Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Becky Lynch on Ronda Rousey Controversy, Becoming THE MAN, Punching Dom In The Face!

Episode Date: April 18, 2024

Becky Lynch (@beckylynchwwe) is a New York Times bestselling author and a professional wrestler with WWE. She joins Chris Van Vliet in Philadelphia, PA to talk about her new book called "Becky Lynch: The Man: Not Your Average Average Girl", becoming a New York Times bestselling author, balancing her career in the WWE with being a mom to her daughter Roux, her favorite stories about her husband Seth Rollins, not remembering anything from the night she became "The Man" and got punched in the face by Nia Jax, her viral moment when she knocked out Dominik Mysterio, main eventing WrestleMania 35, Ronda Rousey refusing to tap out, being part of the "Triple H Era" of WWE and much more. Quote I'm thinking about: "Don't downgrade your dream to match your reality. Upgrade your faith to match your destiny." - DeVon Franklin Sponsors: PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT for a first deposit match up to $100! BABBEL: Learn a new language and get 50% off your lifetime Babbel subscription at http://babbel.com/cvv MAGIC SPOON: Get $5 off with the code CVV at http://magicspoon.com/cvv RHONE: Upgrade your closet with Rhone and use CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv BETTERHELP: Get 10% off your first month with the code INSIGHT at http://betterhelp.com/insight MUDWTR: Get 15% off with the code CVV15 at http://mudwtr.com/cvv MYBOOKIE: Bet on WWE! Use the code CVV to get a 50% welcome bonus when you sign up at http://mybookie.ag BLUECHEW: Use the code INSIGHT to get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at http://bluechew.com PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at http://plunge.com BONCHARGE: Go to http://boncharge.com/CVV and use coupon code CVV to save 15% on your BONCHARGE Infrared Sauna Blanket! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris The Greetings and salutations my friends Welcome back to another one Here on Insight I'm CVV Chris Van Fleet

How you doing? How's everything going in your world? Thank you so much for being here Thank you for making Insight One of the top wrestling podcast on the planet

And this is one I've wanted to do in person For a while You know her as the man You know her as big time Bex But she is now A New York Times best selling author. Becky Lynch is awesome. And I'm so glad that she was able to make the time to sit down with us

during a very busy WrestleMania week. And she was also in the middle of a book tour. So like finding the time to do this was not easy. We were going back and forth for like a month to make this happen. But I'm so glad that we did. Her book is called Becky Lynch, the man, not your average, average girl. It's a fantastic read. I talk about how all the time in the world that we live in now, you just see the finished product, especially on Instagram, especially on social media, but you don't see the struggles along the way. You don't see something in someone's life that you can relate to now because it just looks so finished and perfect and glossy. And I love that in her book, it takes us back all the way.

in her words to her being an unathletic girl with an eating disorder that lacked confidence. And you see all of these little wins along the way, these little things that happen that start to build her into the person that we see now. And I mean, an unathletic girl with an eating disorder is certainly not the Becky Lynch we see in the WWE now. So there's so many lessons to be learned from this book. and also from this interview and just the way that she lives her life.

So I love this conversation. She dives deep into being a mom and Seth Rollins. Of course, she calls him Colby throughout the interview, which makes perfect sense. Why would she be calling him Seth Rollins? But there's so much great stuff here.

And yes, we talk about that recent punch right to Dom's face. Crazy. Go grab a copy of her book or actually listen to the audio book She reads it herself, so it's so good. Or you know what? Let's level up here.

Buy the book and then listen to the audio book as you're reading it. So it's like Becky is sitting there reading it with you. That's actually a big hack. Like a way to really retain knowledge when reading books is to read along with the audiobook. But we're not here for book reading hacks. Just snap a screenshot. Let us know you're listening.

tag us so we can share it. She's at Becky Lynch, WWE. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. You're going to love this. Please enjoy this conversation with Becky Lynch. Congratulations on this. Thank you. Best selling author, New York Times bestselling author.

