Becky Lynch Talks Feud With Charlotte Flair, Catholic Guilt, & Getting Over The Underdog Mentality

Smackdown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch was the most recent guest on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia and gave perhaps one of the most revealing interviews of her wrestling career. A reflective Lynch opened up from the get go and talked about how this championship run was different from her last,

“I feel a lot more comfortable in the role this time around. Before, maybe there was a sense of apology to it. Like, ‘Sorry, I’m the champ guys.’ Maybe there was a sense of that.”

When host Lilian Garcia asked why Lynch had felt that way, the Smackdown Women’s Champion replied,

“I don’t know. I never had one before, not in WWE. I did work so hard for it; but, it’s all an internal game,  isn’t it really, with everything? It was very much an inside job – the crowd wanted me to be the champ at the time, when it was announced…I don’t know what came first, the chicken or the egg. Maybe there was a sense of me being overly nice in general. ‘Am I stepping on anyone’s toes? Is anyone offended?’ I think that’s the way I used to be. I was always such a people pleaser and as hard as I worked, I think I was always worried, ‘Do I deserve this? Am I good enough to hold this?’ Now, hell yeah.”

Lynch went further and talked about how she made the mistake of being too open when coming to the WWE,

“I came in very humble, very let me be a blank canvas and start from scratch; but, I did that too much, to a fault almost to where it was like, ‘No, you were wrestling around the world and main eventing and stuff. You do know some things Rebecca.’

Lynch talked about getting in her own head and second guessing herself. She gave credit to Dusty Rhodes, who was able to help stimulate her creatively. Lynch talked about some mistakes she made early on in neglecting her own self for the sake of the entire women’s division,

“I wanted to make sure that Smackdown was the brand to watch and wanted to make sure that the Women’s Division was what people cared about most and that was my whole thing and maybe I wanted to work together with people too much to really make it a communal effort that we were, ‘Yes, come on guys. We’re gonna do this. We’re gonna make it.’ And tremendous talents there like Naomi and Nikki [Bella] who’s been there, and Nattie [Neidhart] who I respected and I respected them and I loved them and I wanted everybody to have it. I wanted everybody to be part of it. Maybe it’s a Catholic guilt thing. There’s also that guilt, ya know, ‘Aww, I also want you to have it.’ Don’t think that I think that I’m better than you. It was weird stuff like that that was going through my head.”

Lynch continued,

“I tried to make people stars. I always do and I always try to make sure that everybody I get into the ring with looks like a million dollars; but, then at some stage you start going, ‘How many people are doing that for me?’ And it’s not their job and it shouldn’t be their job. They should be caring about themselves. So, it started to be more like, ‘Ok, you’ve got to do this.’ Not that it’s a selfish thing; but, you start caring more about yourself and you start elevating yourself and you’ll bring everybody else up with you because everybody else has to start stepping up once you do and you can’t lower yourself to match anybody, you can’t lower yourself to get along, to be at a place where everybody is harmonious, so that you feel like you gotta bring yourself down. No, everybody’s gotta keep rising up and keep coming up and there’s no tension there with anybody; but, it’s not a selfish thing and I think that’s the conclusion that I came to.”

Lynch then compared herself to the Superstar she defeated for the Smackdown Women’s Championship, Charlotte Flair, and opened up about why she thinks fans are getting behind her,

“Charlotte has been a natural since day one. She’s just natural. She’s tall. She’s beautiful. She’s strong. She’s athletic and she achieves things, right? Then you have the underdog, who’s scraped, who hasn’t necessarily been the most athletic or naturally talented or naturally gifted; but, she’s clawed the entire time. She’s just clawed and clawed and gets scraps or whatever and then one day, she’s just like, ‘You know what I’ve had enough of this,’ and she slaps the head off of that one and she’s like, ‘I’m taking what I want.’ It’s a story people can really look at and be interested in. The thing is when she was gone it was the Becky Lynch Show. Becky was on a roll and she comes back and all of a sudden then I’ve gone back to the back of the line. I’m still in the title match; but, it’s not really about me anymore. It’s about her being in this match and it’s like stepping back and being like, ‘No, I want that title. I want that title. I’m not going to apologize for it. Oh, you’ve got that title?’ Bang, right across the face.”

Lynch grew tired of her underdog role,

“Obviously there’s going to be disappointment because you’ve been working hard and you want that spotlight and all of a sudden it’s been watered down as opposed to completely dimmed or turned off. Yeah, maybe it’s been dimmed. The spotlight’s been dimmed, alright. The chances of winning are gonna be tougher especially when you’re consistently the underdog and then it’s questioning why the heck are you the underdog? Why are you the underdog? You work harder than anybody in the gym. You constantly do your best in the ring. You go out there and cut promos with your heart and your soul, make people get behind them. How are you the underdog? Stop looking at yourself as the underdog. Take what’s yours.”

Garcia asked Lynch how Charlotte reacted to knowing all of this to which Lynch replied,

“I would talk to Charlotte about this all the time. She always had the opportunities I wanted. She always had the magazine covers and the things that I wanted and I would say that to her. I would always say that it’s great that she had that and I genuinely felt that. I want that too. Of course, that’s s understandable. That’s what I left home for. I want those opportunities. I want all those opportunities too. She agreed. She knew it. Of course. She knows it.”

Lynch talked about the feud between the two being personal because the two were genuinely best friends that traveled regularly traveled together. She suggested that the feud resonates deeply because both women are right and also added that she would love the 4-Horsewomen to headline WrestleMania, with the following caveat,

“There’s nobody I like slapping the head off more than Charlotte.”

(Transcription: Michael McClead, WrestleZone)

Readers interested in listening to Lilian Garcia’s interview with Becky Lynch in its entirety may do so below:

RELATED: Becky Lynch Continues To Taunt Charlotte