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I have a confession to make. I have never once, during any of its previous four seasons, sat down and watched an episode of Billions. I've heard nothing but good things. I've found myself on numerous occasions channel surfing on a Sunday night looking for something to watch, but for one reason or another, I never landed on the Showtime program.
That is until last night when RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch gave me a reason to tune-in to the Season 5 premiere.
The Man, playing a version of herself, was brought into the offices of hedge fund Axe Capital by Wendy Rhoades (Maggie Siff) in an attempt to get the dysfunctional staff there to start working together as a team.
Her roughly three minutes on screen were filled with quite a bit of colorful language, a staged fight, and a pep talk about "doing the job" and making your co-workers look good even if you dislike them. It was an excellent job from the writing team of finding a seamless way to tie in a pro wrestling analogy and make Lynch's cameo fit the story.
WWE fans who tuned in last night are giving The Man rave reviews for her appearance on the show and were huge fans of her dialogue in particular. The first two words out of her mouth were something you will NEVER hear on WWE programming, I don't care how edgy they are trying to be. It was a great way to pull in the non-wrestling audience and draw attention to the fiery redhead making a scene at the front desk.
As she does so often on RAW, Becky Lynch absolutely owned the screen from the moment she stepped in until the moment the editing team cut to the next scene. The Man is not only getting high marks from wrestling fans by the way, but also the writers, directors, and her fellow actors on the set.
All of them could not be more complimentary of her professionalism and acting chops. She even has actors on other critically acclaimed shows begging for an appearance.
This was the first time since her work on the set of Vikings that Becky Lynch stepped into a non-WWE production and needless to say, it was a great first impression. It's one thing to have marketability and have the ability to bring outside eyes to a new product. It's a whole new ballgame when you can also step in front of the camera and deliver a great performance.
Rumors have started to swirl that Hollywood has it's eye on Becky Lynch and she's already reportedly landed a role in an upcoming Marvel movie. Could she be the next big crossover movie star to come out of the WWE?
It appears she'll certainly have the opportunity. Fans of The Man may want to soak in her next couple of years in the company because they could be her last as a full-time competitor.
The clock may be ticking down on Becky Lynch's time in WWE
Again, I will say that what is coming to Becky Lynch is an opportunity and it's going to be up to her to answer the door when it comes calling. The signs, however, point at her making the move. She told TMZ last week that both The Rock and John Cena have been giving her advice on making the transition to Hollywood and she's even hired an agent.
She's also continued with her acting classes, doing them online during this ongoing pandemic. Paul Davis of WrestlingNews is reporting that Becky Lynch has gotten multiple offers already for both film and TV, including roles in two major movie projects - one of them could be the aforementioned Marvel flick.
This is all very exciting for Becky Lynch and her undying fan base who are clamoring to see her perform on the big screen. It's also a bit sad. As a self-proclaimed major fan of her work, I don't want to see her leave WWE. However, I'm also a realist and I know all good things must come to an end eventually. That's the keyword there - eventually.
Becky Lynch's transition to Hollywood isn't going to happen overnight. She's not going to show up on RAW anytime soon and announce her retirement, even though there's a fair amount of Lynch haters out there that would love to see that happen.
Becky Lynch reportedly signed a new contract with WWE sometime last year. The details of the contract and the validity of her signature on it remain unconfirmed, but if true, it's possible that her time with the company could mirror that of John Cena's during his Hollywood transition.
The latter stages of Cena's WWE tenure have seen him take an increasing amount of time off for a variety of film projects. We'd see the 16-time Champion in high-profile feuds heading into major PPVs like WrestleMania and SummerSlam and then we wouldn't see him again for a while.
Then for the first time since signing with WWE, Cena went a full year without competing in the ring. His match with The Fiend at WrestleMania 36 was his first since January of 2019.
Depending on the offers that come The Man's way, WWE could be forced to do something similar with the reigning RAW Women's Champion. If she's asked to make more cameo appearances as we saw on Billions, Lynch could fit those intermittently into her WWE work schedule.
If she starts getting leading role offers, we may start seeing Becky Lynch taking weeks or months off at a time.
Then there are the Hollywood scheduling and insurance issues. Film studios may not be too keen on Becky Lynch being an active competitor since a potential injury in the ring could cause production delays and potentially the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars a day.
The Rock, one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors, has run into issues with this before. Most notably after he was injured during his match with John Cena at WrestleMania 29, Dwayne Johnson was unable to do PR events for the release of Pain & Gain and jeopardized the filming schedule of Brett Ratner's Hercules.
Am I putting the cart before the horse when it comes to Becky Lynch's acting career? Absolutely I am, but that's only because I see uncharted potential for her in Hollywood.
I'm no film or acting critic, but everything about Becky Lynch screams star to me. Her ability to connect with the audience is what's getting her invited to the dance but it's her skills as a performer that are going to keep her there.
Lynch is one of the best talkers in the game today. Every time she delivers a promo, she does so with passion and with a point. Her acting work in the ring is top-notch as well. The way she tells a story during a match is a beautiful thing to watch unfold. It's that part of her performances that I'm going to miss the most when she does eventually walk away from WWE.
I don't know what Becky Lynch's ultimate goals are, because I've never gotten the chance to speak with her sadly. However, during her WWE 24 post WrestleMania 35 she posed the question to herself - what do you do when all your dreams come true? Her answer was, "make up some new ones."
Well, I firmly believe that if her new dream is to become a leading lady in Hollywood, she has the chops to do it. That's why her reported involvement in an upcoming Marvel movie is particularly exciting. With the shift into Phase 4 of the massive MCU franchise, the studio is looking to build the next generation of Superhero stars.
Couple that with the success of Brie Larson's Captain Marvel and there is potential there for Becky Lynch to step into a role that could make her the next big female action star.
What could that role be? I'm not sure, to be honest. Just remember it was a little known character by the name of Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy that really launched the acting character of Dave Batista. Maybe history is set to repeat itself.
(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and they do not necessarily represent the views of Sportskeeda)
One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
