Becky Lynch Reacts To Ronda Rousey Imitating Her On WWE SmackDown
This past Friday on "WWE SmackDown," Ronda Rousey dumped a bag full of cash in the ring in response to being fined, a move that immediately took WWE fans down memory lane to a similar moment involving Becky Lynch from a few years ago. In the lead-up to her match against Shayna Baszler at WrestleMania 36, Lynch would respond to a vicious backstage attack from the MMA fighter-turned-wrestler by emptying a bag full of cash in the ring, saying that she was paying a preemptive fine for what she had planned to do to Baszler.
While the two gestures of money-hurling aren't exactly the same, Lynch seemingly took Rousey's act last Friday as an ode to what she did on the February 16, 2020 edition of "WWE Raw." In response to a fan on Twitter who drew parallels between the two segments, Lynch wrote on Twitter: "Ronnie [heart emoji]s The Man."
It's widely believed that Rousey vs. Lynch will be one of the marquee matches at next year's WrestleMania 39. Earlier this year, Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer reported that WWE had decided against the match for WrestleMania 38, opting instead to build up anticipation for their long-awaited clash a year later.
In the meantime, while Lynch is currently sidelined with a shoulder injury, Rousey remains embroiled in an interesting three-way dynamic with "SmackDown" Women's Champion Liv Morgan and Rousey's real-life friend, Baszler. This past Friday, despite being suspended in storyline, Rousey showed up on "SmackDown" during the time allotted for the contract signing segment between Morgan and Baszler, and after paying her fine, Rousey would threaten to injure another official at ringside. When confronted by Baszler after the segment, Rousey could be heard telling Baszler "You used to be a killer." Baszler would go on to viciously target Morgan's arm (injured in storyline by Rousey at WWE SummerSlam) during the contract signing before Morgan managed to put her through a table.
Despite the awkward run-in between Baszler and Rousey, they actually teamed up at pair of WWE live events over the weekend in Salisbury, MD, and Atlantic City, NJ. According to PWInsider, Baszler and Rousey embraced for a big hug after defeating Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez both Saturday and Sunday. It would appear that WWE plans to keep Rousey involved in the storyline ahead of the Baszler vs. Morgan match at Clash at the Castle on September 3.
If Rousey vs. Lynch does go down next April, one might expect more kayfabe fines being imposed on the two women. In the lead-up to their three-way match at WrestleMania 35, which also involved Charlotte Flair, both Rousey and Lynch were disciplined at various points on WWE TV. Lynch even offered to pay Rousey's fine when the latter was penalized for attacking a bunch of officials.