Hot Takes: Becky Lynch is Truly “The Man”

I really only started to get into wrestling around the time the four horsewomen of WWE were starting to make waves down in NXT and on the main roster. Obviously, we all gravitate to the wrestlers we like the most and for me, I instantly became a fan of Becky Lynch.

When I first saw her wrestle, was she the best? No. But between her solid in-ring ability and good work on the mic, she was certainly someone I enjoyed watching on WWE programming every week.

Fast forward to the brand split in 2016, I remember watching Lynch win the inaugural Smackdown Women’s championship. At the time I thought this would help Becky vault up to the top of the card, obviously with hindsight now that was not entirely the case and Becky herself has stated she was not fully ready for that role and lacked the confidence a champion needed.

With the spotlight off Becky (she was on Smackdown) and the attention on Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks on Raw, Lynch appeared to get lost in a crowded women’s locker room.

Again fast-forward to 2018 and Money in the Bank, Lynch was an underdog in the ladder match, but every time she would touch a ladder, the crowd would buzz. Though Becky did not win the MITB match that night, I could tell the fans were just dying for her to get that “push” from the powers that be.

What truly sticks out to me about when Becky turned on Charlotte at Summerslam, is how WWE was trying to portray her as the heel, but the crowd erupted with a cheer when Lynch attacked.

From that moment on, Lynch’s stock absolutely took off. What sent her career in WWE to the next level was that invasion angle on Raw, where the final scene was her standing in the crowd with a bloodied face and admiring the beat down she gave to Ronda Rousey.

This is the moment I believe truly made Lynch a megastar. Though I am relatively new to the wrestling scene, I have heard plenty of people talk about certain “moments” that still stand out to this day. That night on Raw where Becky was bloodied is one of those moments for me.

From here, both Becky, as well as the fans, made their voices heard and basically hijacked the main event of Wrestlemania. What was supposed to be a match between Rousey and the Queen, turned into something much bigger.

I’ll never forget the “pop” Lynch received when she emerged from the dugout at the Royal Rumble last year. I was skeptical that Lynch would win the Rumble due to Charlotte also being in the match, but when she did, I was happy as were the thousands of fans at the Rumble.

Though Becky would not wrestle again until the main event of Wrestlemania 35, she kept the feud going through excellent promos and Twitter exchanges with Rousey. I doubt Lynch is the first wrestler to utilize Twitter to keep a feud going, but she took it to the next level.

Fans were clamoring for an underdog story and a wrestler they could get behind, and they got that and more with Lynch. Her popularity vaulted her to the top of merchandise sales for the company, and by throughout 2019 she was sharing the ring with some notable stars such as John Cena and The Rock.

No wrestler or storyline is for everyone, I get that. I will admit if we are strictly talking in-ring ability, Becky cannot do what Charlotte does or Sasha does. But what I am looking at is the whole picture. Lynch can put on great matches, she’s a natural on the mic, she gets fans to buy in, she’s marketable.

Fans like myself will gravitate to someone who is an underdog that had to work for everything, rather than someone who had an easier road to travel. Admittedly there seemed to be some Becky Lynch fatigue by fans who thought WWE was pushing her too much.

But that is what you do when you have a polarizing star such as Lynch, utilize her as much as you can because she is a known name. Whether you like her or not, oftentimes you were tuning in to see what she was doing, and that is what WWE wants.

While WWE’s women’s division will be able to survive the next year without ‘The Man’ things definitely will not be the same having Lynch carry a brand like she has the past year-plus.

Whether you like her or loathe her, there’s no denying she has changed the game in the world of professional wrestling.