Becky Lynch's Entire Pro Wrestling Journey Explained
Becky Lynch has made herself into one of the most recognizable names in the entire professional wrestling industry today. She has been at the forefront of WWE's overall product for some time now, winning every title there is to win, breaking every record there is to break and shattering every glass ceiling there was to be shattered.
What Becky has done in the wrestling business, specifically in the last five years, is nothing short of amazing and a fitting reward for all the blood, sweat, and tears that Rebecca Quinn has left in the squared circle ever since her first match close to 20 years ago.
This is the incredible story of Rebecca Quinn, better known as Becky Lynch, from her time in the indies to main eventing WrestleMania all the way to whatever might come next.
Becky Lynch's Origins
Rebecca Quin was born in Limerick but raised in Dublin, Ireland. She became a wrestling fan at a very young age alongside her older brother Richard, who she credits during her "WWE: 24" documentary as the one responsible for her early interest in professional wrestling.
They would practice wrestling moves on each other inspired by what they saw on TV during WWE's arguably most popular point in history, the "Attitude Era." It was during this period of time that Becky grew particularly fond of future Hall of Famer, Mick Foley.
"What drew me in was actually Mick Foley. I would walk past my brother watching and tell him 'Just tell me when Mick is on' and then I started watching and got hooked," She revealed during her interview on "The Steve Austin Show" back in 2016.
As Becky recalled in her interview on "Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia" in 2017, before she started training to become a wrestler at the very early age of 15, she was "a bit of a wild child." As she recalled, "I remember just being like 'this is ridiculous, I'm failing PE, I need to get my act together. I need to get fit'."
Beginnings in Wrestling
During her "WWE: 24" documentary, Becky credits her brother as a huge reason for her early love of wrestling — not only because they used to watch and imitate WWE's product as children together, but because it was Richard who heard of a wrestling school opening up around an hour drive from where they lived, and who invited Becky to go check it out.
"At the time I was going down a weird path. I was doing terrible in school; I was doing things I should not be doing and I wanted to get my life together and I wanted to get fit and my brother found out that they were opening a wrestling school in Bray," Becky shared with Rachel DeMita during their interview on "Courtside Club" earlier this year.
One of the most well known facts about Becky's upbringing in the world of professional wrestling is that she was trained by current WWE superstar Finn Balor, then known as Fergal Devitt. What you may not know is that Becky was the only female out of 40 students in the inaugural generation of Balor's school, the Fight Factory"
And while Becky's early in ring abilities were probably best summed by her brother as "terrible", "uncoordinated" and "a complete disaster," her former coach Finn Balor had nothing but kind words to say when asked by WWE Deutschland: "Becky was already a star before she ever met me. She just didn't know it. She was already destined for greatness."
But her lack of coordination and physical ability never demoralized her as she continued to wrestle anywhere she could all over Europe, including England, Wales, and Scotland.
First Tours
After only a couple of years of training and even less as an active performer, Becky made the bold decision to move to Vancouver, Canada in order to get the opportunity to wrestle more regularly and in front of North American crowds. On "Gorilla Position Live," she mentioned Canadian wrestler Scotty Mac as the one who suggested the move and praised the area's independent wrestling market.
During her "WWE: 24" documentary, Sami Zayn had the following to say about Becky Lynch's first tours in the wrestling business: "Everybody liked her. And that's funny because I feel like that has followed her for her entire career." And Kevin Owens added: "The crowd really enjoyed her, I know that. There wasn't many people out there but I remember they definitely liked her and that is something that through the years Becky always had for her, the crowd really likes her. She has a connection with the audience that's undeniable."
It was during this period of time where Becky wrestled for Shimmer and toured Japan for the first time. In Japan, she wrestled for the International Women's Grand Prix where she, according to her interview on "Talk is Jericho," won their championship. Technically, Becky Lynch is a former IWGP champion.