That's you. Yeah. Where does this rank on all of the great achievements you've had in your career? This is the thing that I'm most proud of in my career. Because it's just, it's, one, I think people expect me. me to be a good wrestler, you know, it should be. That's my job. But they don't expect you to be a great writer? Yeah, yeah. And this is something that I always wanted to do. And I'm really proud of it. And I'm proud of the story that it told and the emotion that it brings. And it's got everything,

you know, it's got comedy, it's got sadness, it's got hurt. And yeah, I'm just really proud of it. The way you wrote it makes it feel like you're actually like sitting there telling me these stories. Yeah, because I sat there and wrote it and told you these stories. Yeah. And so that's what I wanted it to be. I wanted it to be something where people wanted to turn the page. And it was an easy read, an enjoyable read, and the people could kind of get lost in for a few hours. Because it's such an undertaking to ask somebody to pick up a book and read it.

Because you have to cut everything out, you know? You have to just take that time to pick it up, to read. And so if I'm asking people to do that, I want to make sure that it's good. And I think it's good. It is good. I mean, the New York Times bestseller list. It's pretty amazing. This is the book that I think is going to inspire a lot of people.

This is the book that's going to inspire a new generation. I hope so. Who was the person that did that for you? Who inspired you in that way when you were starting out? Mick Folley. Hence why I wanted to be the author of, my own book. Because Mick was the person who I would

see my brother be watching wrestling and I walked past the TV and I'm like oh don't you know that's all fake? Like the worst. And my brother was like, you know, it's gotten really good. And then I'd see Mick on the TV and be like, wow,

the way he talked and the presence that he had, he was so captivating. And then, you know, I could relate to him because I was this kid who had been teased for being overweight and felt like I didn't fit him. He wasn't the typical super star. And I could relate to that, you know, when he said, like, I can't jump high, but I can jump

off of high places. And so everything about him spoke to me. And also, he just looked like such a good person. And then over the years, I've gotten to know him. And, you know, whoever says, don't meet your heroes, their hero wasn't Mick Foley. because he's so great. Like when I told him I was writing, like I wrote a draft which wasn't very good, I would say.

And he went through it. And first of all, he was so complimentary, so encouraging that I had a voice, that I had a unique voice, that I needed to use my voice. And then the other thing was he spent six hours on the phone just going line by line through the book,

picking out like even stuff like where I should have put a comma And so I was like, oh, well, the copy editor will pick all that up. But, like, he just took that time because he cares so much. He's so great. Wow. Wow. So you were sitting there writing this whole thing. Yeah.

When did the process begin? I mean, it started back in 2020 when I, you know, I was pregnant. The world was shut down. Well, might as well start, you know. When I just started writing it was just like word vomit onto a page. Like, no censoring my stuff. self in any capacity, just like, let me get words down onto the page. And then I'd reach a certain point and I'd kind of, I'd get stuck and then I'd leave it for months on end. And then I'd come back

and I'd start again from the beginning. And I would do this process over and over again until like 2022, 2022, it was right as I was having that match with Bianca at WrestleMania. And I decided to take writing course. And I took a year-long writing course. And there was some stuff with my book deal where nobody had given me a deadline. And it turned out to

like, just coincidentally, the deadline ended up being right at the end of the book course. And so it worked out perfectly that now I had accountability. I could do it. And so

within that year, ended up handing in a draft. And then I had problems with editors where, like, my one editor just disappeared. And then there was another editor, and we didn't click so much. And then I got this other editor, Rebecca Strobel. And she was amazing. She was amazing. So I sent her off the draft.

And then she came back with a bunch of questions. And then I read it for the first time, like, read it back in one thing. And I was like, oh, I hate this. I hate this. And then I scrapped the whole thing and rewrote it in, like, about five weeks. Wow. Yeah, so that's a very long story about how long the process took. But like, you know, kind of took within three years, but also took five weeks.

What was difficult to write? Because there's a very cathartic, I can't even say the word. Athartic. Athartic. Thank you. Wow. It's quite the process, right? Saying all these things, getting it out.

