Becky Lynch may not be in wrestling today if it were not for Mick Foley.
Lynch thinks very highly of The Hardcore Legend and has taken his advice on multiple occasions. When The Man was at her most frustrated, it was Mick Foley who stopped Becky Lynch from leaving WWE altogether.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, the NXT Women’s Champion recalled her wrestling fandom as a child, enjoying the business at a younger age but falling out of love as she got older:
“Mick Foley told me a story, man, his promos. Yeah, so like I remember being a fan when I was a kid you know, Hulkamania, Warrior all that kind of jazz, dressing up in my mom’s clothes and wrestling with my brother on her bed. But I fell out of watching it I think mostly because my brother fell out of watching and then he started watching again in the Attitude Era. And I’d come along when he was watching it. And I was one of those. I was the worst. I was like, oh, no, you know, that’s so fake, that for babies. And [he said] no, no, just it’s gotten really good. Yeah, sure, whatever.
At the request of her brother, Lynch reluctantly watched an episode of WWE during The Attitude Era to try and be persuaded that wrestling was good again. Upon seeing Foley on the TV, Lynch was instantly hooked:
But then Mick would come on and would be like the way he talked you know, and the stories he would tell and this underdog that he was in this unlikely superstar that he was. I was a bit of a misfit as a kid not a bit of a misfit, very much a misfit. And I could see myself in him like there was just that relationship that rapport of like, No, you’re not the picture-perfect superstar. And so he became my hero.
The Man revealed the true state of her fandom for Foley, getting emotional at the result of the Hell in a Cell match at No Way Out 2000:
You know, I really wanted him to win and then he had that match with Triple H where he was going to retire if he lost and I remember staying up late watching it, him losing and me just being in floods of tears. And of course, he came back like four weeks later, whatever. But, that was really what hooked me and then I was there to stay you know? And then I saw Lita and she was so cool when I wanted to be like her and then everybody else. I mean it was just such a hot time in the business. But I just fell in love with it.”
Mick Foley also had some kind comments for Becky Lynch recently, while telling an anecdote about how he could have become her manager in WWE.
Becky Lynch Looks Back On “Shameful” Debut
Now one of the biggest stars in WWE history, Lynch would never have thought that she would have soared to meteoric stardom when she first debuted in NXT. Reacting to her first televised match, Becky Lynch has compared it to the infamous debut of The Shockmaster.
If you use any quotes from this article please credit Chris Van Vliet and leave a h/t to Inside The Ropes.