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Rebecca Quinn, better known by her ring name Becky Lynch, was born in a hard-luck section of Ireland and had to struggle against adversity from an early age.
Her parents separated when she was less than a year old, and she moved to the mean streets of Dublin. It was during her youth in the Irish capital that she developed an interest in professional wrestling, watching it with her older brother, Richy.
Despite the tough upbringing she endured, Lynch was able to graduate from secondary school and attended college for a brief time. However, she grew quickly bored with the life of a scholar and dropped out.
She had been intending to return to college and study more 'physical' subjects, but that's when her brother began training as a pro wrestler. Lynch would join him in his lessons and soon became a pro wrestler herself.
Fast forward to 2018, and Becky Lynch is quite possibly the most popular superstar on any of WWE's various brands. She's been compared to Stone Cold Steve Austin based on her antihero character, no holds barred badassery, and unwillingness to back down, as well as her surging popularity.
Without a doubt, Lynch's recent ascension is one of the things the WWE has gotten right. Here are ten reasons why Becky Lynch is the biggest star in the company today and a legend in the making.
#1: She started her career as a teenager
Becky Lynch was but sixteen years old when she finished her training and had her first professional wrestling match.
Lynch had always been athletic, competing in swimming and basketball as well as equestrian events, and made the transition to pro wrestling very smoothly. She regularly competed against women with many years more experience than she had. Her opponents were impressed with her poise, grit, and toughness.
Pro wrestlers who begin their careers in their teens always seem to do quite well--Roddy Piper and Pete Dunne are two other big names who started in the business young. Her early success proves that she was born to be a pro wrestling superstar.
#2: She won her first title while still a teenager
While the Women's Evolution in WWE has certainly been thrilling, it took its cues from the independent circuit.
Becky Lynch signed with Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, who were just starting a women's division called Supergirls. Though she was just nineteen years old, she was still the promotion's pick for their inaugural Supergirls champion. She defeated the world-renowned Miss Chevious to win the Supergirls belt and defended it several times before she ultimately lost the title.
The Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling officials were quite impressed with the young Becky Lynch, but her title victory rankled some of the veteran stars. She would end up losing the title to Lisa Moretti and then turned her attention to other international promotions. Still, to be elevated to a champion at such a young age is a rare feat indeed.
#3: Winning the World Queens of Chaos championship in France
Unless you follow international wrestling, in particular, those promotions that operate in Europe, you may not be familiar with the Queens of Chaos league.
It's difficult to run a wrestling promotion without a major broadcast deal, so the Queens of Chaos organization (abbreviated for some reason as KO) chose to 'piggyback' on the shows of other federations. In this way, they could display their talent and garner fans without having access to a television deal. Global Force Wrestling had done this in the past with TNA, and the NWA did the same thing at All In last year.
The Queens of Chaos promotion had a grocery list of familiar names in women's wrestling: Christy Hemme, Sweet Saraya, and April Hunter just to name a few. That's why it's such an accomplishment for Lynch to have captured the vacant World Queens of Chaos championship, defeating Sweet Saraya for the belt.
#4: She overcame a severe head injury and the PTSD that resulted from it
Becky Lynch was one of the fastest rising stars in the women's pro wrestling game when tragedy struck.
During a match, she suffered a severe head injury, so bad that it damaged her eight cranial nerve. Lynch experienced difficulties with her vision, ringing in the ears, dizziness and nausea for a long time before recovering.
However, even after her physical wounds healed, she was struck with an all too familiar condition, PTSD. Lynch admits that her fear of failure was just as big as her fear of another injury and that she spent seven years trying to get herself mentally prepared to step back into the ring.
Overcoming a mental illness is often more challenging than overcoming a physical one. The fact that Lynch was able to do so proves that she has the toughness of character and mental fortitude to deserve her spot as the top star of WWE.
#5: She survived a terrible gimmick
In the above photo, Summer Rae's expression says it all. "What the f***?"
When Becky Lynch was finally ready to return to in-ring action, both physically and mentally, she was drafted by the NXT brand, which at the time was less of its own brand and more of the developmental territory of WWE.
She was told that WWE didn't give out jobs, they gave out opportunities. So when they drafted up an Irish dancing character for her to portray, she didn't say no, despite the fact that she had no training in dance whatsoever.
The results were less than spectacular. Lynch's in-ring work was as tight and entertaining as ever, but her ring entrance turned off many potential fans. It was painfully obvious that Lynch was not a skilled dancer.