What was difficult to put on paper? Anything with WWE, I thought. needed to be handled with great care because I don't think you can absent-mindedly write about people that are in the public eye. You have to have a good representation of them and an accurate representation of them. And so I wanted to detail everything very honestly, very factually, without letting my bias come into play. Like, when was I the asshole? Like, what? Like, I need to own that. Like, let me try and see the other person's point of view

because these people are in the public eye and you want to represent them in the way that is most honestly. And here's another thing that Mick Foley told me was never use a book to get back at anybody. Like, never use it as a revenge tool, you know? Like, I'm going to show them. They don't have the chance to defend them. themselves. And I took that as, I'm going to be the hero of my own story, right? If you're reading

this, you're likely, I'm likely painting myself as the hero of my story. It's not fair for me to paint, paint anybody as a villain, especially somebody who doesn't have the chance to respond. So I really want to handle all of that stuff with care. Yeah, there's something that seems very permanent about putting it in a book. Yeah. Like, Becky said this thing. Yeah. And look, like, headlines will always take stuff out of context, no matter what you say. But I at least want to contextualize it in the book. Because it's one thing as well if you say something in an interview.

But if it's, you know, because sometimes you just say stuff. And you're like, ah, well, I'll think about it later. I'm like, I said it like that. But actually what I meant was this. But when you write in a book, the understanding is that you went in with more care, you examined it further. And so that was important to me.

But the other thing about humans and life is that we're not obligated to be the same person that we were yesterday. Or even a few minutes ago, man, we're just changing constantly. Our opinions are changing constantly. We're constantly evolving. And we should be, you know?

And so, you know, that was me when I was writing it in 2023, you know, know? Who am I in 24? Yeah, who are you? New York Times best seller. Were there moments where you would write something about Seth and be like, I can't wait for you to see this thing I wrote?

That was my favorite part, like writing about him just because I love the little blossoming romance, you know? Like, I'd go back and be like, oh my gosh, this was so cute when we started together and just all the little threads with him before anything even happened. And yeah, he's my favorite topic, you know, him and my daughter. So that part was easy.

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What was your first official date with Seth? I don't know what counts is that. Um, um, maybe it was bring me the horizon in the forum in L.A. I think that was our first. It's a great band. kind of official date because it was right before the Royal Rumble

and he like showed me this song um Falaama Fala Amma by bringing me the horizon I'd never heard of them before and like I love this song and allegedly it reminded him of me

and uh but and he was like look at how different they are and he showed me there were this stuff and so then we got to go uh see them live Pretty soon after end. That was cool. And look at you guys now.

And look at us now. Look at you now. Married with a little three-year-old. That's amazing. Congrats. Thank you. I'm a girl dad. You're a girl mom.

It's the best, man. So sassy and fun. How old is yours now? Ten months. Yeah. A little personality coming out. She's not saying real words yet. No.

But some real personality coming out. Yeah. How sassy is Rue? Oh my gosh. The sassiest. She's just so. And like the other day

she threw a few F-bombs You know Where's she learning that from the rock You know Yeah exactly And and like You're like How do you respond to that

Because it's so funny You know what I mean You're like you're like I gotta shut this down But also It's so funny You know So I think you just

You just gotta ignore But she man She just got so much Personality She's so sweet She's so kind. She's so funny. And it's like funny to watch like, because you, you'll see it.

Well, because I look back at her videos like when she was the little baby, you know, and like she didn't have words or could even walk or anything. But there's that essence of like the sass, like the personality. And it just develops and you're like, you were always like this. You were always this like sassy little funny thing, you know? So cool. Is she more like you or more like Seth? I don't know. It depends who you ask. Like I say she looks like she does look like him.

But then he's like, yeah, but you see you when you were a baby and she looks more like you. But personality-wise, she's so stubborn. And I say that's Kobe. But Kobe says that's me. So I don't know. Maybe a blend of the two. Yeah. She's her own thing though, man.

She's magic. How has being a mom changed your perspective of your career? Because I feel like you've got, part of you goes, I want to be there for every single moment that my daughter's doing anything. Yeah. At the same time you go, I want to be a great role model and example for my daughter and I want to just keep kicking ass. Yeah. That. It's complicated, right?

Yeah. Like, because there's both. It's, you just want to spend time with your kid, you know, like I've gone and she's going, don't leave me, mama. But don't leave me in especially, you know, the last week with the book tour. And then this week is crazy because it's WrestleMania. And then we've got a lot of tours coming up. And, you know, we were in Perth. And so we had to leave her and stuff like that is so hard.

