Heading into WWE Survivor Series, fans are buzzing about Becky Lynch‘s match with Charlotte Flair for several reasons. This bout will reignite their on-screen feud and pit two of the renowned Four Horsewomen against each other. But it will also present a clash between two women who have clashed outside of the ring in recent weeks.
On the October 22 episode of WWE SmackDown, controversial title swap segment led to a real-life confrontation between the two stars, who were once close friends. In the aftermath of this showdown, reports and interviews with both parties made it clear that their friendship is nonexistent at this point.
During an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Lynch extensively discussed her relationship with Flair and bluntly stated that they don’t like each other. She then reflected on the downfall of their friendship and outlined how, in her eyes, Flair “couldn’t take” her rise to major stardom in 2019 because “The Queen” wanted to be alone at the top. “Big Time Becks” went on to describe how she believes that this jealousy has had a negative impact on Flair’s work by saying that she’s “lost it a bit.”
“We don’t like each other,” said Lynch. “We don’t like each other. We used to, and so I’m sure she would give you a different side. And I’ll give you my side, is that my star was rising. We were the best of friends, and it all worked when she was on top and I was below. And we could all see the way things were going in 2019, like people were really behind me, really rallying behind me. And this turn would turn me into a different league.
“And I don’t think, she couldn’t take that and has never been able to take it since. And I think it’s affected her work, even now. I think it’s affected her. I think she’s potentially one of the greatest, but I think I’m so in her head that she’s lost it a bit. I think she’s lost a step. Because she’s got that jealousy and she’s got, just that little devil on her shoulder, and that devil is me always being one step ahead of her and she doesn’t like it.”
The reigning WWE RAW Women’s Champion dove deeper and offered her insight into the foundational clash between the two of them. She argued that Flair feels like main-eventing WrestleMania and being the top star is her “birthright,” whereas Lynch worked her way up to the top and did everything she could to prove herself.
“I think she thought her birthright was, she’s the star,” said Lynch. “She’s the star. Doesn’t matter that I started wrestling when I was 15 and left home and traveled the world to chase this dream. It doesn’t matter that I was never one of the chosen ones. She was born into this, and she deserves it. WrestleMania main events should be hers by birthright, and I think that’s her thinking. I think we know where she gets that thinking from, and so she hasn’t been able to take it.”
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Lynch looked back on the controversial title exchange that prompted a backstage confrontation between the duo and described how she knew that Flair would do something that would go against the plan for the segment, which would have been beneficial for everyone involved. She made it clear that she got through the segment as best she could before she “lost it” backstage.
“There was a plan in place that was supposed to go one way, and it went one way, then everyone would have had a moment, and it would have been great,” said Lynch. “And I, in the back, said this isn’t gonna happen. She’s gonna do something else. And she did exactly what I’d said that she was gonna do. Because sometimes things can happen out there and you know, people can get carried away in a moment and you don’t have time to process what happens.
“But when I knew that there was gonna be purposefully, she was gonna purposefully disrespect me, I processed it a lot quicker. And so I was able to hold it together until I got backstage. I did what I supposed to do and then when I got backstage, I lost it a little bit.”
When asked whether she got in trouble over the backstage incident with Flair, Lynch noted that people were “talked to,” but she knew she was in the right. To elaborate on what specifically bothered her about the situation with the title swap, “Big Time Becks” explained that she knew that Flair wouldn’t follow the plan for the segment. In fact, she recalled how she told others ahead of time that “The Queen” wouldn’t stick to the script, and when her prediction came true, Lynch “lost it.” She noted that the confrontation didn’t get physical because she still had to go back to the ring for a dark match, even after this heated backstage exchange.
“I lost it,” said Lynch. “I just lost. I lost it and I said some things. I had to go out and do the dark match right after so I verbally lost it. I still had a match to go and do so I didn’t have time to be scrapping in the back.
Lynch then described how the segment wasn’t even about her; it was meant to set up Sasha Banks’ feud with Flair, so the thought that “The Queen” derailed the segment due to her beef with Lynch frustrated her.
“It was supposed to go a certain way, and when I saw it happening, I was like ah, I knew it, and I told people beforehand that this was what was gonna happen,” said Lynch. “She was gonna make it really hard to do this angle, and then it happened, and so I just lost it. Because I was able to process it, because I knew that that this was gonna happen, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to do my thing, and there was just no need for it. There was no need for it because at the end of the day, it wasn’t about me. It wasn’t about me. It was about Sasha and her getting into something. So I was like what, this is just stupid. This is just ridiculous, like we need to go out there and be able to trust each other. Because that’s what this is. We need to be able to trust that one person is gonna do what they said they’re gonna do.”
Lynch then emphasized the importance of trust in professional wrestling; even though the title segment wasn’t a match, where the performers put their bodies in their opponents’ hands, the importance of that trust was just as important because, without it, it’s hard, if not impossible, to execute the story the show is trying to tell. “Big Time Becks” then made it clear that, whereas others might feel like they can’t speak up when someone goes against the script, she’s not afraid to stand up for herself.
“It’s professional wrestling, and it’s a beautiful art,” said Lynch. “It’s a beautiful art that I love, and I love it more than anything. And I love it for what it is. It’s telling stories through violence, essentially, and when somebody goes out and you can’t trust them to what we’ve agreed on doing, then what are we doing? Because our bodies are in people’s hands. What we do is extremely dangerous. It’s extremely dangerous. And we’re trusting somebody with our lives.
“Okay, obviously this segment wasn’t trusting somebody with our lives, but it’s the meaning behind it. And it’s happened with other things, and I just need to be able to trust somebody. And when it happens to other people, maybe they can’t say something, but I can say something because I’m not scared.”
The full interview is available here:
