Becky Lynch On Who The Best Wrestler In The World Is, Her Look, Sara Del Ray's Influence, More
Recently, on The Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, Becky Lynch talked about getting her start in professional wrestling, Finn Bálor, the WWE Performance Center, and her steampunk gimmick.
During the interview, Lynch claimed to be a lifelong fan of professional wrestling, but really did not consider becoming a professional wrestler for a living because it did not seem to be a realistic option. Lynch said that getting to WWE was unfathomable because she never saw Irish people make it and because athletics were never her strong suit.
"I was the fat kid who failed P.E.," Lynch admitted. "I failed P.E. My P.E. teacher brought my mother in [to school] and she was in tears because I was such a bad student."
Despite failing gym class, when Lynch was 15 years old, she discovered that Fergal Devitt, WWE's Finn Bálor, was opening a wrestling school in Ireland and decided to enroll along with her brother.
"I expected this warehouse with, like, a ring in it, maybe a sign over the door, and I walked into this little school hall in St. Andrew's. It was in Bray County, in Wicklow, which is an hour outside of Dublin, and I walk in and there are six blue mats on the floor. And I expected a bunch of big, muscle men, [but] there were a bunch of skinny teenagers, all guys, and Fergal Devitt, who always looked great. So that was my introduction to wrestling."
On the subject of Bálor, Lynch stated that she is excited to see what the future holds for the current NXT Champion.
"Personally, I consider him to be the best wrestler in the world. He is also one of my dearest friends as well, so it's just awesome to have him around, just to have another person to bounce [ideas] off of. I'm so happy for him and being the NXT Champ and where he's going to go is just to the moon and back. Being able to be in such close proximity to see everything that he's about to do and everything that he [has] already done because the Bullet Club was all his invention and that's so cool. So what he's going to do here [in WWE] is going to be phenomenal."
After dropping out of college at 17 to wrestle in Canada and Japan, Lynch gave up wrestling at 19. During her time away from the ring, Lynch went back to college and worked several odd jobs before making her way to NXT. Lynch was a personal trainer, flight attendant, English as a Second Language teacher, bartender, and stunt woman, among other things.
"Through trial and error, I know that there's nothing else that I want to do because I've done everything else."
Lynch stated that making it to WWE was a miracle and that she feels like the luckiest person in the world.
"It's a miracle. I swear to God! When I think back and I think of all of the things that have happened, that I've gotten here, I go, 'it's just proof that miracles happen and what is meant to be is going to be' and I feel so blessed."
With regards to the WWE Performance Center, Lynch said it is an unbelievable facility and a far cry from the small school hall in Ireland where she first learned to bump on mats. When asked whether having a female trainer at the Performance Center in Sara Del Rey helps, Lynch indicated that Del Rey's contributions are due to her being a great wrestler, not because of her gender.
"[Del Rey] is just great and wonderful and supportive and she wants this for girls and she wants us to be seen as great in our own right regardless of our gender". Lynch added, "but she's just great for being a great wrestler, regardless of her gender."
As for Lynch's steampunk gimmick, she stated that she prefers thrift stores and secondhand shops to mainstream stores; however, she acknowledged that she was not aware of steampunk culture until someone else mentioned that her corsets and vests had a steampunk aesthetic and suggested that she incorporate more steampunk elements into her presentation.
"I looked more into it and I was like, 'man, this is really cool!' and it's unique and it's different. Nobody else looks like this and it's kind of how I dress in my day to day life, so I really wanted to bring that into my [wrestling] gear. And then it's a look that people can instantly associate with me, so I was just like, 'perfect, okay, nobody else has done it'."
Lynch said that although she was toying with the idea of debuting a new look for a few months beforehand, she decided to unveil the steampunk look at NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable for her championship match against Sasha Banks.
"It's a really interesting kind of look and so much fun to play around with. And then the orange hair? Well, I've always really wanted orange hair and I just thought it would be great to bring all of these things together in one viewing. And I thought the perfect time to do it would be TakeOver because that's when I'm getting my single title shot and it's when all eyes are going to be on me, so why not bring it altogether then? And that's when I brought it out."
To check out the entire show, click here.