It's so hard. And like I have to remind myself that my mom was also a flight attendant. She was gone, but I don't remember her being gone. I just remember her being present. I remember her always making cakes for the bake sale. I remember her, you know, I just, I remember snuggling. with, I don't remember the absence of her. I just remember the presence of her. And so I need to remember that whenever I'm feeling. But also, sorry, it's, I feel so lucky that I still get a part of me

that was me before I became a mother, you know, because you change so much and you become a new person, your priorities switch. And that's an adjustment for a lot of women, I think maybe every woman because you now have a new identity and sometimes you lose that person that you were before and you almost have to in a way and I've talked to other people like you have to grieve the person that you were before and it's an amazing thing and it's a wonderful thing to be a mother but you also in in some ways miss that person you were before

I get to keep that and I get to still keep that thing that made me feel like me the thing that I love, and I get to have my daughter. So I feel so lucky. She made her debut. She made her WWE debut. She did. Being carried into the ring like Seth.

Yeah, yeah. How much thought went into like, okay, are we ready for her to, you know, be on TV for everybody? Yeah. A little bit, you know, I think it was Colby had the idea. And then we're like, Rudy, you want to go to work with data? And she was like, yeah. And then I was like, oh my gosh, maybe because she loves, like, getting her makeup done. And so she, that's all that.

I was like, do you want to get your, your hair done? And she wanted to look like Karen from Frosty the Snowman because she loves Karen from Frosty the Snowman. She like got her hair done in a little thing. Like they tried to give her bangs. And by the time she was on TV, it was all over the place. But it was so cute. And she'd like gotten a little makeup brush and put like pink eye shadow on herself. And yeah, but then, you know, he's like, okay, we're going to go in.

She goes, are people going to hurt me? And I was like, oh, no, baby, no. Because, you know, she sees us with boo-boos on ourselves all the time, you know. So she goes in and goes, is somebody going to hurt me? We're like, no, we'll never let anybody hurt you. So trying to explain that not all work involves getting hurt. And banged up. And not all friends are pushing each other and punching each other.

It's kind of a hard thing to explain to a three-year-old, you know, when she sees mama and dad are working. And then we're just getting beat up. I was surprised to read in your book. You wrote, I'm not a dreamer. I don't think you can get to where you're at right now without dreaming in the biggest way. Oh, I'm such a dreamer. I'm such a dreamer. Yeah, but I thought there was flaw in being a dreamer because my dad was a dreamer.

And I watched him for many years struggle to find his feet and be unemployed and my mom found that quite hard in terms of oftentimes she'd be the unemployed. And, you know, my mom found that quite hard. In terms of oftentimes, she'd be the biggest breadwinner in the house. And it's kind of one of those things that I didn't appreciate until it was too late. But certainly in my teen years, I kind of looked at it as a bad thing. Of course, now I look at it as a great thing, especially because my dad, my dad was a dreamer. my mom was the practical one, the one that had that work ethic. And so the blend of the two allowed me to dream, but worked really hard at it, you know?

You said something else. It's a phrase that I love. How you do anything is how you do everything. Yeah. For someone who's never heard that phrase before, what does that mean to you? God, just kind of as it is, you know, if you, if you're half asked about, how you do whatever, whatever it is. You're going to be half-assed and how you do everything.

But if you get into the habit of doing things with precision and excellence, then it becomes a habit. And that's how you approach everything in life. I think it's the, how do you take that? I think you're right. I think like if you're willing to take shortcuts on some things, oh, nobody will find out. Then you're probably willing to take shortcuts on other things.

Yeah, right, but there's like, here's, there's the other interesting thing about that, right, is I'm not a perfectionist, too. So sometimes I find that like, like I'm like, should I be more of a perfection? But I also don't think you can be in life because if you want things to be perfect, well, they're never going to be. Yeah, perfect's unattainable. It's unattainable. Yeah. So I'd just like to do my best. You just do your best

You know We're all just trying to do our best You know I think that's I think that's it What's your most perfect wrestling match You've ever had Of course perfect is unattainable

There is definitely no such thing Oh my gosh There's no such thing Like Um My One of my Maybe

I really loved The match Trish And I had And I'm trying to Like, that was one where I didn't leave going, ah, you know? Um, because even, like, I'm, I'm thinking of all my favorite matches like, um, Charlotte at Evolution, uh, there was still some things.

