Becky Lynch has long been one of the most interesting people in sports entertainment and a standard-bearer for the WWE. She is adept both inside and outside of the ring, arguably the best in her profession ever to use social media to create awareness of her performance. Even if you are not a fan of professional wrestling, you can learn a lot from performers like Lynch (real name Rebecca Quin) about effective communication and modern media.
WWE’s annual SummerSlam event takes place Saturday at Ford Field, the home of the Detroit Lions, and while Lynch’s match with WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus is not listed on the card (the two are booked for a “Monday Night Raw” taping in Winnipeg on Aug. 14), she appeared this week as a guest on my “Sports Media Podcast” to offer insight into how she views media writ large and navigates media requests. She also discussed the challenges of having a massive social media following and the real mental health strain of toxic comments, as well as writing a book.
(Editor’s note: The following has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.)
I asked this of Seth Rollins (Lynch’s husband and the WWE World Heavyweight Champion) a couple of years ago, and he gave me a fascinating answer. Promotion is obviously a massive part of your business. How do you navigate interviews where some people want you in character and storyline and then other interviews where they want to talk about the business of wrestling or your professional career?
I think it’s walking a fine line, right? People say that kayfabe is dead — and to a certain extent it is — but people want to believe it. People want to believe what we’re doing. When we’re invested in it, you want people to have that emotional hook. But there’s also a thing where we tell them this is a story; this is the storytelling. I think there is a way of leaning into both sides where, yes, this is the professional side of the business, and let’s talk about this because we’ve already laid all of our cards out on the deck. But also, in every single good story, there is a layer of truth — many layers of truth quite often. How do we bring them in with the layers of truth that are unkind, that are unforgiving and harness them so that people get more invested in the story because there is always an element of truth and conflict?
This is a competitive business. … I want to be the top dog, and whomever else is on top wants to be the top dog. Sometimes, you’re going to butt heads. Yes, there is room for multiple people at the top, but you always want to be the best, so you’re always trying to find a way to get the better of somebody else. That’s just the nature of the business. If I’m talking about how much I dislike Trish Stratus, but she’s saying how great I am, that’s not interesting. We want that conflict. Tell me how much you hate me because I hate you. I was never a fan of Trish Stratus, you know? So, being opposite of her and bringing those truths out I think helps everything. It is both a competition and a symbiotic thing where we’re all working together. It’s interesting. It’s a business like no other, really.
How do you look at getting mainstream attention versus the traditional attention you get in the wrestling press?
That’s one of those things when these opportunities are presented to you, first of all, you never say no. There’s things that you want to do as a performer. Coming up, you want to go into the mainstream, you want to bring in a bigger audience. But you also want to bring your audience with you to other places. I remember watching as a fan, and when you would see your favorite wrestlers on TV shows that are maybe more mainstream, you loved that. You celebrated it. How do we constantly cultivate more of an audience? How do we bring our audience with us and keep doing that in a way that feels authentic? I want people to feel the way about wrestling the way I do. I want people to love it. I want people to be passionate about it. I want people to want to talk about it all the time. I want people to get excited about it because that’s how I felt as a fan. I’ve been on the other end of the spectrum. I’ve been the one who wasn’t getting any media opportunities, scratching and clawing to get any part on TV. So, when I’m given opportunities, I don’t want to turn any of them down.
How do you decide on which interviews you want to do?
For the most part, there’s a lot of yeses. The only thing is if it conflicts with my family — if it’s something where it’s going to make life harder for my family and my daughter. Or, if it’s work commitments to wrestling. But there’s another part of it: A lot of the time, I’m asking to do other media opportunities. For example, can we go back to Ireland (Lynch was born in Limerick and grew up in Baldoyle, a suburb of Dublin) and garner that audience? I can be on the “Today” show (in America) and things like that, but my mom isn’t going to see it. So, there’s a little sense of Irish pride, being able to be on TV shows back home. I feel very lucky that I’ve been able to do all of it and balance it pretty well.
How different are you depending on the media outlet?
I think it depends on the energy that the interviewer brings in from you. Also, what are we there to promote? Am I there to promote myself? Am I there to promote a storyline? Am I there to promote that I want to decimate Trish Stratus? If it’s the latter, you’re going to get a lot more violence from me (laughs). But if it’s to explain what wrestling is, then you’re going to get a softer side, a very passionate side. But … I am passionate about decimating Trish Stratus, too.
