Becky Lynch was this week’s guest on E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness, and the SmackDown Women’s Champion opened up on a myriad of professional wrestling related topics. Highlights appear below.
On Why She Wants To Face Ronda Rousey At WrestleMania:
Absolutely, I would want Ronda Rousey as my opponent for the simple reason that Ronda, in her sport, was a pioneer and I do not think that women would be in the UFC, if it wasn’t for Ronda and Dana White said that himself. When Ronda came in we saw a star of a magnitude that might not be matched again in MMA, but that’s a different sport and this is my sport. Here she came in with a name from somewhere else having been born tough and born this athletic creation that winning came so easily to her (and it has come so easily to her) and she picked up this game quicker than anybody that I’ve ever seen, maybe with the exception of Kurt Angle. With that, there’s a lot that I not only want to prove to myself, but the entire world and it’s one thing to be born tough like Ronda, but it’s a whole different thing to be made tough the way I have and that’s the difference between the two of us and I’m gonna prove which one is more long-lasting and I’m gonna do it at WrestleMania in the main event.
On What Happens After She Gets The WrestleMania Main Event:
And then what? Then it’s about maintaining that because it’s one thing to climb the mountain and be on there for a hiccup. It’s another thing about maintaining it and I know a lot about that because I’ve been knocked down a peg or two time and time again, but the thing is I keep getting back up again and every time I get back up again, I climb a little bit higher, so that’s what it’s all about.
On Her Change Of Attitude:
Even the first time I won the SmackDown Women’s Championship, I remember wanting everybody to be the champion. I was like, ‘This is great, but I want to build the division and I want everybody to do well and then we’re all gonna do great.’ I was almost apologetic for my success and then after being down and buried for an entire year, I watch everybody else taking their opportunities and not apologizing at all for it, regardless of where their talent level or their work ethic was at and just taking it, as if it was nothing and I was just watching and said, ‘Alright, as soon as I get my chance. I’m running with it.’ I’d constantly be cutting these promos in my head and saying these things in my head that never got to come out and I think then that when Charlotte was gone for as long as she was and we had seen that the fans were behind me and she was gone and I was running SmackDown again, like I should have been. I was on the most winningest streak on both rosters for both female and male. I’d won the most matches on RAW and SmackDown (both rosters) in 2018 and then, of course, Charlotte comes back and gets handed an opportunity. Everybody was really excited for me to get my singles moment at SummerSlam. Everybody was very excited for me to go on and face Carmella, win the title, because they all knew I was going to, but then, of course, Charlotte weaseled her way into the match because she’s Charlotte and that’s what she does: she gets handed things and she stole the match from me. I had my back turned and she stole it from me and had absolutely no remorse and I think that was the point where I said, ‘Enough of this being nice. Enough of wanting everybody else to succeed,’ because everybody else was succeeding at my peril.
On Whether She Feels Vindicated:
For the fans, I want to prove them right. For everybody else, for everybody that’s talked about me behind my back (the ones that I know about and the ones that I don’t know about, but I have a clue about) it’s all of those people that have questioned me and thought that I was destined to be good and a good hand and not great, but I’ve always known that I had something else to give and I had my sights set on something bigger and that’s happening. Thankfully, the fans believed in me and that’s who I thank all the time for putting me in this spot because they never stopped believing in me. Still, I look up at the SmackDown Live posters and of course the only woman on them is Charlotte and I’m like, ‘My God, no matter how much things change, they still remain the same.’ I’m the champ and I’m still not on those posters, so there is that where I’m still not completely the face of the company no matter how much I do, no matter how much interest I’m drumming up right now. I’m still not the chosen one and that’s fine because that gives me a lot more fuel to the fire. Right now, everybody’s warming themselves to the fire I started, so they’re all sitting around in their blankets at this campfire bitching about how I buried them on Twitter or how I said this or I said that. Look, I’m just coming at you from a place of truth. That’s all I’m doing; I’m telling the truth. They can complain about how I’ve been unable to be in the ring, etc, etc. I got sucker punched and I haven’t been able to do what I love to do, which is go out there and fight every night, so what do I do? I fight with my mouth, so I’m running my mouth a little bit more on social media right now and I love it because it’s getting everybody hot.
(Transcription credit to Michael McClead for Wrestlezone.com)
