‘I Regret Things Said During Breakout Run In WWE..’

Becky Lynch recently reflected on her rise to the top of WWE, becoming the inaugural SmackDown Women’s Champion and the importance of younger talent not rushing their journeys.

During an appearance on the No-Contest Wrestling podcast with O’Shea Jackson Jr. and T.J. Jefferson (see video below), Lynch looked back on her breakout run and admitted she regrets some of the things she said while developing “The Man” persona.

“Sometimes I did things that I — to be honest with you — that I regret. I said a lot of mean things,” Lynch said. “But, you know, it was all about selling the conflict, or at least that’s how I justified it to myself.”

Despite those regrets, Lynch explained that the character allowed her to stop waiting for opportunities and begin openly embracing her own ability.

“But that was it. It was, ‘I’m not sitting around. I am great. I am going to claim my greatness,’” she added.

Lynch also discussed becoming the inaugural SmackDown Women’s Champion following WWE’s 2016 brand split. According to Lynch, she does not believe she was originally scheduled to win the title and suspects Nikki Bella was the intended choice.

“Even the first time that I won the SmackDown Women’s Championship, that wasn’t the plan,” Lynch said. “I think it was meant to go to Nikki Bella actually, who, by the way, like a badass, had just come back from her broken neck.”

However, the audience’s support ultimately forced WWE officials to reconsider their plans.

“The audience kind of liked me,” Lynch continued. “Once it was revealed, they just started chanting Becky, and so, kind of the office had to take notice of that and go, ‘Well, alright, I guess we gotta go with her.’”

Lynch believes she had to continue forcing her way into WWE’s plans even after capturing the championship.

“But I don’t think the plan was ever going to be, ‘Give it to me again,’ unless I took it,” she said.

Lynch held the SmackDown Women’s Championship for more than 80 days before losing it to Alexa Bliss. She has since become a seven-time WWE Women’s Champion.

Elsewhere in the interview, Lynch used Chelsea Green’s WWE Women’s Championship victory at SummerSlam as an example of why younger wrestlers should allow their careers to develop naturally.

“I said this to one of the younger girls the other day: ‘You don’t wanna achieve too much right now. You wanna be percolating. Because if you get there, you’re so young. What else is there? You gotta build to it,’” Lynch said.

Lynch explained that wrestlers should allow the audience to become invested in their journeys instead of focusing on immediately capturing championships.

“The audience wants it, and they’re galvanizing behind you. Let them bring you to it. If you get it now — yeah, you see other people getting it. You want that for yourself. That’s not gonna feel as good, you know? Because there’s so much time.”

She added that repeatedly winning the same championship can eventually lessen the excitement surrounding each victory.

“Then you’re one-time, two-time, three-time, four-time. Then the audience, they don’t wanna see you be six-time, seven-time, eight-time, nine-time, 10-time champion. But that’s how it’s gonna go.”

Lynch pointed to Green’s first WWE Women’s Championship victory as a moment that resonated because fans had followed her entire journey to the top.

“It’s like when Chelsea won the title. Everybody’s like, ‘Yes! This is amazing. She did it.’ Everybody’s happy because it’s the first time. They saw her journey to get there.”

Lynch concluded by encouraging younger performers to remain patient and trust that their opportunities will eventually arrive.

“So I think it’s all about knowing your time and don’t be in a rush,” she said. “It’ll all happen if it’s meant to happen, when it’s gonna happen. All in due time.”

Lynch currently competes on WWE Raw and remains in pursuit of the Women’s World Championship.