Fortunately, just as Triple H overcame the horrid "Terra Ryzin" gimmick he was forced to play in his early career, Becky weathered this early storm and went on to become the Lass Kicker we all know and love.
#6: She put on a critically acclaimed performance against NXT champion Sasha Banks
Despite her terrible Irish Dancing gimmick, Lynch still turned heads in the wrestling world with her stellar performances in the ring. NXT certainly took notice, and put her in a triple threat match against fellow Four Horsewomen Charlotte Flair and Bayley, with the winner due to receive a title shot against then-NXT women's champion Sasha Banks.
Lynch won the triple threat match, to the surprise of many since Bayley and Charlotte were considered the favourites. She would go on to challenge Sasha Banks at NXT Takeover: Unstoppable.
During the match, Lynch debuted a new look based on steampunk art from the Magic: The Gathering collectable trading card game. She also, thankfully, dropped the dancing gimmick entirely.
Though Lynch was unsuccessful in her quest to unseat the Boss as NXT women's champion, the match was so well received it kick-started the women's evolution and has been held up as a gold standard for women's wrestling.
#7: She's one of the most technically sound active pro wrestlers, male or female
As many fans who regularly watch NXT UK can attest, the European wrestling industry loves its old school suplexes and mat wrestling.
Since Becky Lynch was trained in this environment, it should come as no surprise that she is one of the most technically skilled pro wrestlers currently active today, male or female. From her Bexploder suplex to her Dis-Arm-Her, seated Fujiwara armbar, Lynch can mix it up with the best of them.
Her in-ring work isn't limited to just suplexes and submissions, however. She also is a skilled high flyer and can spring off the ropes and sail through the air with the best lucha libre stars on the planet. It all provides further evidence that Becky Lynch isn't just popular, she's damn good at what she does between the ropes.
#8: She has a strong social media game
At one time in the world of pro wrestling, a superstar could become quite successful and not have to worry about presenting themselves in the media. For example, "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton barely uttered a word during his entire career, and yet he is one of the most decorated tag team wrestlers in history.
But times have changed, and new emergent technology has literally changed the world. Pro wrestling is no exception to this change, and these days the smartest sports entertainers know that they have to use all platforms available to them in order to increase their profile with the fandom. Social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook are just two examples of this.
Becky Lynch has adapted to this new climate like she was born to it. Her tweets raise the ire of both her opponents and her detractors while making her supporters cheer for her all that much more.
#9: She's tough as nails
We've already established that Becky Lynch is one of the most technically gifted pro wrestlers currently working today. But that's not the only thing she has going for her in the squared circle.
Becky Lynch is also one of the most legitimately tough athletes on the WWE roster. What else would you expect from someone who was raised on the mean streets of Dublin, Ireland? The Irish are famous for being both willing and able to fight, and for being able to take a beating and dish it out too.
When the Smackdown Live women's division faced off with their rivals on Monday Night Raw, Nia Jax blasted Becky Lynch with a right hook that broke the Lass Kicker's nose and left her bloody. But Lynch went right on with the segment and was seen celebrating even while covered in blood. That's a toughness that you just don't find very often, in either men or women.
Moreover, Lynch admitted that she was on auto-pilot mode most of that segment, hardly even remembering what happened.
#10: The WWE Universe loves "The Man"
While being a top tier technical wrestler, toughness, and a strong athletic background are very helpful in becoming a pro wrestling superstar, they are not, in fact, the most essential ingredient.
In fact, they may not even be necessary, if you look at the career of the Ultimate Warrior, for example. Warrior was a huge megastar and held both the Intercontinental Championship and the WWE World title at the same time.
How did Ultimate Warrior do this, in spite of being a wrestler of admittedly limited skill? By being 'over' with the fans.
"Getting Over' is pro wrestling parlance for having the crowd react to you, either with cheers if you are a face, and boos if you are playing the heel. In spite of Warrior's low technical wrestling ability, he enjoyed the support of the people.
Becky Lynch certainly has the support of the people as well. In fact, her current push and main event status are a direct result of the fans clamouring to see more of 'the Man.' With the WWE Universe at her back, there may be no limits to what she can accomplish in the ring.
There you have it; Ten reasons Becky Lynch is the biggest star in WWE today. Agree or disagree? Please comment and let us know and as always thanks for reading!
Teddy Long snaps when Swerve Strickland's race is brought up HERE
