Wrestling, and Ring Of Honor, are busy making pro wrestling and you won’t even give them a fraction of the emotional energy that you give WWE.

Me? I like the picture.

But I also know what I’m watching.

Disagree? Don’t @ me!

Actually, you can @ me! Continue the discussion on social media @ChairshotGreg and @theCHAIRSHOTcom using the hashtag #UseYourHead!