Becky Lynch
Rebecca Quin, better known by the ring name Becky Lynch, is an Irish and American professional wrestler. She has been signed to WWE as of 2013, where she performs on the Raw brand and is the current WWE Women's Intercontinental Champion in her record-setting second reign. Lynch is often regarded as one of the greatest women's professional wrestlers of all time.
Quin began training as a professional wrestler in 2002. Initially working in Ireland, and occasionally teaming with her brother using the ring name Rebecca Knox, she soon began wrestling across Europe and North America on the independent circuit for various promotions. She most notably competed in Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling and became the inaugural SuperGirls Champion in 2005. In 2006, Quin had a severe head injury during a match which kept her away from wrestling for several years. She returned in 2012 and signed a contract with WWE in 2013, assigned to the developmental territory at NXT. Following her push to WWE's main roster, she became the inaugural SmackDown Women's Champion at Backlash 2016 and has held the title five times.
In 2018, Lynch transitioned to a more aggressive character starting at SummerSlam, when she attacked Charlotte Flair, presenting herself as an unfairly treated underdog and dubbing herself "The Man", resulting in a large increase in her popularity. In 2019, she won the Royal Rumble match, and in the main event of WrestleMania 35 won both the Raw Women's Championship and SmackDown Women's Championship, making her the first woman to hold both titles simultaneously and a four-time WWE women's champion. This was also the first time that a women's match was the main event of a WrestleMania, which was also subsequently the final one-night WrestleMania as it expanded to two nights the following year. She stands as one of only five women to have headlined WWE's marquee event.
After going on maternity leave in May 2020, she returned in August 2021 at SummerSlam to confront SmackDown Women's Champion Bianca Belair, whom she would defeat seconds later to become a four-time SmackDown Women's Champion. With her WWE Women's Tag Team Championship win in early 2023, she became WWE's Sixth Women's Triple Crown Champion, and then after winning the NXT Women's Championship in September 2023, she became WWE's Sixth Women's Grand Slam Champion. In 2025, she won the WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship and went on to set the record for the longest reign at 163 days.
Early life
Rebecca Quin was born in Limerick on 30 January 1987. Shortly after her birth, her family moved back to Dublin. Her parents separated when she was one year old, and her father moved out, but her mother invited him back to co-parent when Rebecca was four. When she was 11, her mother found a new partner, a pilot, and she and Rebecca moved to the coastal suburb of Bayside, to a house beside that of her partner, two years later. Rebecca in her autobiography goes into some detail on completing her growing years there.She started watching professional wrestling from a young age with her brother, Richy, who later wrestled under the ring name Gonzo de Mondo. She was involved in horse riding, swimming, and basketball. However, she went through a difficult teenage period, with problems with schoolwork, even failing Physical education one year.
While at Mount Temple Comprehensive School she considered a career in acting, but was dissuaded by an aunt who was an actor. Quin attended University College Dublin to study philosophy, history and politics, but said she 'really hated it' and dropped out. She planned to return to college to study health and exercise studies. Prior to beginning to train as a wrestler, she stated that she had been 'going down a bad path' involving alcohol, but wrestling helped her give it up.
Professional wrestling career
Training and early career (2002–2005)
As a teenager, Quin heard that Fergal Devitt and Paul Tracey were opening a wrestling school in Ireland. She began training there along with her brother in June 2002. She made her professional wrestling debut five months later on 11 November, using the ring name Rebecca Knox. She teamed with her brother in mixed tag team matches during the early part of her career. She also trained at British professional wrestling promotion NWA UK Hammerlock.Independent circuit (2005–2013)
Knox joined the Canadian promotion SuperGirls Wrestling, an all-female offshoot of Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling in May 2005. Following her arrival at an ECCW show in Surrey, British Columbia, Knox feuded with Miss Chevius and defeated her, but lost to her in Port Coquitlam a month later. The following night, Knox teamed with Calum Macbeth to defeat Miss Chevius and Tony Tisoy in a mixed tag team match in Vancouver. On 24 June, Knox defeated Miss Chevius at an ECCW show in Surrey to become the inaugural SuperGirls Champion. Knox successfully defended the championship on several occasions before eventually losing it to Lisa Moretti in April 2006.In late 2005, Knox participated in All Pro Wrestling 's third ChickFight tournament in Hayward, California; she defeated Morgan in the first round, but was eliminated by eventual winner Mariko Yoshida. Knox then won an eighteen-person battle royal at an event in Tokyo, Japan.
Knox began working for the all-female promotion Shimmer Women Athletes in early 2006. In her debut match for the promotion, she defeated Allison Danger, and established herself as a heel by faking an injury. Following that, she began feuding with Daizee Haze; Knox lost the first match between them, but won the rematch of two-out-of-three falls.
