Becky Lynch Q&A: I want to take the WWE ... to the moon
After defeating Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair in a history-making main event at WrestleMania 35, Becky Lynch sits firmly atop WWE. Carrying the top two women’s championships means Lynch is in a position that no one else has been in since WWE’s most recent brand split in 2016.
Despite being in relatively uncharted territory, Lynch remains confident in her ability to continue to captivate fans and lead the women — and men — of WWE through the rest of 2019 and beyond.
With “The Queen” and the “Baddest Woman on the Planet” out of the picture (for now), Lynch spoke with Yahoo Sports about her wild rise, historic match and unprecedented title reign, making one thing abundantly clear — “The Man” is here to stay.
Let’s go back to WrestleMania, what was going on in your head during the hours and moments leading up to your main event match? What about right after you won?
Becky Lynch: Leading up to it, I think I had more pep in my step than I ever had in my entire life. Walking around backstage, walking around the building, seeing a lot of people who have main evented ‘Mania before me — Hulk Hogan, Triple H, Batista — and knowing that you’re going to join that club and that 82,000 people were there to see you and hope that you win, that’s the most amazing feeling in the world.
I wasn’t actually that nervous. I was laser-focused on the match and the task at hand. Afterward there were so many emotions and things going through my head. Gratitude, thinking about all of the hard work that it has taken to get to this point. Thinking about the people who have come before me, the people will come after me — the people who will come after me — there was a lot going through my head, too much to process and I still haven’t gotten around to it.
You were appearing on both shows in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, but now as a dual champion, you’ll continue to do that, what’s that for you like logistically?
BL: It’s definitely something I’m excited about. I love working. I love coming to work and I love getting in that ring and being able to get out in front of an audience as much as I can. That’s what it means right now, going to a live event one day earlier, going home one day later, but I’m perfectly fine with that, it’s what I wanted and what I worked for. Of course it’s going to come with a lot of challenges, having two targets on my back, two titles to defend. I don’t know what that means for pay-per-views. Will I have two defenses in one night? I’m up for the challenge.
Right after WrestleMania, Charlotte and Ronda went away on vacation while you’re pulling double duty. What does that say about your dedication and you spearheading this division?
BL: It means I can’t take time off. I’m OK with that. This is everything I’ve ever wanted. For me, I’ve never wanted a vacation, I wanted more opportunities because it doesn’t feel like work for me, it feels like passion, a life-long love that I’m finally getting to live the way I dreamed about.
Down the road, years and years from now I can sit on the beach too, but I’m far from that.
We just had the Superstar Shakeup, which for you won’t be a big change for now, but Smackdown Live lost some of the talent that has been there almost exclusively since the initial brand split, people like Naomi, A.J. Styles and The Usos. What was that like for you to see and what does it mean moving forward?
BL: I feel like we were all part of the OG crew, the OG SmackDown crew. We had a vision for the place, we wanted to see it be the top show and most successful show. We wanted it to have the best storylines, the best wrestling matches. I think we achieved that. Now it’s on us to do the same for Raw. SmackDown still has a very special place in my heart.
With the two belts and your rise over the past two months, you have a new level of celebrity attached to you. What has that transition been like for you?
BL: Everything gets commented on a lot more, scrutinized a lot more, praised a lot more, appreciated a lot more. It’s yin and yang. For the most part I try and drown out as many voices as I can and focus on my tasks and what I want to do. I know I want to get people thinking, get people’s minds going whether they have a good or bad opinion about me, at least they have an opinion. That’s a good thing. As long as people are talking, we’re going in the right direction.
You’ve almost become “Teflon Becky,” in the sense that no one can really go toe-to-toe with you on the microphone. You continually find new ways to after your opponents, what is it about you that makes that so easy to do?
BL: I obsess about it. I think about it constantly. I think about what I don’t like about people and how I want to burn them. The thing is, I just say the truth. I say what everybody’s thinking. I just say it and vocalize. I kept things to myself for way too long and it didn’t do me any services. I just said to hell with that, I’m saying what I think and mean. People respond well to that because we all want to go out and do that but we all don’t always have a live microphone in our hands. That’s what has allowed me to connect with people a lot more.
The fans know that I love this and that I’ve worked really hard for this. I think most people, they love something and work hard for it but don’t always get the opportunities that they want and they get overlooked. When they see somebody break out and say enough is enough they think they can do that too. That’s what connects us.
Let’s shift gears to the top contender for the Raw Women’s Championship, Lacey Evans ….
BL: She has nice hats, doesn’t she? I don’t know anything else about her but she has nice hats.
We’ve only seen a little bit of her on the main roster, how do you feel about her getting an opportunity right away opposed to some of the other women on Raw like Sasha, Bayley or Nattie?
BL: Oh, new Charlotte came in and got opportunities handed to her right away? No, shocking! I think it’s a bit of a slap in the face that she hasn’t gone and proved she deserved it. I haven’t seen enough of her matches. Since she’s been on Raw and Smackdown all she does is walk up and down the ramp, waves in her nice hat, and wipes off her perspiration with her hankey. I don’t know anything else that she does.
Tall, blonde, does a moonsault, tells me to bow, is from the Carolinas. Might be time to ask Momma Evans if Ric was Naitching around there before you were born, you plank. https://t.co/LPsrECdTdr
— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) April 17, 2019
Do I think that she deserves to be in that spot? Absolutely not. There are a lot of people who have worked to get to that spot for years. I know that’s the nature of the business, though. People come and try to take opportunities and you can’t begrudge them of that. I think she has to prove herself a lot more. A lot more.
That punch you took. Was there anything going through your mind considering what happened with Nia Jax a few months back?
BL: I can take a punch. The one from Nia was by a lady by her own doing, who is twice my weight and that knocked me for a loop. This one just grounded me for a second, I was able to regain my composure and beat her up the second night even though it hit me a little bit harder.
There’s one thing I’m confident in and it’s that I can take a beating. I don’t lose heart by being beat or taking one, that fuels me, it always has. I say it all of the time, I’m not the strongest, I’m not the most athletic, I’m not the fastest, but I am the most relentless.
You had this monumental moment at WrestleMania, but the nature of WWE is that the show starts all over again the next night and it’s a year build up to next year’s event. With such a big year for the company, especially considering the Fox television deal, what do you foresee for yourself? Are you the one WWE should build around for the future?
BL: Yes, that is what I want. It’s one thing to get to the top of the mountain, it’s an entirely different thing to stay there. That is my goal, that is my focus and I know there are a lot of people trying to knock me off. I’m trying to gain my composure and stay steadfast in my journey, where I want to go and where I want to take this company — which is to the moon.
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