While speaking at NYC Advertising Week about using social media to build WWE Superstar brands, Becky Lynch also spoke a little about about women’s wrestling.
Fans have seen Lynch as both a babyface and a heel throughout her career. She admits that playing a heel is more fun. “I think human nature is we just generally don’t want to like people and certainly now, certainly that’s Twitter nature. So you have so much freedom that you can do anything, you can have fun. If people don’t like you, ‘well, I’m doing my job well. If people like you, well, you’re so entertaining, how can people not like you?’ It’s a lot easier, it’s a lot more fun in that aspect.”
Becky Lynch being a heel helps the women’s division more
“Being a babyface, I tend to naturally fall into. I think, honestly, I’m not the greatest athlete in the world and I think my story of perseverance has registered with a lot of people. Fans can get behind that underdog who constantly has to overcome.”
“But then when it comes to business and wrestling as a whole, especially women’s wrestling, I feel like I can be of help by being a heel, right? Because when you’re a babyface, it’s all about you. It’s about how good you look. It’s how do we make the audience like you the most? And when you’re a heel, it’s all about how do you make the babyface look? How can you get people invested and want to see this guy win? I feel like I’ve gotten enough equity with the audience that I’m able to help a babyface. And then as a whole, that just helps women’s wrestling. When people get more equity and get more exposure and I think that drives the business forward.
Lynch on women’s wrestling in WWE
Lynch talks about headlining WrestleMania being a big career highlight. “I think anytime that I’ve gone out there as maybe the underdog or my match has gone out there as an underdog and we’ve stolen the show, that feels like a career highlight. One of my most recent ones was at WrestleMania against Bianca Belair. I didn’t get the win, but we stole the show, we stole that weekend and that felt like an accomplishment. There’s been so many and I’ve been so lucky and privileged that I’ve been in a time with women and people that are so progressive in terms of changing the way women are viewed in the business, which has been so predominantly male for so many years.”
“And being one of the first people in the women’s Royal Rumble and having the first women’s ladder match. There’s just been a series of firsts and I think one is not better than the other. It’s been a whole story of how do we present the way women are perceived in this business and it’s awesome that I’ve been able to be a strong part of it.”
When discussing the future of women’s wrestling in WWE, Lynch points to the up-and-comers of NXT. “I look at NXT and–this is no discourse towards the men–but the women, I go ‘oh, yep. That’s the future.’ That’s where the engaging characters are. There’s incredible athleticism, that’s athleticism that never in a million years I would be capable of. I think you can see the interest in what the women are doing down there and so I think it’s the future.”
“And I look at our women’s roster now and I go between me (laughing), you’ve got Bianca Belair. You’ve got Rhea Ripley, who’s just incredible and she’s so young. And you’ve got Liv Morgan and you have all these incredible women just getting started. It’s awesome. I’m very excited about it.”
