Becky Lynch Reveals Her Heel Turn Was WWE’s Decision – On the latest episode of the Out of Character Podcast with Ryan Satin, Becky Lynch spoke about her time on top of the women’s division as The Man.
Lynch just returned this past SummerSlam after a 15-month layoff due to the birth of her daughter and spoke about what that time was like with her husband Seth Rollins. The Man spoke about how much she disliked being away from wrestling while being pregnant and also revealed that she helped Rollins throughout her layoff and even thought about her return and how she believed she would come back as a babyface.
“I love talking shop, I think the two of us are always talking shop,” Lynch said. “When you’re in the business, it’s just in your veins and you never stop it. You’re always thinking of what would be cool, what would be interesting, what would get under peoples skin. I would always think about what it would be like, what would my comeback be like, what would I do when I came back. Vince is never going to want me as a heel so what does this new babyface look like? Then they told me I was going to be a heel.”
Lynch spoke about how much of her character is her true self and how much is staged. The SmackDown Women’s Champion said her character is more of her when she’s pissed off and revealed the similarities to The Man and her persona on the independent wrestling scene.
“I think that’s it, it’s mostly me when I’m pissed off or when I’m just ranting and making fun of things,” Lynch said. “You have to start from yourself and then take influences from other things. Even when I was on the indies I was this loud mouth, over the top, had this swag, not to this level but I was all about the swag when I was on the independents as Rebecca Knox.
“The Man was much more understated but now we’re developing and putting layers on it and adding little bits because it’s all trial and error which is the fun part. Trying and seeing what sticks, taking risks. Because it’s easy to go, oh, The Man worked, let me stick with that, let me stay in my black leather jacket and call people dopes or you can evolve and you can take risks. You can see what sticks with the audience and what doesn’t, do something new and give yourself something new and a new challenge.”
Being easily one of the most over female wrestlers in the history of the WWE, Lynch spoke about how her original change in character was supposed to be a heel and not a baby face. The Man revealed that backstage a lot of people thought she was going to remain a heel but she truly knew that wouldn’t happen given the crowd’s reaction to her.
“Here’s what happened, it was initially supposed to be a heel turn,” Lynch said. “Only a handful of people thought it was actually going to turn me heel, I was not one of them. Then you lose the need to have everyone like you, like I was a baby face my entire career and so then you’re just like ‘Like me guys, like me, look at how happy I am, like me.’ That’s hard, there’s a certain element of I hope they like me but when you’re a heel you lose that. Extra confidence comes from that and then I was put in more high profile spots and I succeeded and then once you succeed and you succeed a little bit more then you start to get confidence and you act your way into confidence as opposed to ‘Hey guys, like me.’ Once you don’t care whether people like you or not, you’re free. You’re free to go off and do and have confidence and do whatever you want. If they boo you, great, if they cheer you, great.”
“I knew the people would love it. I knew that everybody knew who was watching from the outside that people would love it. I was the underdog and everybody was so excited to finally see me get my shot and then when I said no to hell with you to the person who had gotten everything, it was just symbolic of how everybody feels. When they step out of that let me do all the work and this person is always getting more and you say no I’ve had enough and everybody feels that. They wanted to see me get the spotlight and with this that meant more of a push which is what they wanted. I remember somebody said ‘They cheered you in Brooklyn, but in Brooklyn they’re a heel crowd. They’ll boo you in Mississippi the next week.’ I was like they ain’t going to be booing me in Mississippi, they weren’t booing me in Mississippi. I knew this was just going to elevate me as a character and also give me more freedom and be a catalyst for a change. It doesn’t matter if people love you or hate you, as long as they’re invested in the story.”
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