Becky Lynch

Rebecca Quin born 30 January 1987 is an Irish professional wrestler and actress. She is currently signed to WWE, under the ring name Becky Lynch. She is assigned to perform on the Raw brand, but has been on maternity leave since May 2020. Lynch is one of WWE’s biggest and highest paid stars. Twitter named her 6th on their list of Top Female Athletes Worldwide in 2019.

Quin began training as a professional wrestler in 2002. Initially working in Ireland, and occasionally teaming with her brother using the ring name Rebecca Knox, she soon began wrestling across Europe and North America on the independent circuit for various promotions. She most notably competed in Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling and became the inaugural SuperGirls Champion in 2005. In 2006, Quin suffered a severe head injury during a match which kept her away from wrestling for several years. She returned 2012 and signed a contract with WWE in 2013, assigned to the developmental territory at NXT. Following her push to WWE’s main roster, she became the inaugural SmackDown Women’s Champion at Backlash 2016 and has held the title three times.

In 2018, Lynch transitioned to a more aggressive character starting at SummerSlam, when she attacked Charlotte Flair, presenting herself as an unfairly-treated underdog and dubbing herself “The Man,” resulting in a large increase in her popularity. In 2019, she won a Royal Rumble match, and at WrestleMania 35 won both the Raw Women’s Championship and SmackDown Women’s Championship, making her the first woman to hold both titles simultaneously and a four-time WWE women’s champion. She lost the SmackDown title the following month, but then set the record for the longest reign as Raw Women’s Champion at 399 days until going on a hiatus due to pregnancy in May 2020.

Early life

Rebecca Quin was born in Limerick on 30 January 1987. She grew up in the Dublin suburb of Baldoyle. Her parents separated when she was one year old. She started watching professional wrestling from a young age with her brother, Richy, who later wrestled under the ring name Gonzo de Mondo. She was involved in horse riding, swimming, and basketball. However, she claimed to have failed P.E. in school.

Quin attended University College Dublin to study philosophy, history and politics, but said she ‘really hated it’ and dropped out. She planned to return to college to study health and exercise studies. Prior to beginning to train as a wrestler, she stated that she had been ‘going down a bad path’ involving alcohol, but wrestling helped her give it up.

Professional wrestling career

Training and early career (2002–2005)

As a teenager, Quin heard that Fergal Devitt and Paul Tracey were opening a wrestling school in Ireland. She began training there along with her brother in June 2002. She made her professional wrestling debut five months later, using the ring name Rebecca Knox. She teamed with her brother in mixed tag team matches during the early part of her career. She also trained at British professional wrestling promotion NWA UK Hammerlock.

Independent circuit (2005–2013)

Knox joined the Canadian promotion SuperGirls Wrestling, an all-female offshoot of Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling (ECCW) in May 2005. Following her arrival at an ECCW show in Surrey, British Columbia, Knox feuded with Miss Chevius and defeated her, but lost to her in Port Coquitlam a month later. The following night, Knox teamed with Calum Macbeth to defeat Miss Chevius and Tony Tisoy in a mixed tag team match in Vancouver. On 24 June, Knox defeated Miss Chevius at an ECCW show in Surrey to become the inaugural SuperGirls Champion. Knox successfully defended the championship on several occasions before eventually losing it to Lisa Moretti in April 2006.

In late 2005, Knox participated in All Pro Wrestling (APW)’s third ChickFight tournament in Hayward, California; she defeated Morgan in the first round, but was eliminated by eventual winner Mariko Yoshida. Knox then won an eighteen-person battle royal at an event in Tokyo, Japan.

Knox began working for the all-female promotion Shimmer Women Athletes in early 2006. In her debut match for the promotion, she defeated Allison Danger, and established herself as a heel (villain) by faking an injury. Following that, she began feuding with Daizee Haze; Knox lost the first match between them, but won the rematch of two-out-of-three falls.

In June 2006, Knox defeated Sweet Saraya to win the vacated World Queens of Chaos Championship at an event in Chouilly, France. She held the championship for few months before dropping it to Saraya in September.

In September 2006, while wrestling in Germany, Knox sustained a legit head injury, following which she claimed to have been “suffering from extremely painful headaches, loud buzzing in her left ear and vision as a result,” and was also diagnosed with possible damage to her eighth cranial nerve. A 60-minute Iron Woman match against Haze at Shimmer’s Volume 7 taping was cancelled as a result.

