Why Becky Lynch Once Favored TNA Over WWE

WWE Superstar Becky Lynch has been one of the driving forces in making women's wrestling feel as important. From her time in "NXT" to main eventing WrestleMania 35, without "The Man," women's wrestling might look very different in WWE in 2024. However, there was a time when Lynch might have opted for a different promotion to work for. During an appearance on "The MMA Hour," she recalled when she was 19 years old and was ready to spread her wings in her wrestling career after wrestling mainly in Ireland and the UK. 

"I was about to move over to America to do a personal training diploma in Orlando, and my goal was, 'Maybe I can get into TNA,'" Lynch said. "The way that they were treating women there was so much better than the way that they were treating women in WWE. So it's like, 'I can make a splash there.'"

During the 2000s, TNA's Knockouts division was less centered around bikini contests and more around physical contests. Stars like Gail Kim and Awesome Kong became two of the earliest standard bearers in TNA when it came to women's wrestling, and they had one of the most celebrated feuds of the company's boom period. Lynch eventually made some brief appearances in the United States around this time, performing for companies like SHIMMER and APW, before entering a six-year hiatus due to a severe nerve injury that almost ended her career entirely. That wasn't the case, however, and she signed with WWE in 2013 after recovering.

Please credit the "MMA Hour" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.