Becky Lynch has explained why she is “not desperate” to beat Rhea Ripley for WWE Women’s championship at WrestleMania 40.
Lynch is WWE’s sixth Women’s Grand Slam champion, having won all there is to win and triumphed in a WrestleMania event.
The Man has truly changed the game and paved the way so that female stars like Ripley get opportunities.
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Lynch has written a book charting her success from an average girl in Ireland to becoming a megastar and in discussing the next lucrative match-up, she outlined the surprise mindset she is adopting.
“I'm not desperate but I'm driven,” Lynch told SPORTbible when asked about the need to hold gold again.
“I have nothing to lose. I've held the titles, I've made the change. I continue to be the driving force, the backbone, the heart and soul of the division,
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“Rhea Ripley can walk around with that title, and she can float around backstage with Judgement Day and act like she’s all important.
“But I've been the one doing the hard work. I've been the one that has been the star on every live event, when Rhea Ripley has been being taken at handy at home or doing whatever she does.
“I’ve been the one working, grinding, making sure that, that everybody’s rising to my level. “And so, I think that makes it so that I'm not desperate. Because I know my worth, I know how good I am. I also know that people are doubting me. And that's when I'm at my best.
“When people believe me, I'm good. But when people doubt me, I am great. I'm actually an unstoppable monster.
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“Because that's always been the chip on my shoulder. I've always been the underdog. I've always been underestimated. But I wrote a whole damn book about overcoming that, of being average, but being not so average.”
Lynch earned the right to face Ripley at the biggest WrestleMania of all-time after winning the Elimination Chamber match in the Optus Stadium at Perth, Australia.
‘Mami’ has been on top since dethroning Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles, rapidly approaching 365 days with the title around her waist.
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Much like Lynch a few years back, Ripley is one of the biggest stars in the company and everything in her work has been flawless.
Yet the Irish grappler believes their journeys to the summit are very different.
She admitted: “I suppose the similarities are that we both came from different countries and moved over here and started with a love for this business.
“I think that's where the similarities are. That's where they probably begin and probably end because when you look at Rhea Ripley when she was when she first came in, she was pegged as a superstar from the get-go.
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“I had one foot in the door, and they were trying to push me out! I was never seen as like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is who's going to lead us to the future’. But I became that because I worked for that. And I think about wrestling differently. And I not to toot my own horn, but ‘Toot toot!’ - I have one of the greatest minds for it and for storytelling. And those are the things that you don't necessarily see right away, but that become evident over time.”
Lynch was never chosen as the face of the women’s division and seen as a bit-part player.
But for her, the slap to Charlotte which “set the world on fire” after her loss at Summerslam in 2018 was the moment she “became undeniable”.
Her new book ‘Becky Lynch: The Man: Not Your Average Average Girl’ and with praise from Stone Cold Steve Austin and John Cena, charts the complete journey from her humble beginnings in Dublin.
“I think it puts everything into perspective,” Lynch said, describing the therapeutic nature of putting pen to paper.
“You kind of have to just have your goals, and you must have your dreams, and you must have faith in the process - that when things are going wrong, they'll come back up again and that you will achieve.
“And so that was eye opening. And then of course, you're revisiting things that were traumatic, things that you're ashamed of. And there is therapy in being honest with yourself.
“I tried more than anything, in this book, I wanted to be honest, in how I felt in my trials and tribulations, and when I was an asshole and when I felt vulnerable. And I hope that people can get that from this book.
“And I hope they can understand that if I can go from failing PE in Ireland to becoming the biggest star in a male dominated industry, well, then anything is possible for anybody.”
Lynch’s memoir features a slew of anecdotes involving husband and WWE world champion Seth Rollins – as well as a risque photo which sent the internet into a frenzy.
The Visionary is a future of Hall of Famer who has just about done it all. But he finally ticks off another accomplishment next month when he teams with Cody Rhodes against Roman Reigns and The Rock in the main event of night one of WrestleMania 40.
Although he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to close out WrestleMania 31 with ‘the heist of the century’, this will be his first main event.
But with all the work he does away from the ring, his partner and mother of his child Lynch believes it’s totally deserved.
“Nobody deserves it more than him,” Lynch stressed.
“He really has been the cornerstone. You look at Seth Rollins and carrying Raw, nobody has carried it than him in the in the last 12 years.
“And there's nobody who has had more main events on Raw, there is nobody who has been able to reinvent themselves, there is nobody who dedicates themselves more to this business.
“Once he got on the main roster, he came home and opened up a wrestling school. I'm sitting here with you, it’s 11am and he's about to go leave and go coach a bunch of students at his wrestling school and impart his wisdom.
“Any live event you will see him sitting behind the curtain ready to give anybody feedback on their matches, whoever wants it. He has an incredible mind.
“He is always able to take whatever is given to him and turn it into gold. He doesn't complain. He puts business front and centre of everything before himself and he thinks about it in a very unselfish way.
“And so more than anybody, he deserves this. And I'm so happy for him to get that [main event].”
Rollins still has plenty more to offer inside the squared circle but Lynch thinks he is the perfect heir to Triple H’s throne.
She added: “Look, if I'm Triple H, and I were on Netflix, or I'm anybody else that is looking at the future of the company beyond just in-ring like, ‘Who could take over this?.
“There's nobody with a better mind than Seth Rollins.”
Becky Lynch: The Man by Rebecca Quin is published by Sphere on 26th March and available to order now.
Topics: WWE, Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins