Friday 19 October 2018 13:34, UK
Becky Lynch has never been lacking a positive outlook when it comes to her career and status in WWE.
As recently as five months ago, on the company's most recent visit to the United Kingdom for one of their two annual tours, she remained upbeat about her position, although the mask did temporarily slip.
Lynch had told Sky Sports prior to WrestleMania she felt the time had come for her to 'kick down some doors' in pursuit of answers to the seemingly perennial question - why was this sure-fire star not being booked at the top end of the SmackDown card and treated like the very hot commodity she certainly was?
So in May when this same outlet requested on update on how said door kicking-down had gone, Lynch did not bite her tongue.
"Oh yeah, I kicked down some doors," she said, eyes sparkling. "I kicked down some doors and then I lost to Mandy Rose in three minutes."
Point taken.
There is no suggestion Lynch was ever going to leave WWE. The company is the market leader by an enormous distance and provides its competitors with an exposure and rewards which are second to none. For women, this is even more so the case than for men.
But things have dramatically changed for Lynch as she prepares to return to the United Kingdom next month, with the small matter of a major title defence at WWE's first all-women pay-per-view event between now and then.
Her story is living disproof of the theory that people are 'done' or 'finished' by periods of bad booking and tells us anyone can be rehabilitated to be a top-level star - if they have the qualities for such a status in the first place.
There can be no doubt now that Lynch absolutely does. She is a consistent and safe in-ring hand, presents herself well on the promotional circuit and enjoys one of the best connections with the WWE fans today.
She is everything the company wants its champions to be and there is no reason she should be anything other than the champion going forward.
This week, WWE even tried to turn the fans against her, an attempt to channel their heat into hate and make her a fully-fledged heel.
There have already been signs of such a strategy, ranging from the obvious - deliberately losing to Charlotte Flair to keep her title - to the subtle - the very slight exaggeration of her Dublin accent and third-person usage of 'the champ' in what are certainly Conor McGregor tributes. For information: McGregor is in no way seen as a heel in UFC, however questionable some of his words and actions are.
This week, though, it went to a new level. Edge was in town for the 1000th episode of SmackDown, and his mission was to talk some sense into Lynch, to convince her to turn away from the dark side and the heartless focus on the championship and to make peace with her former friend Flair.
His advice was based around avoiding the mistakes he had made during a glorious career which only ended due to a neck injury.
"Stop being so condescending to the champ and get out of my ring," was Lynch's sneering response.
Then, to really double down on it: "Careful you don't hurt your neck again getting through those ropes."
Still, the crowd cheered. If mocking a much-loved Hall of Famer's career-ending injury did not cause the fans to turn against Lynch then arguably nothing will.
Nothing will because she is a star who is finally in the place she deserves to be - at the very top of WWE and the true queen of its women's division.
