Becky Lynch | The decade that made The Man

Not many WWE Superstars have had a more successful year in the world of professional wrestling than Becky Lynch, but to even try to begin putting the current RAW Women's Champion's year into perspective, you need to look a little further back than January 1st.

In fact, you need to go back all the way to the very beginning of the decade. Ten years ago, at the beginning of 2010, Becky Lynch's career was in jeopardy. In fact, the phrase "Becky Lynch's career" was absolutely non-existent. Lynch - then known as Rebecca Knox - was sitting on the sidelines reassessing her wrestling career following an incredibly serious head injury suffered four years previous in Germany.

The up and coming Irish talent would suffer from "extremely painful headaches, loud buzzing in her left ear and impaired vision," and was diagnosed with possible damage to her eighth cranial nerve, which induced a six-year hiatus for Lynch, whose last match at the turn of the decade would be a one-off bout for Fight Factory Pro Wrestling in 2008.

Now, one of the most iconic images this decade - not just of Becky Lynch, but in the world of sports entertainment - is THAT photo of Becky Lynch standing tall after being punched in the face by Nia Jax, where an injury would derail plans for Lynch vs Rousey at Survivor Series. Now, the resilience and determination shown by Lynch to come back better and stronger than ever before is unquestionable, but it's a little known fact that those two things are a character trait of The Man, even from before that iconic moment when the latest incarnation of The Man was born.

For me, it has to be @BeckyLynchWWE.2010: Hadn’t wrestled for years due to a serious head injury.End of 2019: Face of WWE, 2K cover star, first simultaneous RAW & SmackDown Women’s Champ, Royal Rumble winner, won the first Women’s WrestleMania main event.Smashing barriers. https://t.co/m9ITHbF38B

— Gary Cassidy (@consciousgary) December 11, 2019

Lynch's hiatus would slowly disintegrate from 2010 onward, with an appearance in Shimmer to manage Britani Knight - AKA Paige - and her mother Saraya on a short run, before competing in one-off matches in 2012 and 2013. What came next, though, would be groundbreaking. Rebecca Quin would sign with WWE.

But that wouldn't be the be-all-and-end-all conclusion to the narrative. While Quin signed a two-year developmental deal and moved to Florida - becoming "Becky Lynch" - there was an incredibly long road ahead, and several more hurdles to leap over.

2014 saw Lynch debut on NXT with a win over Summer Rae, before going on a losing run which would see The Four Horsewomen born, but the Irish Superstar would struggle to gain a foothold and make her "character" relevant - essentially becoming the black sheep of the group, and even debuting a new look seemingly based on Chandra Nalaar from Magic The Gathering. Could that character have ever been The Man? Very unlikely.

The black sheep, though, would become the dark horse. Arguably the most underrated and underutilized talent in NXT's thriving women's division - and, while the character wasn't fully evolved, Becky Lynch had garnered recognition as a performer, and most definitely earned her move from NXT, which was then perceived as a developmental brand, to WWE's "Divas Division" - handpicked alongside a select few talents to kick off the Women's Revolution.

It was little known then, though, that Lynch would arguably become the breakout performer of those hand-picked women.

After just one year on the "main roster," Becky Lynch would be recognized as one of WWE's most valuable assets when she became the first woman selected in the WWE Draft - to SmackDown, where she would soon become the inaugural SmackDown Women's Champion and become a staple of the brand thereafter.

The latter stages of 2017 would see Lynch captain Team SmackDown at Survivor Series, before the now former SmackDown Women's Champion would enter the first ever Women's Royal Rumble Match at number two, lasting 30 minutes in the contest. Lynch would continue to be in and around the title picture, and build momentum and reputation as one of the Blue brand's most reliable stars. Lynch would feud with Charlotte Flair, who she would defeat for the SmackDown Women's Championship at Hell In A Cell. As Champion, Lynch would retain at the first ever all-women's WWE pay-per-view, Evolution, in a Last Woman Standing Match.

Then there was the inevitable RAW vs SmackDown Women's Champions Match at Survivor Series vs Ronda Rousey, in a match with as perfect a build as the WWE Universe had witnessed in a long time - but the aforementioned Nia Jax punch would effectively cancel the match, with Lynch instead choosing Charlotte Flair to represent SmackDown after Lynch had spearheaded an invasion of RAW.

Upon her return, though, Lynch would show more hunger and drive than ever before, only losing her title at TLC against both Charlotte Flair and Asuka in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match due to interference from Rousey.

The turn of the year, though, would be when Lynch started really harvested the fruits of her labor. Following an unsuccessful attempt to win back the gold from Asuka, Lynch would shock the world by replacing an injured Lana in the Women's Royal Rumble Match and win it - setting up a WrestleMania clash with Rousey for the RAW Women's Championship at WrestleMania 35.

Following an attack on Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, Vince McMahon suspended Lynch for 60 days and replaced her with Charlotte Flair as Ronda Rousey's WrestleMania opponent. Rousey would plead that Lynch should be reinstated, and even began deliberately helping Lynch via a Fastlane disqualification that had WrestleMania implications.

The ultimate crescendo of Lynch's monumental rise would be at WrestleMania. With Charlotte Flair winning the SmackDown Women's Championship from Asuka and Rousey holding the RAW Women's Champion, the stakes couldn't be higher at WrestleMania 35 in a match that would go down in history as the first ever women's WrestleMania main event.

Lynch would controversially pin Rousey to take the titles off both women, directly breaking Ronda Rousey's one-year winning streak and coining the term Becky Two Belts - becoming the first woman to simultaneously hold the gold from both brands and firmly establish herself as the face of WWE. That point was reiterated when Lynch became the first ever female cover star of a WWE 2K game to round out the year, and the decade, in the most fitting of fashions for a WWE Superstar who's gone from broken nose to breaking barriers in a year, but also very nearly shattered dreams to shattering all preconceived notions of what "women's" wrestling is.

The rise of Becky Lynch may have been the most unprecedented success story of the decade, and Lynch's 2010-2019 legacy was truly Man-made.