Following her injury, Quin took a six-year hiatus, wrestling only on three occasions for Irish promotion Fight Factory Pro Wrestling (FFPW) in 2008, 2012 and 2013. She also reappeared in Shimmer in 2011, managing Saraya and Britani Knight for four shows.

WWE

NXT (2013–2015)

In April 2013, Quin signed a two-year developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and moved to Florida to report to their developmental territory NXT. On 29 August, her new ring name was revealed as Becky Lynch.

Lynch made her televised in-ring debut on 26 June 2014 episode of NXT, defeating Summer Rae. The next week, Lynch teamed up with Bayley in a losing effort to the BFFs: Beautiful Fierce Females (NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte and Sasha Banks) in a tag-team match. Lynch spent the next few months competing in non-title matches against Charlotte, losing three in a row. On 23 October episode of NXT, after being told to make herself relevant, Lynch aligned herself with Banks by attacking Bayley, turning heel. Known as Team B.A.E. (Best at Everything), the alliance started to disintegrate when Banks cost Lynch a match against Bayley in February 2015.

At NXT TakeOver: Rival, Lynch participated in a fatal four-way match for the NXT Women’s Championship, which was won by Banks. In April, Lynch defeated Bayley and Charlotte in a triple threat match to earn a title match against Sasha, which she lost at NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable. During the match, she debuted a new look resembling Magic: The Gathering character Chandra Nalaar. The match received widespread critical acclaim, with praise going to both performers.

Women’s Revolution (2015–2016)

Lynch made her official main roster debut the on 13 July episode of Raw, as a fan favourite, along with Charlotte and Sasha Banks, after Stephanie McMahon called for a “revolution” in the WWE Divas division. Lynch and Charlotte began allying with Paige, who was feuding with Team Bella (Alicia Fox and The Bella Twins), while Banks allied with Naomi and Tamina, leading to a brawl between the three teams. The trio of Paige, Lynch and Charlotte, originally dubbed Submission Sorority, was renamed to Team PCB (after the initials of each wrestler) when it was found out the original name was the same as an adult web page. Lynch made her in-ring debut on 20 July episode of Raw, teaming with Paige in a losing effort against Sasha Banks and Naomi. She earned her first singles victory on 28 July episode of Main Event over Brie Bella. The three teams ultimately faced off at SummerSlam in a three-team elimination match, in which Lynch pinned Brie Bella to win the match for PCB.

On 31 August episode of Raw, all members of PCB competed in the inaugural “Divas Beat the Clock challenge”, to determine the number one contender for the Divas Championship. Charlotte won the match and went on to claim the title from Nikki Bella at Night of Champions on 20 September. The following night on Raw, Paige turned on her partners during Charlotte’s celebration, claiming that Charlotte was only there because of her father Ric Flair (since he was a former wrestler in WWE) and called Lynch the “least relevant” member of the group. Throughout October, Paige tried to reconcile with Lynch and Charlotte only to attack them, officially disbanding Team PCB in the process. On 2 November episode of Raw, Lynch was pinned by Paige in a fatal four-way to earn a title match for Charlotte’s Divas Championship. The following week on Raw, Lynch gained revenge by defeating Paige.

On 30 November episode of Raw, Charlotte started displaying villainous traits after she feigned a leg injury to defeat Lynch, followed by a distraction provided by her father. Throughout December, the two’s friendship continued to strain and after Lynch defeated her on 4 January 2016 episode of Raw, Charlotte attacked her and solidified her heel turn. Lynch faced Charlotte for the Divas Championship three days later on SmackDown and at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event, but lost both matches after interference from Ric Flair.

Throughout February, Lynch began teaming with Banks against Naomi and Tamina. Their feud continued until Lynch and Banks came victorious in a tag team match at Fastlane. The following night on Raw, a number one contender’s match for the Divas Championship between Lynch and Banks ended in a double pin (both wrestlers pinning each other simultaneously). A rematch on the following SmackDown ended in a no contest when Diva’s Champion Charlotte attacked both contestants. As a result, Charlotte was scheduled to defend her title in a triple threat against both wrestlers at WrestleMania 32. At the event, Lynch failed to win the newly created WWE Women’s Championship (which replaced the Diva’s Championship). At Money in the Bank in June, Lynch teamed up with Natalya to face Dana Brooke and Charlotte in a losing effort. After their match, Natalya turned on Lynch and attacked her. The two began feuding for a month until Lynch lost to Natalya at Battleground.