It was also here that Becky had the opportunity to tag with legendary female wrestlers such as Aja Kong and Gran Hamada and where she met Natalya Neidhart for the very first time, before either one made it to WWE.
Injury and Life after Wrestling
At just the age of 19, only 4 years after she began training, Becky Lynch suffered a concussion and a bruised eye during a match in Dortmund, Germany when her opponent landed straight on Becky's face after a German Suplex. This would turn out to be Becky's last match for a significant period of time.
Her own mother quotes herself during Becky's "WWE: 24" documentary as saying "It was me who told her: You have got to stop. This has gone too far." Which Becky credits as a big reason alongside her being in "a place of complete confusion" for coming to the decision of moving on from wrestling and trying a "real job".
She was out of the squared circle for almost seven years, and during this time, as she shared on "Talk is Jericho," she tried dissecting all of professional wrestling components and doing them separately. She tried matching wrestling's adrenaline, physicality, traveling, fitness, charisma, and showmanship by taking shots at scuba diving, martial arts, flight attending, personal coaching, acting, and even clown school, among others, but nothing made her feel quite like pro wrestling.
"I felt like I was pushing for passions. I had done all of these little odd jobs in between those seven years and I was pushing to feel as passionate as I was about wrestling, because I knew what it felt like to be really passionate about something," she said on "The Steve Austin Show" back in 2016.
The Comeback
After seven years of feeling like she didn't belong anywhere she went, Becky was doing stunt work for the TV show "Vikings" — a show that would later feature Hall of Famer Edge in Seasons 5 and 6 — which led to her first contact back with the wrestling world by going to a wrestling school in order to "get her confidence up".
And get her confidence up she did as only a couple of days later she looked to pick up just where she left off. "I called Robbie Brookside, who was then helping William Regal with tryouts and setting people up in the UK," she recalls on her "WWE: 24" documentary, and luckily for her, Brookside remembered Becky from her promising early days and was happy to set up a tryout.
Following that magical call with Brookside, Becky trained for around four weeks before her eventual tryout in Birmingham, England. She impressed Jim Ross and William Regal, among others in order to get signed and officially be back in the wrestling business.
"I remember going in without a doubt in my mind. There was no way I wasn't walking out of there without a contract. It didn't matter who was there, it didn't matter if you had the world's most elite athletes and freaking Victoria Secret models, or whatever they were looking for at the time, I was getting it," she said when asked about her tryout during an interview with ESPN in 2019.
Early NXT Days
Becky Lynch had the fortune of being a part of the first generation of the WWE Performance Center and, while she described the actual Center as "the most unbelievable facility" on the "Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast," it took her some time to adjust. "I came in very low confidence because I hadn't wrestled in seven years. I came in very humble, very 'let me be a blank canvas' and start from scratch, but I did that too much, to a fault almost. I got so in my head that I couldn't even do a 'schoolboy,'" she said on "Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia."
During her appearance on "Gorilla Position Live," she revealed that it would be a couple of months later when she got inspired by Tenille Dashwood (then known as Emma) and the dance she was doing in "NXT" TV to jokingly riverdance in front of some coaches. They apparently loved it, which led to the now infamous riverdancing Irish gimmick that was the first taste of Becky Lynch for the WWE Universe.
"When I debuted in 'NXT,' it was one of the most shameful debuts in wrestling history. I came out doing an Irish jig. I was just so glad to be on TV and what it was, was work and being able to connect with the crowd. Because no matter how bad and how awful I was, and I was awful, there is this intangible thing that the audience knows when you love this business and they rally behind that," She shared on "Courtside Club."
The Four Horsewomen
The riverdancing gimmick did not stick for Becky Lynch as it would not be long before she started impressing fans with her in-ring skills and her ability on the microphone. She, alongside Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, and Bayley quickly got a reputation in "NXT" as the bright future of women's wrestling in WWE. "We weren't trying to start a revolution. We were just trying to be us and have good matches," she told Chris Jericho when she was a guest on "Talk is Jericho", all the way back in 2015.