I was like, ah. Um, Bianca at WrestleMania 38, one of my favorite matches of all time that I've had. There was still times when I was like, like, I kicked it right in the face. You know what I mean? Like, stuff like that. Um. that maybe he ended up making it better. But sometimes that's also the thing,

not that kicking Bianca right in the face and giving her a massive black eye made it better, maybe more brutal, but obviously I apologize. But sometimes it's the flaws and things that make them better and make them give them that grit. And I also love grit. I don't like, I don't like, pristine things, you know?

I like a little bit of grit and roughness and especially in a wrestling match. You know, I don't like everything to look clean and perfect. And it's chunt. It's a scrap. You know, I love a scrap. I love a match that looks like a scrap.

Was you punching Dom square in the face? Was that intentional? Oh, yeah. Yeah, 100%. I still have a little cut on my, on my... Oh, yeah, look at that. Yeah, a little scab there. It was one of my favorite moments.

In slow motion, it's brilliant. Oh, yeah, yeah, it was really good. He's kind of like that emoji where like the... The face goes, yeah. Yeah, it was great. Yeah, one of my proudest moments behind right in this book. It was right there. Doing the Lord's work.

Pow, like right on the button. Yeah. And he went down. He did go down. Yeah, it was great. You better watch out, though. Like, there's got to be some sort of revenge here for that. You think on me?

You think he's coming after me? He might send someone after you. Well, I think he felt that punch and probably won't. Probably won't. I think he's probably done with me. That's it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would suggest if he is smart.

That's right. If he is smart, he will probably be done with me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Otherwise, round two coming up. No? When we talk about things having flaws, not being perfect, I don't know if you've talked about this before. What happened at the end of WrestleMania 35?

because it looks like Ronda kicks out at one. Yeah, yeah, maybe. What happens there? I don't know. I was in the moment. But I did, and, you know, I couldn't see it. But, you know, the discourse afterwards and also the sound of the audience made it seem like something had gone wrong. But obviously at the time I wasn't aware. Yeah, I don't know.

I don't know if that was intentional or accidental. Like, I could see the motivation for it being intentional. Like, oh, well, this will be my out to get a second match. You know what I mean? In the long game. Or could have just been accidental. But that was the way the match was supposed to end. With a pinfall.

Not with the shoulder up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But with a pinfall, yes, yeah. And you're talking in your book about how the original finish was her tapping out. And she's like, I'm not going to talk. Well, so that was the creative that was laid out. And so she had her driver taken her to the wrong spot. And so she showed up, I think, like an hour.

And we had just been talking through stuff. And TJ, our producer, an amazing producer, T.J. Wilson, known him since I was, since 2006. And we were road trip across Canada and into Washington. and Portland and stuff. It's a wild journey. Anyway, he's like,

maybe, maybe you have Rhonda in an iron bar. She goes, she looks like she's about to tap out. And so Rhonda, Rhonda comes and,

and we tell her the creative. And, and then you're almost about to tap out. Oh, no, my mom wouldn't, wouldn't lock me in the eye or talk to me again

if I looked like I was about to tap out. We're like, all right, well, she's probably not going to tap out on the finish. So, um, You know, like she never tapped out in her career.

So understood it, respected, and moved on quickly. Like, I was going to win. I was going to win two titles in the main event of WrestleMania. Like, it was not a big deal whether she tapped out or not. It was, I was winning. And she was doing the honors. This got made into a much bigger thing than it actually was. Yeah.

Oh, wait. It was like headlines. Oh, yeah. I mean, headlines always, that's the thing. Like, people will always take anything that you say and make a headline out of it. And it's taken out of context. And, you know, there's been so many times where I've been like, ah, I said that, that's not what I meant.

