Why Isn't Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus Happening at SummerSlam 2023?

Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus will instead take place on an episode of Monday Night Raw in two weeks.

By Connor Casey

Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus have been feuding ever since Stratus cost "The Man" her WWE Women's Tag Team Championship reign back in April. Since then, all signs have pointed to the feud culminating in a match at SummerSlam as Stratus won their initial match at Night of Champions and used Zoey Stark as a roadblock for Lynch to work her way up to earn a rematch. Said rematch technically took place on this week's Monday Night Raw but the bout was thrown out in mere seconds after Stark interfered. Adam Pearce then declared the two would wrestle again with Stark banned from ringside but stopped short of booking the match for this Saturday at the pay-per-view in Detroit. Instead, the two will clash on the Aug. 14 episode of Raw in Winnipeg. 

Sean Ross Sapp reported late Monday night on Fightful Select that the match was initially booked for SummerSlam, but plans changed over the weekend. Pushing the match to the Payback pay-per-view on Sept. 2 was also considered before landing on the Aug. 14 date.

Since Paul "Triple H" Levesque stepped in as WWE's booker in July 2022, WWE's pay-per-view lineups have tended to avoid having pay-per-view cards reach double-digit matches. SummerSlam 2023 already has eight matches confirmed, so it's possible WWE felt adding any more would have been too much. Current champions like Rhea Ripley, Austin Theory, Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville also aren't booked for the show. 

WWE SummerSlam 2023 Card

  • Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso (Tribal Combat Rules)
  • World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
  • SmackDown Women's Championship: Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair 
  • Intercontinental Championship: Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar 
  • Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
  • Ricochet vs. Logan Paul
  • SummerSlam Battle Royal

Related:

Seth Rollins Willing to Work Onscreen With Becky Lynch Again

Seth Rollins revealed in a new interview with CBS Sports' Shakiel Mahjouri this week that he's open to working alongside his wife, Becky Lynch, on WWE TV again. WWE attempted to push the pair as an onscreen power couple in 2019 but it was poorly received by the fans and harshly criticized by Rollins & Lynch after the fact.

"For her, her character was in a different place," Rollins said. "She was in a different stratosphere and it was hard for her to manage what her character was on screen as The Man, as this female, badass, Stone Cold Steve Austin type character and then on the flip side of that having a husband and a love interest and all that. That kind of was hard for her to put together on screen. For me, I'm always like, let's go with the flow. I'm not quite as protective as she is in that regard, probably to my own detriment in some cases, but yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where when you take your relationship and you turn it into a story, it becomes difficult because it's hard for our audience occasionally to separate fiction from reality and at the same time, our business is built on blending fiction and reality. So that kind of diametric force that is sort of pulling and pushing all the time can create a bit of a struggle.

"We weren't ready for it. It didn't flush out. Our characters weren't in the right place," he added. "Our heads weren't in the right place. You know, if we did it now or in the future, it might be different, but I'm also fortunate that it's not a thing that we need to go to. We're both just very strong individual characters and can carry stories individually on our own which is lovely. So if we go there again, I'd love to give it a second shot. I think there's a lot to it, but if we don't, we tried it, it didn't work, and we're still very happily married."

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