From Friends to Enemies to Teammates: Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair’s Complicated On and Off-Air Relationship

WWE fans are no strangers when it comes to turning friends into enemies. From Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage to Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. This is a tale as old as the WWE itself, where even brothers can turn on each other. Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair are two stars who can also be categorized as frenemies.

Together, they were part of NXT’s Four Horsewomen, Team PCB on the main roster, and were best friends and then bitter rivals. Take a look at how a deep friendship took a turn for the worst, spilling into real life as well.

Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flairs’ initial years as friends

Lynch and Flair, along with Sasha Banks and Bayley, were part of NXT’s Four Horsewomen. A legion of the four most outstanding performers in the division. They each put on some of the best matches that elevated women’s wrestling in NXT and then WWE. While all the women of the group captured the NXT Women’s Championship, Lynch was the only one to do so in 2023.

Seeing the impact these women had in the NXT division, Stephanie McMahon called them up to the main roster. Titled the Women’s Revolution after the abysmal Diva’s Revolution, Lynch, Flair, and Banks debuted on the main roster in 2015. Teaming up with Paige, Lynch and Flair formed Team PCB.

Team PCB hit the ground running with Flair winning the Women’s Championship at Night of Champions in 2015. Lynch supported her friend and teammate during her match against Nikki Bella. However, Team PCB would not last long as Paige grew tired of being a babyface and bad-mouthed Flair to cause a split. This happened on the RAW episode after Night of Champions.

The start of Lynch and Flair’s on-screen rivalry

After Team PCB broke up, Lynch faced Paige in a fatal-four-way match for the #1 contender’s spot for Flair’s title. On the November 30, 2015, episode of RAW, the two once-best friends faced off for the title. However, this was during Flair’s heel turn. Playing to Lynch’s sympathetic side and using her father as a distraction, Flair retained the title. This would be the feud that solidified Flair’s heel turn.

Lynch would still contest for the Women’s Championship on SmackDown as well as the 2016 Royal Rumble PLE. Unfortunately, thanks to her father, The Nature Boy, Flair would retain her title both times. During WrestleMania 32, the two faced off in a triple threat match with Sasha Banks with the title once again on the line. Similar to the previous attempts, Lynch would fall short, and Flair would walk away still the champion.

After being split on two different brands, Flair being on RAW while Lynch was on SmackDown, things cooled down between the two. Lynch went on to win the SmackDown’s Women’s championship and even teamed up with Flair to face the Riott Squad. However, good times didn’t last long as Lynch would do to Flair what was done to her three years ago. At SummerSlam 2018, the duo faced Carmella for the SmackDown’s Women’s title. Flair would cheat to win, resulting in Lynch’s heel turn for the first time in the company.

The birth of The Man and real-life rivalry

Despite the unwritten rule in the WWE that heels need to be hated by the fans, Lynch was loved. Her heel turn was supported when compared to the privileged Flair. Fans saw her as the underdog who Flair and her father overshadowed. This gave rise to ‘The Man’ persona of Lynch, resulting in a massive push from the WWE. Lynch would have a spree of matches with Flair for the title on SmackDown, Hell in a Cell, Super ShowDown, and Evolution in 2018.

This all was leading to WrestleMania 35 in 2019 and the main event. This would be the first time a women’s match was main eventing WrestleMania, also featuring Ronda Rousey. Lynch would use this opportunity to win both title belts, resulting in the moniker of “Becky Two Belts.” However, while this all played out on screen, Flair and Lynch were having issues off-screen. According to accounts by Lynch’s ex-boyfriend at the time, Flair and Lynch practically hated each other.

READ MORE: Becky Lynch Launches the New Look of Her Latest Career as She Completes a Decade in WWE

On a 2022 episode of Wrestling With Freddie podcast hosted by actor/former WWE Writer Freddie Prinze Jr, Jeff Dye, who was Lynch’s ex-boyfriend was a guest. Dye, who was with Lynch during her feud with Flair, would spill some rather deep secrets regarding the two women. Dye said, “Charlotte had a difficult time that Becky was starting to become the face of the female wrestling thing.” He would explain how the two would get mad at each other while feuding for the top spot in the women’s division. Dye also said that the kayfabe feud led to the real-life falling out of the two best friends. Finally, Dye added, “You want the promotion, or you want the raise, or you want some position, and so that’s just part of it for them.”

During this time their real-life rivalry spilled on-screen during an episode of SmackDown on October 2021. Lynch arrived on the show as SmackDown Women’s champion and Flair as RAW women’s champion. But after the draft both stars switched brands, thus WWE decided to do a “Title Exchange”. However, according to Lynch, Flair went off script and threw her title when she was supposed to hand it over to The man. In retaliation, Lynch also threw her title at Flair.

In the aftermath, Lynch even said they don’t talk to each other. Since then the two stars have stayed away and rarely crossed paths but will now feature as part of the WarGames team at Survivor Series.

Reuniting for the upcoming Survivor Series 2023

Ahead of the upcoming Survivor Series WarGames, the team of Flair, Bianca Belair, and Shotzi were in search of a fourth member of their team. The group was facing Damage CTRL, who outnumbered the group. There were a few backstage segments of the group trying to find a fourth member. However, Flair would reach out to her old rival, Becky Lynch for help.

There was a hilarious post by Lynch answering the call and confirming her place on Flair’s team. This would lead to fan speculation that the two have buried the hatchet and moved on.

What do you think about the friendship and rivalry of Lynch and Flair? Are you excited about the Survivor Series: WarGames? Tell us down below.

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