Welcome to WrestleMania Saturday everyone! The most stupendous two-night event in the history of WrestleMania kicks-off tonight at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, TX. As of this writing, there’s still some confusion as to what the true main event of the evening will be. WWE has been throwing around the words “main event” like they’re hosting an Oprah special and everybody gets one, but there’s one match in particular tonight that many fans have said (via social media) is their main event – Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair for the RAW Women’s Championship.
“The people’s main event! Even if the people don’t like me anymore. I’ll tell you what your main event is – It’s me!”
Becky Lynch has been on absolute fire during the media rounds this week, promoting her huge title defense. Whether it’s what she told me there during the WrestleMania Media Junket, or what she told Ariel Helwani in a sit down one-on-one, Big Time Becks seems pretty adamant that it doesn’t matter what time her and Bianca fight. Even if that means that the SmackDown Women’s Championship match between Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey closes the show.
“It makes no difference. They can go on later. Again, I don’t think they’re the main event. Look, my match is going to steal the show, my match is going to be better, my story has been better, everything that I’ve done has been better, that’s not even a question.”
“Even if they do go last, I don’t care, my stuff is better, my stuff is the real main event.”
“I think in terms of story-wise, the only two women to have ever won the main event of WrestleMania main-eventing WrestleMania, going on last, I think that would be the perfect story. Two losers main eventing WrestleMania? Two main event losers main eventing WrestleMania?”
“You feel like it’s a token gesture that they are going on last because of Ronda’s name. I don’t think anybody thinks that their story is better and that they deserve it. (ht WONF4W)”
While there are still a number of holdouts who just can’t let go of the past and are desperately clinging to the days of when “The Man” came around from town to town, there’s no denying that both the in-ring and character work Becky Lynch has been putting in since returning at SummerSlam last year, has been nothing short of spectacular.
The last few weeks alone, Lynch has been on a downward spiral as she feels the incredibly talented and hungry Bianca Belair breathing down her neck. She is on the verge of a mental breakdown and will very likely snap completely if the EST of WWE becomes the first woman in three years to beat her for the RAW Women’s Championship.
“This is my identity. This is who I am. I don’t even know what I would do with my fricking hands if I made my entrance, if I didn’t have title,” Lynch said during the WrestleMania Media Tour. “I can’t think about losing this. I can’t think about it. I don’t think. I don’t like where I would go, if I had to think about losing my title. It’s all I’ve ever known. It’s all I’ve known for the last three years.”
Much of what Big Time Becks has been saying this week, has clearly been in character. Media scrums like the one I took part in on Friday are the perfect opportunity for Lynch to have some fun and sharpen her quick wit and quick quips. Unless you completely blindside her the way I did.
Becky Lynch has been someone I’ve wanted to speak with for the better part of four years now. I’m never one to make a story about myself, but in this instance I needed to thank her. Back in 2018 I was at a low point mentally and professionally. I had just been beaten down by a series of professional failures and resided myself to the fact that I just wasn’t going to go to the places I envisioned.
The better part of that summer I was pondering a change of occupation, after spending eight years trying to carve out a career as a broadcaster. Needless to say my confidence, which I still struggle with on a daily basis, was at an all-time low.
As a long time WWE fan, I would often turn to pro wrestling for an escape. And a younger Rick Ucchino was (and still is) a huge Becky Lynch fan. Yes, I will admit to being one of those annoying Twitter fans back in 2018, screaming for WWE to properly book someone we all knew was extremely talented. We were right by the way, but I digress. Finally, WWE wised up around SummerSlam that year and Lynch took off like a rocket. She ascended to heights that no woman in WWE history had reached before her, with millions of fans joining her for the ride.
Understandably, Lynch did a lot of media at that time and it was around then that I really started paying attention. Because when she would talk about her early days in WWE, she would speak openly about self-doubt. Her lack of confidence. Feeling apologetic for being the SmackDown Women’s Champion. I was left wondering, what did she not see in herself, that I saw? That so many saw? Then I starting thinking, what am I not seeing in myself?
To make a long story short (too late), suddenly there was a spark I hadn’t felt in a long time. Something was telling me to give it another go. So I sent an email. That email was the first domino to fall in a three year journey that led me here. The last few years have been the best of my career. I’ve had the opportunity to do some amazingly cool things, meet some wonderful people and interview a number of folks that I admire. Including now, Big Time Becky Lynch. I told her all this, and suddenly I wasn’t talking to Becky Lynch anymore. I was speaking with Rebecca Quin.
I’m not the first person to tell her a story like that. She has inspired so many of her fans across the world and continues to do so on a daily basis.
“That means the world. And so I think that’s the thing is that we forget how universal those doubts are. And how close overcompensation of confidence can be, to just crippling insecurity, you know? And so we don’t realize that the biggest stars that you see on your TV are doubting themselves and worrying that their stuff isn’t good enough. That they’re not good enough. That they’re old news, that they’re has been.
It’s a constant battle. And especially when you’re bombarded and we’re all constantly bombarded by so much negativity and doubt. You have to find a way to filter that constantly. And my way of doing it is saying, ‘Oh, they win. They win. If they get me to doubt myself, then they win and they can’t win, cause I’m a winner.’ But yeah, it’s just such a universal thing.”
Quin then went on to praise her good friend Big E, who recently suffered a broken neck on an episode of Friday Night SmackDown and has been nothing short of a beacon of positivity ever since.
“It’s so good that we’re getting to a point where we’re talking a lot more about mental health, because I think so many people battle with it, but it’s not something you can see. So, I love that people are talking about it and anything that people can draw inspiration from… Big E for example, has been such a champion of it lately. And I mean, you meet Big E and he is package of love. You could not say a bad word about him. One of the most talented people I’ve ever come across in my life, he is beloved by world around and he is somebody who’s also dealt with insecurities, with doubt. But he talks about it. And man, what a champion and just showing you what’s possible and how wonderful a person you can be when you address these things. Although I don’t think Big E’s ever been anything other than just fricking the best.”
On behalf of all those you who draw their inspiration from both Becky Lynch and Big E, and strive to be better versions of themselves because of them, allow me to say thank you to the both of you.
You can check out my full interview with both Becky Lynch and Rebecca Quin for the Bleav in Pro Wrestling Podcast in the video above, also feel free to check out some of my other conversations from the weekend below.
Rhea Ripley: “I am a singles competitor and I was so ready to go on my own and just be the lone wolf that I love to be. So the first time we tagged, like before the match I was like, ‘Ah, do I really wanna do this?’ But then she (Liv Morgan) came up to me and she was like, ‘You wanna wear my shirt?’ And I was like, “Oh this is gonna be good. This is gonna be good. I like this pairing already.”
Sami Zayn: “That’s one of the things that people don’t understand about being on the inside of WWE, is how chaotic all of this is. And how sometimes, it’s not about the Intercontinental Title’s not important, let’s dismiss it. Sometimes it’s just dominos fall and sometimes you’re just the odd man out.”
AJ Styles: “You know what, I should be happy (that I was his The Undertaker’s last match), but I’m not.”
Los Lotharios: “Ohhhhhhhhhhh… We can do it forever! 24/7, whatever you want!”
Rick Ucchino can be reached at Rick.Bleav@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter @RickUcchino and make sure to subscribe to the Bleav in Pro Wrestling YouTube Channel.