Years before she was going by “The Man,” Becky Lynch became the first woman to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship by claiming the title at the Backlash pay-per-view on Sept. 11, 2016.
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Lynch celebrated her three-year anniversary of that victory on Wednesday by posting a photo of herself from both then and now.
3 years ago I won my first title and felt like apologising for it. Since then I’ve stood up, grown up, straightened my spine and changed this whole damn business. And I apologise to no-one for it. pic.twitter.com/OvoWsmJVjw
— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) September 11, 2019
Lynch dropped the title to Alexa bLiss at the TLC pay-per-view in December of that year, and would remain out of the title picture until SummerSlam in 2018. She initially turned heel after Charlotte Flair pinned her in a triple threat match at the show, but fans instantly supported her new outspoken persona causing her to eventually switch back to babyface. She beat Flair to win the title at Hell in a Cell, then won it back in the Winner Take All WrestleMania 35 triple threat main event against Flair and then-Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey.
Flair beat Lynch for the SmackDown title the following month at Money in the Bank, but she’s managed to keep the Raw Women’s title for more than 150 days.
In recent weeks Lynch has been feuding with two of her fellow Four Horsewomen in Sasha Banks and Bayley. Banks turned heel on her first night back after a four-month hiatus from the company and attacked Lynch with a steel chair. Bayley followed suit several weeks later, and now Lynch will have to defend her title against Banks on Sunday at Clash of Champions.
Meanwhile outside of wrestling Lynch recently got engaged to reigning Universal Champion Seth Rollins. WWE brought the pair’s relationship to WWE television for a program against Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans, and the pair managed to retain their titles in a mixed tag match at Extreme Rules.
Lynch is also caught in the middle of a trademark dispute between the WWE and Ric Flair, who claims that he should be getting royalties for her using the nickname “The Man” on merchandise. She made an official comment on the issue during a recent interview with ESPN.
“All I can say about Ric is, I like Ric. He’s been a good friend to me over the years,” Lynch said. “We’ll see what happens with that.”