You know, but I think I explained that in the book. You know what I mean? I do say that. That, like, I didn't, either way, I was going to win. It did not matter to me how it was done. That's got to be a difficult part of your job because you've got to take the good with the bad, with all of this, right? Like there's so much good. And then there's some, you know, frustrating things, I'm sure, they come with that.

Of course. Of course. I mean, but, you know, you wouldn't change it. You know, I wouldn't give you all the good that it's given me for the small amounts of large amounts of stress that it also causes the overwhel. But that's life, isn't it as well, you know? Like, you can't have everything. Everything, I mean, in that regard, like, yeah, there's always going to be stress. There's always going to be anxiety.

There's always going to be things that you wish you didn't say. There's always going to be things that you wish you didn't do. That's life. We're not perfect. We just got to move on and do our best, you know? And then sometimes you get happy accidents, like getting punched in the face. Yeah. Your face being bloody.

Yeah. Become the man. Yeah, exactly, you know? And, like, so stuff like that. Naya, like I said, I text her. You, I'm so sorry. You know, felt, and I talked about this in the book, felt horrible. Anybody who heard somebody feels horrible.

But if that didn't happen, then I wouldn't have that cool image. So, you know, thank you, Naya. First time anybody, first and last time, anybody's going to say that. When you went to the back after the infamous man moment, your face is bloody here in the crowd, What was the conversation like backstage? I had no clue where I was. I had no clue where I was. I was like, where are we?

How did I get here? Like I was able to run on autopilot all the way up to that. And then I just, it was just black. I had no clue. Remember Stephanie McMahon looking after me in the trainer's room, like being very kind. And I just remember the coldness in Kansas. that night

and yeah so I don't know what the conversations were the conversations were like did I break my neck like I remember my neck just killing me

I had no idea what had happened to me when did you start to piece it together I was until I was in the hospital and Natty Bailey and Sasha came to visit me

and like I was like lying there and they came in and they were like you know what happened and I was like no but I remember

I remember you guys had a really good match. You had a really good match right before. And then I started piecing together like spots from their match and telling them their own match back. And then I was like, and then we came. And then it started to kind of come together a bit better. How does the girl who had that WWE debut, the one that you described to me as being worse than Shockmaster?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. How does that girl become the woman that's sitting in front of me right now? Oh, God, I don't know. Worse than Shockmaster, come on. Yeah. He didn't, so here's the difference. He didn't intend to fall over. I intended to do that.

It's quite the dance. You know what I mean? So I think that makes it worse, you know? I think, undoubtedly, that makes it worse. You probably thought it was great at the time. I was just trying to get on TV, and at the time, NXT was so gimmicky, and I had no shame. But look, like I said, we are not obligated to be the person that we were yesterday.

It can always change. I love that. And we have to continue to do that. And I think I talk about a lot in the book. Like, I beat myself constantly over everything. Probably a bad thing. It's a bad thing, right? But it's also a good thing.

Because of that, I'm always trying to evolve. I'm always trying to look at how I can be better, how I can do better, how I can change. And I try to be as self-aware as possible. I don't know that I always am, but at least try to be and try to be as self-correcting as possible. I try not to. I'm sure I do it often. But I try not to put the heat on other people for like, like how can I, how can, what can I do to change so that I can be better so that I can be undeniable so that they can't overlook me anymore like an, and, um, approach that with as much

gentleness as possible. I'm not gentle on myself though at all. I tend to be very hurt on myself. Wrestling is like in this, it's, it's cool again. Something's happening right now with wrestling where it's, it just feels different. What do you think? it is? I think it is the leadership that we have right now and that things are thought out

because it was no secret that before the show would be rewritten as it was going on. I talk about it in the book. It wasn't unheard of for them to have a show on paper and we'd show up and

Vince would tear it up and we'd start from scratch and then 6 p.m. your creative changes and then you're like oh okay well what are we doing and it didn't always play off of what we had done last week and now um with hunter in charge he has a vision he sees it through and uh and that's what you need for a tv show you know what i mean like you don't start filming succession episode one without knowing where you're going in episode five you know and And so I think that's been a huge change. And then, you know, the reins are off a little bit in terms of letting people have a bit more freedom to try things out, why fail, see if things work, see if they don't.

