The talk of the weekend was the
Charlotte Flair-Becky Lynch confrontation that went down after their segment on FOX's Friday Night Smackdown this past Friday.
As PWInsider.com first reported early Saturday morning, the heated back and forth between the two took place after Flair, in an unscripted moment, pulled the Raw Women's Championship away from Lynch and dropped it, with the belief being that it was done to make Lynch look stupid and "one up her." Sonya Deville demanded Flair pick the belt up, which Flair did before handing it to Deville.
The Lynch confrontation took place in the gorilla position in full view of Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard, among others and received the lion's share of attention initially, but Lynch was not the only person upset with Flair. Two different sources described Sonya Deville as "mad enough to want to fight Flair" and at one point, also having an argument with Flair backstage at Smackdown.
The Lynch argument was said to have been loud and angry with Lynch described as standing up for herself after being "disrespected."
Thus far, the blame for the situation has fallen on Charlotte Flair, with several claiming that the situation started after Flair made it clear she felt the segment made her and her championship reign look weak. There have been several alleged instances where Flair's behavior has led to issues in recent months, including a legitimate back and forth with Nia Jax in the ring on Raw.
The criticism on Flair has been that she's been self-indulgent towards protecting herself and making sure that all attention is on her, but one source not close to Flair said, "Let's be honest, that's what stars do. They make sure their star power remains the same or greater." Another source noted that the resentment towards Flair has been building in recent weeks and it was "just a matter of time" before something happened.
Flair was escorted out of the building by WWE officials, which some close to her pointed to as a "sign of disrespect" in itself, given her family's history with the company and her importance to the Smackdown brand going forward. One talent who was in the building, but did not see the argument, felt the company did the right thing as it was just WWE's way to defusing the situation in the moment.
As PWInsider.com reported over the weekend, there does not seem to be any heat on Lynch at this time as the confrontation never got physical.
For those who have asked, Flair was not backstage at AEW in Orlando, Florida over the weekend, although she has visited backstage in the past as Andrade el Idolo works for the company. We are told that there were those in her circle that were privately pushing the idea of her trying to get out of her WWE deal, but realistically, no one expects that to actually happen as of this writing.
Since Flair and Lynch are now on separate brands and a UK tour keeping the brands separated for a good part of next month, they would likely not be crossing paths until WWE storylines call for that for Survivor Series storylines. There are a number of people within WWE keeping their eyes on Flair to see what will happen with her and how she will handle herself when she heads to Friday's Smackdown taping in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
FOX replayed Friday's Smackdown episode on Saturday 10/24 due to the Major League Baseball American League Championship series ending and needing to fill the time slot. Flair dropping the belt was edited off the Championship Exchange segment, so expect it to likewise disappear when the episode is archived on the WWE Network in a few weeks.
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