There was a backstage confrontation between RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair following last night’s SmackDown, according to PWInsder.
As per the report, when Flair and Lynch returned backstage after their Championship Exchange segment, there “were loud words between the two” over Flair allegedly disrespecting Lynch by “trying to make her look bad” during the segment.
It was noted that the “the situation was heated but did not get physical.”
The issue arose after both women reportedly went off script during their in-ring segment with Sonya Deville. There was a moment where Flair was to hand over the belt to Lynch but instead pulled it away and threw the belt on the mat. According to PWInsider, this exchange was supposed to go differently.
Furthermore, Lynch flinging her title belt at Flair “was also not part of the plan.”
The report added that the segment was “back on track” only after Sasha Banks stepped out to confront Flair, setting up their future feud on the blue brand.
Prior to the show, Flair had reportedly voiced concerns about the idea of a segment featuring her and Lynch trading championship belts. Flair made it clear that she “didn’t want to look weak” nor did she want her title reign to look weak. Despite those concerns, her segment with Lynch went on as planned.
Meanwhile, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful also reports that Lynch and Flair throwing the belts to the mat was not planned in advance. He also confirmed that the two women exchanged words backstage.
In another report by Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT, Charlotte was supposed to play “cat and mouse” with the title with Lynch getting a hand on it before Charlotte would pull it back. The timing mistake between the two caused the title to drop.
The report noted behind-the-scenes Lynch and Charlotte have a “strained” friendship. Charlotte wasn’t a fan of being called “plastic” in a promo a couple years ago and things have been tense ever since.
Back at the gorilla position — where Vince McMahon was — Charlotte walked through the room and didn’t talk to Vince about what happened. Vince was described as being not happy with that move. Charlotte was also apparently heading to Orlando for tonight’s AEW Dynamite to support Andrade.
In other Charlotte backstage news, she pitched that Bianca Belair win their match on Monday’s RAW that ended up in a DQ after Charlotte used a chair on Belair. Charlotte is said to be a huge fan of Belair and thought the finish “killed what could have been a big win” for Belair.
Lynch and Charlotte could cross paths again at Survivor Series as the champions of each brands have typically met for a match.
WWE doesn’t have the title exchange on its YouTube, but you can check it out below.
