As we wrestling fans have discussed at great length over the last several days, WWE has an uphill battle ahead in their attempt to make Becky Lynch a reviled villain in her feud with Charlotte Flair.

On SmackDown last night (Aug. 21), part of the plan included blaming fans for not creating a “Give Becky A Chance” hashtag or boycotting SummerSlam when General Manager Paige added Flair to the Lynch/Carmella Women’s Title match.

Her interview with Gorilla Position’s James Delow is from prior to that Tuesday night promo. It is also likely just Becky improvising based on discussions with creative about her direction, rather than working from a full script as she was in Brooklyn last night. Even, or maybe because I’m considering those things - I like her explanation to Delow a lot better:

“I don’t understand what people are saying to me when they say, ‘well done,’ because I went in there with the intention of winning the title and I currently do not have a title. And I have been burning a hole through the Women’s Division on SmackDown Live for the past few months and then Charlotte shows up and she gets handed a title opportunity and opportunistic as ever when I had that match won, she snuck in and she stole my victory from me one more time. And again she gets handed the gold and I’m left on the sidelines. So okay the crowd the cheered, but what does that mean when I haven’t accomplished anything? And I’m left there with one title while she’s had seven - maybe eight if you count NXT - I’m supposed to be satisfied with that? I’m supposed to be happy with that? That’s not enough for me.”

Asked if she was fueled by the crowd chanting her name:

“I appreciate that they wanted to see me win, but I didn’t get the gold and I think I’ve been preoccupied too much by keeping people on my side. And that hasn’t done me any favors. I have to re-evaluate everything and re-evaluate what I was putting my priorities on. And if that was getting the crowd on my side, if that was getting a friend on my side? Then I’ve been doing it wrong, because there’s one reason why I came to WWE and that was to be great and I’m not achieving that. So I have to look at everything, and look at the fact that I’m not on the front of the posters all the time. I’m not on the front of the DVDs. And why is that? It’s certainly not because of me. Because I have been working my ass off the entire time I’ve been here. I haven’t dropped the ball once. But any time that Charlotte Flair shows up, then it’s all about her. It’s all about her. When I was the first woman drafted to SmackDown Live, this show was entirely about me. This show was entirely about me. That title was built because of me. Because the people wanted me to have a championship. Because I deserved it. And because Charlotte Flair had stolen it from me, time and time again, when it was the Divas Title, or when it was the Women’s Title and before there was a brand split. And then of course she gets drafted to SmackDown Live and again, it becomes all about her.”

Delow asks if frustration about her recent booking brought about this change in attitude, and Lynch goes after her treatment - and uses her fan support - as justification for snapping at SummerSlam:

“In 2017, I had one title match and that was at WrestleMania and it was a six-way? I haven’t been given a fair shot at all. I am the best on this roster, both Raw and SmackDown and I’ve proven that time and time again yet I don’t get the opportunity. Why is that? Is it because I’m not blonde enough? Is that it? Is it because I don’t have enough enhancements? Is that it? I’m treated like the red-headed stepchild of the entire Women’s Division. Yet I have proved time and time again that I am the moneymaker. That I am the person that people will tune in to see. That they will care about. That they want to see me win. Yet it’s being stolen from me every single time.”

Lynch won’t let the conversation slip out of kayfabe (at least ‘Reality’ Era kayfabe) when asked about what it will be like to work with her best friend:

“She’s there crying about how it’s lonely at the top, well it’s not gonna be lonely for very much longer because I’m climbing to the top and I’m gonna break her jaw.”

If nothing else, this experiment has reminded us that - in any format - Becky Lynch is one of the best talkers in the business.

But what are we to make of the differences between this and her speech on Tuesday night? Or the fact WWE has removed the fan-blaming portions of her promo from the YouTube version of that segment?

Again, we have to be careful about not reading too much into the differences between an unscripted and a scripted interview, but a lot of the feud has been built in backstage moments and fallout videos which are rumored to be more performer-driven, so it’s worth considering.

Becky’s comments to Gorilla Positon about “looking at everything” could have led her to the paranoid doubting of fan support we heard at Barclays. Or WWE could be considering taking this anti-hero approach where she disregards the audience but doesn’t actively disavow their cheers. Since Lynch’s improv does that, it’s not hard to imagine her input to the storyline in the writer’s room follows a similar line of thought. Creative could decide to listen to her after hearing the response from Brooklyn last night.

We’ll see. One thing is for sure, though. Pointing out WWE brass’ love of blonde champs won’t get her booed. So as long as that’s a goal, don’t expect to hear those quotes in any TV promos.