WWE: Becky Lynch has destroyed every sexists’ arguments

Women have always been capable of main eventing WrestleMania and being THE top star in WWE. Going into 2020, Becky Lynch has destroyed every sexist argument that women cannot be in that top spot, and her success should open the doors for her contemporaries to join her at WWE’s peak.

Pay Per View after Pay Per View, women have the best matches on the card. Whether it was Ronda Rousey vs. Sasha Banks at the Royal Rumble, Asuka vs. Becky Lynch at the same show, Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch at Hell in a Cell, or the TLC main event for the Women’s Tag Team Titles, the women of WWE consistently had the best matches of the year despite getting far fewer opportunities to actually have matches.

And when women do get featured in high-profile slots on the card, they are faced with far more scrutiny than their male counterparts.

Becky Lynch herself said it best at CES 2020, via Fightful.com’s Carlos Toro:

"“If there’s a guy and he made an error, it’s kind of passed over. Often times, I feel like I have the weight of a gender on my shoulders. A million guys have had terrible main event matches, but if I have a subpar main event match, the question comes up, ‘Should women be main eventing?’ And that’s a load of crap. We all have off days, but we’re all trying to be the absolute best. Unfortunately, we always have to be on our game until that’s not a question anymore. So we are in a position where we have to be extra so that the future generations don’t have to deal with that anymore. It’s a little bit unfortunate but it’s a little bit of the way it is. It’s not good, it’s not right, but it’s what we have to do. I don’t want this to be a question of the future… Those barriers should be gone by now.”"

That last line stands out the most. “Those barriers should be gone by now.”

Throughout her journey to becoming WWE’s top star, Becky Lynch never lost sight of the larger importance of her meteoric rise. It’s the reason why she called herself “The Man”, poking fun at the notion that the top star in a company usually is “a man”. After all, it wasn’t until the 35th WrestleMania that women were finally given an opportunity to main event.

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And despite having a perfectly fine match, all you heard was overblown criticism of minor details that would have been passed over in a men’s main event.

Everyone who follows wrestling closely understands that women are placed under a higher resolution microscope than men.

Remember Sasha Banks’ and Asuka’s ingenious spot in early 2018 when The Empress intercepted the Boss’ suicide dive with a swift kick? Many men called it a “sloppy botch” and criticized Banks for being “dangerous”.

When Liv Morgan suffered an injury, men called for Brie Bella to never wrestle again, blaming her for the injury, even though these types of injuries regularly occur in wrestling.

The double-standard matters, because the sexism in wrestling permeates beyond Vince McMahon’s office. He is responsible for not booking more women in prominent positions despite cries from the fans who want to see Bayley, for example, on the card more frequently or Sasha Banks getting an opportunity to be a transcendent star.

Sexist wrestling fans play a role in hurting women’s wrestling. Whether it’s discouraging young wrestlers or harassing WWE superstars on social media, misogyny among the fan base is impossible to ignore. Seeing negativity on social media can hurt a wrestler’s perception of their work, as the likes of Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano have mentioned in interviews.

Becky Lynch has received plenty of this animosity from a sexist subset of wrestling fans. They constantly wonder if she’s a “draw”, in spite of her obvious popularity. They pit her against other women in an effort to knock her wrestling ability, even though she was exceptional in the biggest matches of 2019. They even come for her character work, promos, and gimmick, despite her being the best promo in the company right now.

The truth is that Becky has passed every test in front of her as a top star. She’s elevated the Raw Women’s Championship to heights it has never seen by putting her heart and soul into every word, tearing down the house with anyone on the roster, and tirelessly using social media and interviews to put herself and the WWE product over.

Lynch is the definition of a top star. Her popularity remains sky-high almost a year after her WrestleMania 35 triumph, rendering the naysayers increasingly ludicrous complaints as relevant as a Brock Lesnar title reign.

Furthermore, Lynch’s ability to flourish under the highest degree of pressure possible – being the newly-crowned top star in WWE as a woman – has done something especially profound. Lynch has reversed the pressure and pushed it against WWE management to do the same with other women. In Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Charlotte Flair, WWE have a trio of wrestlers ready to take that leap. And in Bianca Belair, Toni Storm, and Rhea Ripley they have several more who could reach that level in the future.

By remaining a star shining as brightly as she did in the Fall of 2018, Lynch’s staying power hasn’t merely opened the door for someone like Sasha Banks to follow suit as a future WWE 2K cover star and WrestleMania main event hero. No, Lynch kicked down the door and forced the issue on WWE. She’s shown that there are no more excuses and no more pandering to sexist fans, whose voices are being drowned out by the evidence.

Women have already taken over wrestling, and it’s time for WWE’s booking to reflect that. There can be multiple women making the rounds, main eventing shows, and sharing the spotlight just as the men do. Because as Lynch has showed, they are more than good enough in – and out – of the ring.