Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch puts her title on the line against Doudrop at the 35th annual Royal Rumble.
In an interview provided to NZPWI, Lynch talks about her shared history with her challenger—predating their time in WWE—as well as Royal Rumble memories, dream matches, and goals still left to accomplish for The Man.
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Do you have a favourite all-time Royal Rumble moment you remember growing up as a fan?
That’s a good question, but I don’t think there’s one that I could pinpoint to. Royal Rumble was always the pay-per-view that I would stay up to watch, mostly because it was free on Irish television. Obviously, because of the time difference, it would start at 1am and I’d be up to 4am in the morning watching it. I just loved it. I loved the surprise element. That’s the best thing about the Royal Rumble. It’s the surprises. You don’t know who’s going to come out. You don’t know when they’re going to come out. It’s awesome. Obviously, for myself, my favourite Royal Rumble moment would be when I won the Royal Rumble.
In a recent interview Doudrop said this match against you at Royal Rumble is 15 years in the making – dating back to your time on the independent scene in the UK and Ireland. What can fans expect from it?
So here’s the thing. I’m The Man and she’s a fan. When she was starting out, we were both teenagers at the time, but I had made a name for myself all over the world. All over Europe, all over America, Canada, Japan, and with few role models to look at. She looked at this Rebecca Knox who was just breaking barriers all over the place, and then I was gone. And so I imagine when I re-emerged at WWE years later to change the landscape of women’s wrestling, she was just beside herself. Beside herself. Now I think she’s putting on a bit of a bravado, trying to act tough, trying to hold it together because she’s insecure that she’s going against her idol.
You tweeted Beth Phoenix back in January asking if she wanted to fight… is that a dream match for Becky Lynch?Royal Rumble marks the start of the Road to WrestleMania. How special is this time of year for WWE Superstars and the WWE Universe?
I mean it’s like we’re Elves in Santa’s workshop getting ready for Christmas. We’re real hyped about it, you know, hyped up on sugar, hyped up on maple syrup and… I’m hyped up on fighting. I’m wanting to make the best toys for Santa Claus. That’s a terrible analogy, but I’m going with it. I’m the frickin’ Head Elf and I want to main event WrestleMania.
You have broken down barriers and set records as a WWE champion, but what are the big records you still want to break?
That’s a tough one. You know, I don’t know without forcing myself if there’s anything else I really have that dream goal of achieving. Obviously I want to main event WrestleMania again. Obviously, I want to fight all of these people, but I think that there’s something freeing in not being tied to ‘this goal is either going to make me or break me’. I feel like I accomplished all those things that I’ve wanted to accomplish, but now I’ve accomplished them and I felt that feeling. I want to stay there and I want to bring everybody up there and, maybe being Big Time Becks, I want the women’s roster to continue to thrive. I want the show to be awesome. I want to have great matches. I want to have better matches than I’ve had. I want to have better promos than I’ve had. I want the stories to be brilliant and unmissable and I just want the business to be great and I want to help make it great.
If you could invite anyone outside of WWE/sports entertainment to enter the Royal Rumble… who would you choose?
Eddie Vedder. Just so I could meet him because he’s fantastic. An incredible musician. I feel like we’d be buds.
WWE Royal Rumble airs live this Sunday, January 30, from 2pm (NZDT) on Sky Arena & WWE Network.
