Kemo
02-02-2024, 10:06 PM
Becky Lynch may be 'The Man' in WWE, but the former Women's Champion was encouraged to move like a girl early into her career.
Lynch joined WWE as part of NXT in 2013 and made her TV debut in June of 2014. Lynch's arrival is infamous for her character that leaned heavily into her Irish nationality, complete with green attire and 'Irish jig' in her entrance. Lynch would later drop the Irish character and became one of NXT's top women before her call-up to the main roster in 2015.
Lynch's arrival in WWE came at an interesting time for women in the promotion. After years of the Divas era, 2013, 2014, and most notably 2015, would see WWE shift away from its previous portrayal of women and focus more of stories and wrestling than sex appeal. Speaking on her new “Never Before Told” series with Seth Rollins, Lynch recalled the awkward advice she was given early on in her WWE career.
"Coming into WWE, I had one very specific goal and that was to main event WrestleMania and make women’s wrestling the coolest thing on TV, and to change the game and to be seen as equal. Even in my early stages in NXT, it was weird and confusing because you were told that women can’t punch and you can’t use things like steps and you can’t use the post. Are we supposed to just hair pull and slap each other? It’s very confusing. I even remember being told, ‘Move like a girl.’ What, I am a girl, what do you mean? It was all so very confusing.”
MMmU-6VCalc
By 2016, WWE had significantly changed its portrayal of women. At that year's WrestleMania, Lynch would compete for the new WWE Women's Championship, which marked the end of the Divas Title. The match also saw the Divas moniker be dropped when describing women, who have been called Superstars alongside their male counterparts ever since.
Lynch joined WWE as part of NXT in 2013 and made her TV debut in June of 2014. Lynch's arrival is infamous for her character that leaned heavily into her Irish nationality, complete with green attire and 'Irish jig' in her entrance. Lynch would later drop the Irish character and became one of NXT's top women before her call-up to the main roster in 2015.
Lynch's arrival in WWE came at an interesting time for women in the promotion. After years of the Divas era, 2013, 2014, and most notably 2015, would see WWE shift away from its previous portrayal of women and focus more of stories and wrestling than sex appeal. Speaking on her new “Never Before Told” series with Seth Rollins, Lynch recalled the awkward advice she was given early on in her WWE career.
"Coming into WWE, I had one very specific goal and that was to main event WrestleMania and make women’s wrestling the coolest thing on TV, and to change the game and to be seen as equal. Even in my early stages in NXT, it was weird and confusing because you were told that women can’t punch and you can’t use things like steps and you can’t use the post. Are we supposed to just hair pull and slap each other? It’s very confusing. I even remember being told, ‘Move like a girl.’ What, I am a girl, what do you mean? It was all so very confusing.”
MMmU-6VCalc
By 2016, WWE had significantly changed its portrayal of women. At that year's WrestleMania, Lynch would compete for the new WWE Women's Championship, which marked the end of the Divas Title. The match also saw the Divas moniker be dropped when describing women, who have been called Superstars alongside their male counterparts ever since.