When Mick Foley published Have A Nice Day in 1999, the Hardcore Legend ushered in a new way of talking about professional wrestling. His memoir was a love story, detailing all the breaks — both literal and figurative — along his path to superstardom. It’s easy, then, to see why Foley became a childhood idol for Rebecca Quin, known to WWE fans as Becky Lynch. At a pivotal time in wrestling, Foley changed the perception of what a WWE star could be, pushing back against the notions and expectations that existed for decades.
Twenty-five years later and Lynch has done the same thing while blazing a trail that is distinctly her own, one that readers get to travel down in her new memoir, The Man: Not Your Average Girl.
Lynch’s career didn’t follow a linear path from promotion to promotion on her way to the top. Encouraged by her father at a young age, Lynch kept a journal that detailed each of her experiences from wrestling to acting and everything in between, which gave her a chance to reflect when drafting her biography.
In the finished product, she details how Foley’s character drew her back into wrestling during the Attitude era, how she navigated the bumps and bruises of learning the ropes starting at 15 years old, and how the art that came with performing helped her find purpose.
“I wonder what would’ve happened to me ’cause I was going down a bad path. I was drinking too much, smoking too much, not doing well at school,” Lynch tells Uproxx Sports. “I wonder if something else would have happened that would have put me on the straight and narrow, that would have gotten me more focused. But I don’t know what that thing was because, really, nothing ever spoke to me the way that wrestling did. There is nothing like professional wrestling in its immediacy of feedback, of the stories that we tell, how we do it, the adrenaline, everything that goes into it.”
Lynch’s family plays a significant role in her story. Her father was the dreamer with his head in the clouds, her mother pushed her to commit to a path even when it was scary, and her brother opened the door to her first taste of wrestling. Throughout the book, she manages a cool confidence and determination in the face of adversity that would lead her on a path to changing the way women’s wrestling is viewed.
Lynch details the struggles of pushing back against some of the antiquated parts of women’s wrestling. She vowed to never participate in the bra and panties matches or mud wrestling bouts of the 90’s, but the book does bring up moments she’s not especially proud of — for example, she believes she tried “to conform to that” by getting into bodybuilding, an experience which Lynch says “absolutely destroyed me.”
“I think it was a lot of things,” Lynch says when asked what made her determined to change women’s wrestling. “It was being told by my aunt that there’s far too many blonde beauties for anybody to be looking at you. Which brought up insecurity, but also rebellion in equal measures. It shouldn’t matter how I look as a woman, it should matter what I do, it should matter what I think, I’m a human being. That kind of mentality of no, they only want women that look like this, that have matches like this, I could never accept that.”
In order for Lynch to find her footing in the squared circle, she had to experience everything that came with stardom and needed to see what life outside of wrestling looked like. Taking time away from wrestling, which she used to attend college and get a degree in acting, was pivotal for her. And when she returned, her dreams were waiting for her with an opportunity to get started in WWE NXT.
Even still, when she got to NXT, Lynch saw the uphill climb ahead of her. She lays out how women weren’t allowed to throw punches and were encouraged to slap and pull hair in 2013. She touches on some of the complexities that came with working under former NXT trainer Bill DeMott — including dangerous invitations for talent to “roll around” on off days that led to injuries — while praising Triple H for helping to lead the charge in changing women’s wrestling.
From a popular member of the NXT roster to a top performer on the main roster, Lynch became one of the biggest draws in professional wrestling in 2018. The making of “The Man” came from years of dedication, a commitment to fulfilling her dreams, and a little bit of the stars aligning.
“Luck is a bit of preparation meeting opportunity. It’s all the work you put in behind it, then there’s something magical. If you look at ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, he only said ‘Austin 3:16 is gonna whoop you’ one time. And it’s the best selling shirt in wrestling history. Sometimes there’s just something that hits,” Lynch says. “That was the same thing that happened with (Nia Jax hitting) my face. You couldn’t have planned it, but it just takes off. And I think the more people are looking for authenticity in wrestling, they’re looking for something that’s real.”
Lynch acknowledges WWE’s history of “overplaying it” and emphasizes how allowing momentum to build organically served her and Austin well. “We’re kind of constantly fighting against that and forcing things down people’s throat. We’re getting away from that a little bit now, but I think that’s one of those things where when something becomes magic, we can sometimes have a tendency to overdo it,” she notes.
Lynch tends to recognize when it’s time to switch things up with her character. The timing of her pregnancy aligned perfectly with her title run, which she believed was getting a bit stale. It also served as a turning point for her in life alongside fellow WWE star, Seth Rollins.
“There’s several things that were unexpected to me becoming a parent. One was that it’s hard, but it’s so fun. It’s just been incredibly, incredibly rewarding and fun, because you get to watch her in every stage. You have to be so present to that, but also you need your time,” Lynch says. “When you have a kid, your whole world changes, your priorities change, but you need that something that reminds you of the person that you used to be. And for me, that’s wrestling, so you get more of an appreciation for that. And then you get to come home and you get to see your kid and you get to play with them. And we do it on the road together as a family.”
Upon Lynch’s return, she’s continued to live out the themes that have been consistent for her as a performer throughout her career. Early on, she spoke of a desire to make everyone look good and felt a duty to enhance other performers in order for women’s wrestling to grow.
Over the last year, she’s continued that path, working extensively with up-and-coming stars like Zoey Stark and Tiffany Stratton.
“When we were coming up, we had great women helping us, but they’d also never main evented WrestleMania or main evented any pay-per-views or had been seen in that top star spot regardless of gender” Lynch says. “I think it’s hugely beneficial for the younger talent to get in and see what it’s like in the ring with the people who’ve done the main events of WrestleMania and who’ve done the main events of pay-per-views and countless amounts of RAWs.
“I love that role because that’s how it continues to grow and I want to see it grow,” she continues. “People like Zoey Stark, who are so incredibly passionate about this and want to rise and want to keep growing and pushing and have just huge amounts of talent and potential. Whatever I can do to help that and nourish that and ensure that the future is far better than the way we came into the business, which it already is, but I would like to see that continue.”
Right now, the face of the women’s division in WWE doubles as its future: Rhea Ripley. She’s more than 350 days into her WWE Women’s World Championship reign, and with WrestleMania season in full swing, a rivalry has formed between herself and Lynch. After winning the Women’s Elimination Chamber match, Lynch earned the right to challenge Ripley in Philadelphia at WrestleMania XL.
Their feud has been white hot in the lead-up to the biggest day on the WWE calendar, and when the bell rings in the City of Brotherly Love, wrestling fans will see Ripley, the dominant champion, met by the scrappy underdog, Becky Balboa, as she affectionately refers to herself throughout the book.
“There’s not that many people that I would be seen as an underdog against, but I’ve always thrived in the underdog role. Yes, she’s been front and center, she has this natural ability in the ring and this charisma, but I’ve been the one doing all the hard work,” Lynch says. “I’ve been the one elevating everybody else. I’ve been the one wrestling more matches. I’ve been the one on all of the live events representing. And I always think that the world championship needs to be represented in every town that we go to. And she hasn’t been doing that.
“While doing that, I’m also doing a book tour, raising a child, because I can do it all, and I don’t know that she has the mental for it,” she continues. “So, we can put her out there front and center, she looks like a beast, and she can go in the ring, and she can hover around backstage, and she can boss around the guys. But at the end of the day, does she really have it in her heart to be the champion and to overcome an opponent with the heart and passion of a Becky Balboa?”
Lynch’s book is officially out now, and she’ll take on Ripley as part of WrestleMania 40’s two nights in Philadelphia, on April 5 and 6.
