How Becky Lynch Became ‘The Man’

The Man. The first person to call him or herself “The Man” in professional wrestling on a regular basis was Ric Flair. While many will debate Nature Boy’s in-ring athleticism, outside-the-ring choices or repetitive match formula, nobody can deny that he personified the moniker of “The Man.”

Triple H has used the name at times since then, but Becky Lynch is here to claim it once and for all. And fans are with her.

Lynch has taken the wrestling industry by storm in recent months, dubbing herself the newest version of “The Man.”

Get to know the story behind Lynch and her journey to the top of the WWE.

Becky Lynch is taking full advantage of her newfound opportunity. An original pioneer of this new era of women’s wrestling, Lynch had been pushed down the card  in the beginning of 2018. Although she was working programs on TV, they were not filled with much fire.

Wrestling fans know when WWE is behind a talent, and when they are not. The latter seemed to be the case, and dealing with that situation has led to the downfall of several promising careers.

WWE could not deny the crowd’s affinity for Lynch during the “Money in the Bank” ladder match in June 2018, and she was afforded a return to the spotlight over the summer, gaining momentum by racking up wins on Smackdown for weeks on end until she was granted a title match at SummerSlam.

Her supposed friend Charlotte Flair was added to the match, and won by disrupting what looked to be Lynch’s shining moment. Lynch snapped and beat Flair down, a supposed heel turn, but the fans went along with Lynch.

Despite pushing back for a couple of weeks, WWE gave in to the fans, and the little tweak on Lynch’s character has led her to one of the hottest runs by anyone in recent memory.

Prior to establishing this new, arrogant, badass persona, Lynch gained popularity on social media for her propensity to use props and puns to give promos or enhance her current storylines. Some of her finest work can be seen on Twitter and YouTube.

The Number Pun contender has spent her entire main roster career reaching out to connect with the audience. All that reaching out has established a real-life connection, and Lynch’s evolution from backstage jokester to the Conor McGregor of WWE would have been impossible without such a foundation.

The last two years, Lynch has experienced the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, routinely being left off of pay-per-view shows and having meaningless losses on SmackDown. With such forgettable experiences in her recent past, it’s easy to forget that Lynch was the first-ever SmackDown Live women’s champion, defeating Carmella in the inaugural tournament.

In Lynch’s WWE career so far, she has the second-longest tenure of having that recently designed blue title belt around her waist, falling just short of Flair’s 175 days as champion with two runs of more than 80 days apiece.

Lynch never got a run with the Raw women’s championship in her brief time on the show. She competed for the title in the first match when it was up for grabs, losing to Flair in a triple threat with Sasha Banks.