In June 2006, Knox defeated Sweet Saraya to win the vacated World Queens of Chaos Championship at an event in Chouilly, France. She held the championship for few months before dropping it to Saraya in September.
In September 2006, while wrestling in Germany, Knox sustained a legit head injury, following which she claimed to have been "suffering from extremely painful headaches, loud buzzing in her left ear and vision as a result," and was also diagnosed with possible damage to her eighth cranial nerve. A 60-minute Iron Woman match against Haze at Shimmer's Volume 7 taping was cancelled as a result.
Following her injury, Quin took a six-year hiatus, wrestling only on three occasions for Irish promotion Fight Factory Pro Wrestling in 2008, 2012 and 2013. She also reappeared in Shimmer in 2011, managing Saraya and Britani Knight for four shows.
WWE
NXT (2013–2015)
In April 2013, Quin signed a two-year developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment and moved to Florida to report to their developmental territory NXT. On 29 August, her new ring name was revealed as Becky Lynch.Lynch made her televised in-ring debut on 26 June 2014 episode of NXT, defeating Summer Rae. The next week, Lynch teamed up with Bayley in a losing effort to the BFFs: Beautiful Fierce Females in a tag-team match. Lynch spent the next few months competing in non-title matches against Charlotte, losing three in a row. On 23 October episode of NXT, after being told to make herself relevant, Lynch aligned herself with Banks by attacking Bayley, turning heel. Known as Team B.A.E., the alliance started to disintegrate when Banks cost Lynch a match against Bayley in February 2015.
At NXT TakeOver: Rival, Lynch participated in a fatal four-way match for the NXT Women's Championship, which was won by Banks. In April, Lynch defeated Bayley and Charlotte in a triple threat match to earn a title match against Sasha, which she lost at NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable. During the match, she debuted a new look resembling Magic: The Gathering character Chandra Nalaar. The match received widespread critical acclaim, with praise going to both performers.
Women's Revolution (2015–2016)
Lynch made her official main roster debut on 13 July episode of Raw, as a fan favourite, along with Charlotte and Sasha Banks, after Stephanie McMahon called for a "revolution" in the WWE Divas division. Lynch and Charlotte began allying with Paige, who was feuding with Team Bella, while Banks allied with Naomi and Tamina, leading to a brawl between the three teams. The trio of Paige, Lynch and Charlotte, originally dubbed Submission Sorority, was renamed to Team PCB when it was found out the original name was the same as an adult web page. Lynch made her in-ring debut on 20 July episode of Raw, teaming with Paige in a losing effort against Sasha Banks and Naomi. She earned her first singles victory on 28 July episode of Main Event over Brie Bella. The three teams ultimately faced off at SummerSlam in a three-team elimination match, in which Lynch pinned Brie Bella to win the match for PCB.On 31 August episode of Raw, all members of PCB competed in the inaugural "Divas Beat the Clock Challenge", to determine the number one contender for the Divas Championship. Charlotte won the match and went on to claim the title from Nikki Bella at Night of Champions on 20 September. The following night on Raw, Paige turned on her partners during Charlotte's celebration, claiming that Charlotte was only there because of her father Ric Flair and called Lynch the "least relevant" member of the group. Throughout October, Paige tried to reconcile with Lynch and Charlotte only to attack them, officially disbanding Team PCB in the process. On 2 November episode of Raw, Lynch was pinned by Paige in a fatal four-way to earn a title match for Charlotte's Divas Championship. The following week on Raw, Lynch gained revenge by defeating Paige.
On 30 November episode of Raw, Charlotte started displaying villainous traits after she feigned a leg injury to defeat Lynch, followed by a distraction provided by her father. Throughout December, the two's friendship continued to strain and after Lynch defeated her on 4 January 2016 episode of Raw, Charlotte attacked her and solidified her heel turn. Lynch faced Charlotte for the Divas Championship three days later on SmackDown and at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event, but lost both matches after interference from Ric Flair.
Throughout February, Lynch began teaming with Banks against Naomi and Tamina. Their feud continued until Lynch and Banks came victorious in a tag team match at Fastlane. The following night on Raw, a number one contender's match for the Divas Championship between Lynch and Banks ended in a double pin. A rematch on the following SmackDown ended in a no contest when Diva's Champion Charlotte attacked both contestants. As a result, Charlotte was scheduled to defend her title in a triple threat against both wrestlers at WrestleMania 32. At the event, Lynch failed to win the newly created WWE Women's Championship. At Money in the Bank in June, Lynch teamed up with Natalya to face Dana Brooke and Charlotte in a losing effort. After their match, Natalya turned on Lynch and attacked her. The two began feuding for a month until Lynch lost to Natalya at Battleground.