SmackDown Women’s Champion (2016–2018)

After being the first woman drafted to the SmackDown brand during the 2016 WWE draft, Lynch defeated Natalya in her first match as part of the brand. At SummerSlam, Lynch teamed up with Carmella and Naomi in a six–woman tag team match in a losing effort against Alexa Bliss, Natalya and Nikki Bella.

On 11 September, at Backlash, Lynch won a six-pack elimination challenge, last eliminating Carmella, to become the inaugural SmackDown Women’s Champion. Her first title defence against Alexa Bliss was scheduled for No Mercy but due to Lynch suffering a legitimate injury the match was postponed to 8 November episode of SmackDown, where Lynch retained. At Survivor Series later that month, Lynch made up part of Team SmackDown alongside Bliss, Carmella, Naomi and Natalya in a Survivor Series match in a losing effort to Team Raw. At the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view in December, Lynch lost the SmackDown Women’s Championship to Bliss in a tables match, ending her reign at 84 days. She received her championship rematch on 17 January 2017 episode of SmackDown, in a steel cage match but lost after interference from another La Luchadora (later revealed as the returning Mickie James). This led to a match between Lynch and James at Elimination Chamber in February, which Lynch won. Lynch participated in a six-pack challenge for the title at WrestleMania 33 in April, which was ultimately won by Naomi.

In May, Lynch aligned with Naomi and Charlotte Flair against The Welcoming Committee (Natalya, Carmella and Tamina). The two teams faced off in a six-woman tag team match at Backlash; the Welcoming Committee was victorious when Lynch submitted to Natalya’s sharpshooter. Shortly after, Lynch competed at Money in the Bank, as part of the first women’s money in the bank ladder match, which was won by Carmella. In October, Lynch won a fatal five-way match against Flair, Naomi, Tamina and Carmella to become the Team SmackDown’s captain for Survivor Series. At the event, Lynch was the first competitor eliminated and her team was on the losing side. Throughout the rest of the year, Lynch again aligned with Flair and Naomi to feud with the debuting Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan). In January 2018, at the Royal Rumble, Lynch participated in the first women’s Royal Rumble match, entering at number 2 and lasting over 30 minutes before being eliminated by Ruby Riott. A few months later, Lynch also participated in the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34, but was eliminated from the match by James. In May, she qualified for the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match, which was ultimately won by Bliss.

The Man (2018–2019)

Following the 2018 Money in the Bank event, Lynch began a winning streak, defeating different competitors such as Billie Kay, Sonya Deville, Peyton Royce, Mandy Rose, and SmackDown Women’s Champion Carmella in a non-title match. The wins earned Lynch a title match at SummerSlam, with Charlotte Flair being added to the match as well after she also defeated Carmella in a non-title match. Flair went on to win the title by pinning Lynch, who was about to submit Carmella. After the match, Lynch attacked Flair, turning heel for the first time on the main roster. Two days later on SmackDown, Lynch berated the crowd, claiming that they were not really supporting her the whole time, and that she was being denied opportunities which were always handed to Flair. Despite this, audiences increasingly supported Lynch, leading WWE to tweak the storyline and portray both Lynch and Flair as both having valid points, but neither being outright heels.

The feud between the two led to a title match at Hell in a Cell, in which Lynch won the SmackDown Women’s Championship for a second time. Lynch subsequently retained her title against Flair at both Super Show-Down and Evolution. Around this time, Lynch started using the nickname “The Man”, claiming to be the top wrestler of the company.

As part of a competition between the Raw and SmackDown brands at Survivor Series, Lynch was scheduled for an interbrand champion vs. champion match against Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey. Lynch led an invasion of the Raw roster on 12 November episode of Raw, where she suffered a legit concussion and broken nose following a punch from Nia Jax. Due to the injury, Lynch was pulled from the match with Rousey and named Flair as her replacement on the following night’s episode of SmackDown. After her return, Lynch defended her title at TLC in December against both Flair and Asuka in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, in which Asuka won the title after Rousey interfered and pushed both Lynch and Flair off a ladder, ending her second reign at 91 days.