Almost a year to the day from her "NXT" debut, Becky Lynch faced Sasha Banks for the "NXT" Women's Championship at "NXT" Takeover: Unstoppable. It is considered by many, including Becky herself, to be Becky's best match during her "NXT" run. This is also the match where she debuted the now trademark orange hair. "I think that (match) was kind of my coming out party. Sasha is just incredible. I just feel like the story that was told in that match, everyone was invested in it and I just gave my whole heart and soul into it," she said on "Talk is Jericho".
The Women's Revolution
On the July 13th, 2015 edition of "Monday Night Raw," almost two years to the day of starting training in "NXT," Becky Lynch would make her WWE main roster debut.
Following months of fans voicing their displeasure at the state of the women's division in "Raw" and "SmackDown," Stephanie McMahon introduced the Women's Revolution, and presented Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, and Becky Lynch as the protagonists of said revolution — and, seemingly, the saviors of a dying division. "I had no idea it was coming. It was kind of shocking because they had been there a year longer than me. I guess I didn't really expect it so it was a really nice surprise," she said on the "Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast," before calling her shot and absolutely nailing it: "I feel like what we are about to do is groundbreaking. It's history making."
Becky got partnered with Charlotte Flair and "NXT" alumni Paige to form team P.C.B in order to take on Team Bellas and Team B.A.D. This wouldn't last long, though, as Charlotte Flair quickly positioned herself as the crown jewel of the "NXT" call ups by breaking Nikki Bella's historic 301-day Divas Championship reign. She later turned heel on her real-life best friend, Becky Lynch.
It was this meteoric rise for Charlotte Flair — and, to some extent, Sasha Banks — that made Becky feel like the odd woman out, even after being a part of the triple threat women's championship match at that year's WrestleMania. This sentiment is best reflected when WWE and Mattel launched dolls, to commemorate the historic match, but only of Charlotte and Sasha, leaving Becky feeling literally left out, as she mentioned herself during her "WWE: 24" documentary.
Moving to SmackDown
Later that same year, Becky finally found herself away from Charlotte and Sasha and their respective shadows, as she was the first female draft pick for "SmackDown" during the draft. Later, she became their first women's champion.
"At that time there was Survivor Series and I was the champ. They made Nikki Bella the captain. Nikki is great but it was like 'Hey guys, I am the champ, you know? I should be the captain. And I think that was on me, because I think there was that doubt and I think that can be sensed. And I think you got to go in there and own stuff, you have to believe and then everybody else will believe and I don't know that I fully believed it so that was on me," she mentioned on "Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia" back in 2018.
The spotlight didn't last long on Becky, though. She lost the championship just a couple of months after winning it, missed WrestleMania entirely, and had what she described during her "WWE: 24" documentary as a "really bad year of not doing anything" in 2017.
Following WrestleMania in 2018, where Becky was merely on the pre-show, she started to generate momentum and crowd reactions again, culminating in a championship match at SummerSlam. Charlotte Flair found her way into the match, seemingly to take the spotlight away from Lynch yet again.
When Lilian Garcia asked Becky why people would cheer her over Charlotte, she responded: "I think the reason that people are particularly right now getting behind me is, Charlotte has been a natural since day one. She is tall, beautiful, strong, athletic and she achieves things; And then you have the underdog, who has scraped and who hasn't necessarily been the most athletic or naturally talented but she has clawed the entire time. I think that is a story people can really look at and be interested in."
The Man
After Charlotte won the match and became a six time women's champion, Becky ruthlessly attacked her to a huge crowd ovation, effectively turning her heel for the first time since her "NXT" days. But there was only one problem: Becky had become too popular to be a heel.
Becky Lynch was lighting a fire so big that even John Cena had to comment on her run back in 2018 during an interview with "Gorilla Position": "For so long I didn't know what or who Becky Lynch was, but now I do and that fires me up."