And have a conversation there. I think that just makes a world of a difference. Yeah, it feels like it. Also, how good is succession? Oh, good. Oh, my gosh. Just great. But, you know, like, it's any TV show.

You can't, you can't just be like, okay, Tom is going to. We love Tom. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, Tom is going to blow up the building. Wait, what happens next week? Oh, we'll figure it out. You know what I mean?

These characters need to know where they're going. They need to have an arc. Yeah. And when you know where you're going, then, okay, well, Okay, we're here, and I know that I'm going to there. How do we get there the best way possible? Yeah. Makes a world of a difference.

Since Seth has the wrestling school, which Seth Rollins moves have you taken? I haven't taken any. Have I taken any? I don't know, have you? I feel like you might mix it up in the ring a little bit. No, I've taken none of his moves. Okay. Yeah, no, I don't think.

No, I've never. You're like, I have no desire to take a stomp. Oh, as in like, oh, taking it from him? Yeah. Oh, yeah, no, I never did. I'm not saying you've stolen a move from him. Oh, sorry, yeah, yeah. I thought you were saying that, what moves have I stolen?

No, no, no, no. I've never used any of his moves. Not intentionally anyway. Don't think. Um, no. You've never been in the rain. He's like, I gotta try this thing. Come on over here.

No, no, he has students for that. He has students for that. I'm not taking books on my half days, isn't it? I'm not doing the job for him. No, no, no, I'm just kidding. We've wrestled around, and like when I was coming back from having Rue, like, we did a lot. And I'm just trying to think if I took any of his signature stuff,

I don't think I did. I think people just have this great image of, like, you getting a stomp or something. Yeah, no, I don't think so. He probably went for one, and I probably took that. Oh, the reversal. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Congrats on this. congrats on everything. It's such a pleasure to be able to sit down in person and be able to do this. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not a Zoom person. I don't like it. I just, you know, I feel like there's this, there's the energy that you don't have when you're on a Zoom because, like, there's always that like, am I about to talk?

But you just read that in person. You know what I mean? People are always talking over each other and it's like, are they finished? And now, yeah, I just, ah. You know what else it is? You're looking at a two-dimensional representation. Oh, that's true. You're not even looking at the person.

Yeah. Let me ask you this. Do you meet someone? Like, do you feel like you've actually met someone if you've only met him on Zoom? No. No. No, no, no. I agree.

Yeah, and it's easy to forget. Well, especially when, you know, we're in this world and we're meeting people constantly. But, like, I think, yeah, it becomes harder to remember those interactions. And when you see them in person, it's always like, so good to finally. Yes. Yes. And then like how much time do you spend like looking at yourself? You're like, God. It's so true. You know what I mean? You're like, oh, I feel like such a vain asshole. Okay. Yeah. But I'm glad we did this one in person. Me too. I end every interview with gratitude because it's such a big part of my life. I wake up every day. I say out loud three things I'm grateful for. And we do it before we go to bed. So what are three things in your life? You're grateful for? My daughter, my husband. and being a New York Times best hour. Amazing. Thank you so much for having you.

Thank you. You're awesome. Okay. I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Becky Lynch. As much as I did, although I actually feel like this was definitely more Rebecca Quinn than it was Becky Lynch. And I'm just seeing the matches she had a WrestleMania 40.

I can't wait to see what's next for her in the WWE. And then however many years she's still in wrestling, I can't wait to see what's beyond that. for her. She's just so insanely talented. And it was such a pleasure to be able to sit down with her and share this conversation. Go grab a copy of Becky Lynch, the man, not your average, average girl, or grab the audiobook. It's such a great read. Also, snap a screenshot. Let us know that you were listening to this episode and that you enjoyed it and tag us. She's at Becky Lynch, WWE. I'm at Chris Van Fleet, and let's wrap this up with this quote from Devon Franklin.

Don't downgrade your dream to match your reality. Upgrade your faith to match your destiny. Be great. Be grateful. We will see you on the next one for some more insight. We've got Ask CVV 27 tomorrow. See you then. Flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock. But there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley?

How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this.

Hammer Allie. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.