On 27 January 2019, at the Royal Rumble event, Lynch failed to regain the title from Asuka. Later that night, she participated in the women’s Royal Rumble match, replacing an injured Lana, who was the 28th entrant. Lynch would go on to win with lastly eliminating Charlotte Flair. The following night on Raw, Lynch continued her feud with Ronda Rousey, choosing to face Rousey for the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 35. As part of a storyline in which she refused to seek medical attention on her knee and attacked Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, Vince McMahon suspended Lynch in February for 60 days and replaced her with Charlotte Flair as Rousey’s WrestleMania opponent. Due to pleadings from Rousey, Lynch was reinstated by Stephanie, and at the Fastlane event, she defeated Flair via disqualification after Rousey purposely attacked Lynch to give her the win; due to the stipulation of the match, Lynch was added back into the title match at WrestleMania to make it a triple-threat match for the Raw Women’s Championship.

Flair then won the SmackDown Women’s Championship from Asuka, making the WrestleMania match a Winner Takes All match for both titles. At the event, in what was the first time women main evented a WrestleMania, Lynch controversially pinned Rousey to win both titles. The commentary and production team commented that Rousey’s shoulders were not down for the three-count and many fans and media were left wondering if this was a legitimate botched finish. Nonetheless, with the win, Lynch gave Rousey her first WWE singles and pinfall loss and became a double champion and the only woman to hold both titles simultaneously. With both titles, she was allowed to appear on both the Raw and SmackDown brands and got another nickname, “Becky Two Belts”.

Record-breaking Raw Women’s Champion (2019–2020)

Shortly after WrestleMania, Lynch was placed in a feud with newcomer Lacey Evans, who was drafted to Raw during the Superstar Shake-up and who continuously attacked Lynch after her promos. Simultaneously on SmackDown, Lynch continued her feud with Flair over the SmackDown Women’s Championship. In May, at Money in the Bank, Lynch retained the Raw Women’s Championship over Evans, but lost the SmackDown Women’s Championship to Charlotte Flair in the following match due to an interference by Evans. After she lost the SmackDown Women’s Championship, Lynch became an exclusive member of the Raw brand and continued her feud with Evans. In mid-June, Lynch successfully retained her title over Evans at the Stomping Grounds pay-per-view. Later that night, Lynch helped her real-life boyfriend Seth Rollins retain the WWE Universal Championship over Baron Corbin, after Corbin chose Evans as the special guest referee for their title match. The two feuds between the two pairs came to an end at the Extreme Rules event in July, after Lynch and Rollins retained both of their titles in a winners take all mixed tag team match.

In August, Lynch started a short feud with Natalya. At SummerSlam, Lynch was victorious in a submission match between the two. Upon her return in mid-August, Sasha Banks attacked Lynch and reignited their feud from 2015. At Clash of Champions, on 15 September, Lynch retained her title after inadvertently hitting the referee with a chair, causing a disqualification loss. The feud eventually led to a Hell in a Cell match on 6 October at the namesake pay-per-view. Lynch once again was victorious. At Survivor Series, Lynch faced SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley and NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler in a non-title triple threat match to determine the superior women’s champion. Baszler emerged victorious by submitting Bayley while Lynch was downed at ringside. Following the match, Lynch attacked Baszler and put her through an announce table. On 26 November, Lynch surpassed Ronda Rousey as the longest-reigning Raw Women’s Champion.

Following Survivor Series, Lynch allied herself with Charlotte in a rivalry with Women’s Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane), leading to a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the championship between the two teams being arranged for TLC in December, which The Kabuki Warriors won. She then continued her feud with Asuka, which directed to a match for the Raw Women’s Championship at the Royal Rumble on 26 January 2020, where Lynch retained to end the feud.

In February, Lynch feuded with Shayna Baszler, who won an Elimination Chamber match to challenge Lynch for the championship at WrestleMania 36. At the event on 4 April, Lynch defeated Baszler to retain the title, with her title reign surpassing the one-year mark shortly after. Following the event, Lynch ceased participating in physical confrontations, often relying on promos to advance her storylines. On 11 May episode of Raw, Lynch announced that she was relinquishing the Raw Women’s Championship due to her real-life pregnancy, and that the previous night’s Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match – which was won by Asuka – was actually for the championship.

