By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Insight With Chris Van Vliet with guest Becky Lynch
Host: Chris Van Vliet
Podcast available via Podcasts.Apple.com
On becoming NXT Women’s Champion: “So look, it is the one that got away, it is the one that I was never pegged for when I was coming up to NXT. And I was very close to being fired constantly, constantly. And not like one of those things where I was unjustly on the brink of being fired like I probably deserved to. I sucked, it wasn’t very good. But because I was so in my head, I just had left wrestling for several years. I don’t know if anybody knows my story. But, when I was a teenager, young, started at 15. I left home to move over to Canada when I was 18. I was like making waves all over the independent circuit. And then I stopped wrestling at 19. And I got very lost and it got very lost for many years.
“I always felt like I had this thing, but it couldn’t go back to when I didn’t know how to get back to it and it was scary. I didn’t know what women’s wrestling looked like because it didn’t look like it does now and there was nobody just showing me that it could look like it does now. And so anyway, when I got to NXT I was like, Oh no, this is it. I’ve got it. But it was like holding a flower, you know like I was like suffocating it because I wanted it so badly. So nobody, nobody, ever thought I was going to win the NXT Women’s Championship. Nobody probably thought I was going to ever win any championships they thought I was probably just going to be there and be a fine little hand. Enthusiastic little hand that I was. And so going back, you know, all these years later, in a way feels like vindication.
“But the other thing is that it’s more than that it’s more than the past. And the righting of the wrongs that I felt done to me in the past, which weren’t even wrongs done to me, it was just, it was other people’s time. And I’m so very grateful that I was never pegged for this, I’m so very grateful that I was never one of the people that they strapped the rocket to and said this is going to be our girl. I’m very grateful that I have to strive and work and grind and push myself and bring myself out of the dirt because one, I feel like it’s given me a connection with the audience, two, it’s always left a chip on my shoulder. And three, it brings it all back to what is the love? What is the love of this? Is the love of this just the gratification that I get? Or is the love the business? And how I can make the business better? And what do I do every day in the ring?
“And so with that, bringing it all the way back, winning this, it’s bringing the future with me, you know, it’s going down there, it’s seeing who they have. Who wants this? Who is hungry and who wants to main event WrestleMania because I can’t make history on my own. So let’s frickin’ do this. Let’s make it the coolest thing. But you’re gonna have to bring an edge out of you to do it, because I ain’t giving this up easy. You know, I ain’t given this up easy, I want to push people. I want to push them to their limits. I want to see what they’re made of and see who’s hungry enough because the person that’s going to take this from me has to be hungry.”
On her “shameful” WWE debut: “Yeah, there we are. Look, if that is not proof that you can dig yourself out of any hole, then I don’t know what is. Because that is, I would put that over Shockmaster in terms of shameful debuts. Yeah, like he just fell over, you know, like he fell over. Okay, fine, that sucks. I went out. I was committed to that, you know like that was my, I think the difference is he didn’t intend to fall over. I intended to go out there and do an Irish jig like that, and thought that I was worthy of being on WWE television. That happened.”
On there being a catalyst for change: “I think there’s always a catalyst for change, right? You just got to figure out, you just got to figure out what it is. Winning a match can be a catalyst for change, losing a match can be a catalyst for change. You just sometimes need the right story, the right antagonist or protagonists, depending on what way you’re going to go. But I think that’s the fun thing about wrestling, man, we can do anything. You can go from being a stupid, silly Irish dancing clown, to being The Man of the business and main eventing WrestleMania, holding two titles over your head, you know, and that’s the thing. I suppose in a way, that’s the thing about life, right? You don’t have to be stuck as the person that you were or with the thing that you did, you can move on. And you can learn from your mistakes and hope you never go back there. And I hope I never go back in my green attire and doing the Irish dances. I don’t even listen to Irish music anymore. That’s a lie, I love it. I rock it with the gym, it’s very good.”
On sharing the ring with The Rock in 2019: “I mean, look, when you’re working with Dwayne, it’s, well, one, it’s so easy because anything you do gets a reaction and he’s so good. And he’s so in tune with with the energy of everyone, the entire universe, I think you can see that by how he’s just, you know, taken over the world. But he also makes everybody feel so comfortable. And he wants everything to be the best. And he takes care of everybody that’s around him. But also then you are just so wracked with nerves because you’re going toe to toe with The Great One.
“He’s The Great One who’s got, you know, more charisma in his pinky than, I mean, him and Roux could compete maybe, yeah. But it is like a bit of a nerve-wracking experience because you want to hold your own and you have to hold your own. Because he’s giving you the torch, he is saying, Here you go. Let me give you the rub, kid. And no, he really looked after all of us, getting to work with him and being out there and feeling the energy of the crowd. And then you go, that’s what I want. I want people to react to me that way. And that’s a very cool thing. Because you get to experience it and you go, Okay, I knew I was hot. This is a different level of hot. How do I get this level of hot?”
On facing Tiffany Stratton at NXT No Mercy: “We’ll see what happens. But now look, Tiffany is one of those people that has got a rocket strapped to her, right? She’s one of those people who comes in and looks a million bucks and can do everything under the sun. She can flip, she can lift, she’s strong. She’s got a character, we hate her, she’s got everything. She’s got everything. How much do you love it? What do you have in here? Because that’s what matters. And it’s a thing that the audience picks up on.
“It doesn’t matter how good you are, it doesn’t matter if you’ve got all the tools in the box, if you’ve got all the right, they pick up on something. And that’s an energy that is a love for this. That is being a student of the game. And so I think Tiffany has everything that it takes to be to be a Superstar. But it comes down to what’s in your heart, you know, and so that’s what I wanted. That’s what I want to do. I want to push her. I want to see how extreme she’s willing to go. Like, how much can she take and keep coming back? That’s what an Extreme Rules match is, you know?”
Be the first to comment