It was on the November 12, 2018, edition of "Raw" where Becky, riding this absolutely huge wave of momentum, invaded the red brand alongside the rest of the "SmackDown" women's locker room. And after taking a few legitimate punches to the face from Nia Jax and suffering a concussion, Becky Lynch, covered in blood, officially and decisively became the hottest thing in wrestling.
This led to one of the hottest runs from anyone in the history of the WWE, as Becky Lynch would go on to win the championship back from her former best friend Charlotte, start a program with Ronda Rousey, win the Royal Rumble and win both the "Raw" and "SmackDown" Women's Championships in the main event of WrestleMania — defeating both Rousey and Charlotte.
But not even such a momentous achievement called for a break in The Man's schedule, as she revealed in an interview with "WWE: Now" in 2019: "After WrestleMania, there was no real time to digest anything, it was just straight into doing media and then pulling double duty. Because I didn't want to be the campion I had fought against. I did not want to be the person who held the division hostage. I wanted to make sure both championships were elevated."
Starting a Family
After all her dreams materialized at WrestleMania in 2019, Becky went on to solidify herself as one of the most valuable names in the industry. She had a yearlong championship reign that saw her main event four WWE pay-per-views and be named Pro Wrestling Illustrated number one female wrestler in the world.
Becky Lynch was on top of the world. She was on every talk show, every magazine, every promotional material and every advertising campaign WWE had going at the time.
Just as the global COVID pandemic started, her historic championship reign turned a year old by retaining against Shayna Baszler at that year's Showcase of the Immortals. This would turn out to be Becky's last match for over 14 months, as she became pregnant with recent husband, WWE superstar Seth Rollins.
When, during their interview for "Out of Character," Ryan Satin asked if Becky had enjoyed her pregnancy she said, "No. Look, she is the light of my life, the best thing that has ever happened to me. But I love work and being away from the ring for that length of time, it was painful for me. It was really painful."
Big Time Becks
Following an almost 15-month long absence, Becky Lynch made her long-awaited return to the ring by defeating the new fan favorite, up and comer, Bianca Belair to win the "SmackDown" women's championship at SummerSlam in only 26 seconds. The return marked the beginning of a yearlong program with Belair and the birth of Becky's new persona: Big Time Becks.
She told Ariel Helwani during their 2021 interview for BT Sport that she was supposed to be back even sooner, before a possible match against Bayley at last year's WrestleMania was ruled out, as she was aiming to take less than a full year off after her pregnancy. She also shared that, prior to SummerSlam, she had been training in the ring for months in Iowa and was just "like a caged animal waiting for the call."
During this run, Becky would also compete in Saudi Arabia twice. She retained the "SmackDown" and "Raw" women's championship respectively against Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks in a triple threat match and against Hall of Famer Lita, who was wrestling her first true singles match in over 15 years.
Becky would also fight Bianca for the championship twice more, at this year's WrestleMania and SummerSlam, putting her over both times and suffering a dislocated shoulder at their last encounter, putting a sudden end to her run as Big Time Becks.
What's next for Becky Lynch?
Even though WWE announced the night following SummerSlam that Becky Lynch would be missing several months of action due to her injury, she recently commented during an Instagram live conversation with The Rock and Brian Gewirtz that she "feels good, feels strong, feels like [the injury is] healing up quick," even posting pictures working out while in a sling.
This leaves no questions to be asked about whether or not we'll see The Man back in the ring. It does, however, leave a question: What's left for Becky to do? Now that Becky has accomplished everything there is to do for a female wrestler, and then some, it is only natural to start wondering if she is going to start toning it down when she eventually returns from injury.
"I want to make sure that this year I have better matches than I had last year," she told Fox News at the beginning of the 2022, several months before her injury. "And this year I get people talking more than I did last year. It's just constantly wanting to elevate, one myself, and two, this business and the women that are going to follow after me."
We may not know when she is coming back, or what she'll do when she comes back. What we do know is that, in any role she is given, she is giving it her all and she is not stopping until she executes it to perfection — just like she has done for her entire professional career.