Impact and legacy

Lynch is one of the most popular and recognizable wrestlers of her generation. Lynch was the Inaugural SmackDown Women’s Champion and has the longest reign as Raw women’s champion, holding the belt for 399 days. She was one of three first women to headline WrestleMania, WWE’s flagship annual event (alongside Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey), and first to win a WrestleMania main event.

She is the first WWE Superstar to ever appear on the cover of ESPN The Magazine, as well as the first-ever female Superstar to feature on the cover of a WWE 2K video game. She holds the record for most PPV shows main evented in one year for a female wrestler (3 in 2019). She became the only woman to win the Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Most Popular Wrestler of the Year in 2019, Becky was also the first and only female performer in WWE history to lead the company in merchandise sales. Her Last Woman Standing match against Charlotte Flair on WWE Evolution was ranked No. 1 by WWE on “The Top 25 Matches of 2018” list. Lynch’s Raw Women’s Championship match against Sasha Banks on Hell in a Cell 2019 was ranked No. 2 on the same list in 2019.

WWE Hall of Famer Booker T compared Lynch’s rise to The Rock’s and added: “Becky is at the point where she and everybody in the locker room knows how good she is”. Wrestler Toni Storm cited Lynch as her biggest inspiration and said that she is “taking the women’s division to a completely different level.” In 2019, wrestling commentator Jim Ross called Lynch “the most over talent in WWE”.

As of April 2020, she was the sixth highest paid WWE wrestler and the highest paid woman according to Forbes with a salary of US$3.1 million.

Other media

Quin performed stunts for a 2013 episode of Vikings. She was written off WWE television for a few months in November 2017 to film The Marine 6: Close Quarters.

Becky Lynch is playable in five video games: WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19, WWE 2K20 (also the cover athlete), and WWE 2K Battlegrounds. Her entrance music is played after every goal scored on home ice by the American Hockey League’s San Jose Barracuda.

Lynch is a recurring guest on Xavier Woods’ YouTube channel UpUpDownDown, where she goes by the nickname ‘Soulless Senpai’. In October 2019, Lynch defeated Seth Rollins in a game of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite to win Rollins’ UpUpDownDown Championship. Lynch lost the title to Cesaro in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe a month later.

Other work

During her time away from wrestling, Quin worked as an actress and was cast in numerous plays in 2011 and 2012. She graduated with a degree in acting from the Dublin Institute of Technology, and has attended Columbia College Chicago and the Gaiety School of Acting. She also worked as a flight attendant with Aer Lingus for two and a half years.

Personal life

Quin is in a relationship with fellow wrestler Colby Lopez, known professionally as Seth Rollins. The couple announced their engagement on 22 August 2019. On 11 May 2020, Quin announced that she was expecting her first child in December and that their wedding, originally planned for May, would take place at a later time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 4 December, Quin and Lopez welcomed their first daughter, named Roux (pronounced Rue).

Filmography

Film

Television

She has also appeared on the January 4 2019 episode of Ridiculousness.

Web series

Video games

Championships and accomplishments

• CBS Sports
  • Best Moment of the Year (2018) – Attacking Ronda Rousey on Raw
  • Wrestler of the Year (2018)
  • WWE Match of the Year (2018) vs. Asuka and Charlotte Flair at TLC
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Most Popular Wrestler (2019)
  • Woman of the Year (2018, 2019)
  • Ranked No. 1 of the top 100 female wrestlers in the PWI Female 100 in 2019
• Queens of Chaos
  • World Queens of Chaos Championship (1 time)
• Sports Illustrated
  • Women’s Wrestler of the Year (2018, 2019)
• SuperGirls Wrestling
  • SuperGirls Championship (1 time)
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Worst Feud of the Year (2015) Team PCB vs. Team B.A.D. vs. Team Bella
  • Women’s Wrestling MVP (2018, 2019)
• WWE
  • WWE Raw Women’s Championship (1 time)
  • WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship (3 times)
  • Women’s Royal Rumble (2019)
  • WWE Year-End Awards (3 times)
    • Female Superstar of the Year (2018, 2019)
    • Match of the Year (2018) vs. Charlotte Flair at Evolution