There has been an immense amount written about you the last decade-plus. How much do you keep up with what is being said to you?
You know, I try not to keep stock of what anybody is saying about me. I avoid comments. I try to avoid dirt sheets because, look, I think of myself as an artist. I think when you are being bombarded by opinions, good or bad, it takes that effect on you. One way or the other, whether you’re mentally strong enough to say, “That doesn’t bother me,” somewhere it lives in your head. Especially when it’s the negative stuff — it will live in your head — but even the good stuff. What brought you to the dance doesn’t always keep you at the dance, you know? You have to be able to adapt. You have to be able to trust your instincts and go with that. I find that in this world where we are constantly being bombarded by opinions — you should be this, you should do that — it takes different thinking to be able to stand out and trust yourself because you’re the one that followed your gut to get to where you wanted to get.
I want to ask you about social media. Do you put yourself in character as you are posting? Do you have to do that? You’re tweeting as Becky Lynch and not Rebecca Quin?
Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, I don’t know where Rebecca Quin starts and Becky Lynch ends, you know, especially in terms of putting myself out there on social media. I have a very weird relationship with social media, actually. I think a lot of it started around the pandemic. I think a lot of us started to get this weird relationship with social media. It is a great promotional tool. Sometimes I worry about the effects social media has on the world and our connection with each other. Of course it’s this great tool to use for promotion and putting ourselves out there. I think Twitter became a bit of a cesspool, you know, especially around 2020. It just rapidly got pretty awful. Again, it is a way to communicate with the fans, but it’s also hard to navigate that I think for anybody. It’s hard to navigate between the comments; how do we garner this connection with people?
Maybe I am obsessed?!?! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/7Hy7eZol9A
— Rebecca Quin (@BeckyLynchWWE) July 18, 2023
The other thing is I think it gives all of us a skewed perception of humankind. Everybody’s reduced to avatars on there — which is great in wrestling. It’s great when I’m talking about Trish Stratus, Zoey Stark, whomever else. But I think when it comes to humanity and people being reduced to avatars and talking in 140 characters at each other where opinions are seen as absolute, you just see the disintegration of relationships and just arguments. That’s when I started to kind of go, “OK, what is this?” Yes, we need it. We need it to a certain level of promotion. But then you are getting sucked in as a person to the algorithm. Again, it comes back to how you can be the artist you want to be without being sucked into an algorithm and being fed things that you don’t necessarily want to see.
You mentioned you’re writing a book, an autobiography coming out in 2024. People who I’ve interviewed in the traditional media space, when they’ve written it themselves or had someone write it after long interviews, it’s a very cathartic experience for them. Have you found the process of talking about your life cathartic, interesting, nerve-wracking, all of the above?
I think all of the above. We all think of ourselves as the hero of our own story. At some point, you look at yourself and you go, “Oh no, I was the a–hole here.” Things like that where you have to be really honest with yourself. It is quite humbling. But I did love the writing process, especially the early writing process, where it was just a brain dump. Let me get all of my thoughts, all of my ideas, all of my memories, just down on paper. Let me just write without the moral police being on my shoulder, without the public judgment on my shoulder. Let me just write for me. I found that experience to be my favorite part. I did a yearlong writing course.
You wrote it yourself?
I did write it myself. I wrote it and then realized that I didn’t know anything about writing. Have you heard of the (Dunning)-Kruger Effect, where you start something and you’ve never done it? You’re like, I am awesome at this. I am so good. I’m the best. I am a prodigy. I’m a natural. That’s how I felt about writing. Then I did this writing course because I wanted to be good at it. I found out how little I knew about writing. It’s very intimidating. It was a round circle program where other people read your work and gave feedback. It was very helpful. You find out what’s working and what isn’t working. But, I loved that process because I love trying to improve on something, especially when I get passionate about something and I want to be good at it. I really love writing. It’s something that I’ve done my whole life. My dad had me writing journals since as long as I could write. I’ve found that almost meditative for me. Writing the book was a great process. Now I’m in the late editing process. Finally, I’ve got a great editor, so we’re off to the races. Hopefully it’ll be out early next year.
(Photo: Alejandro Salazar / PX Images / Icon Sportswire via AP Images)