In a recent podcast appearance Becky Lynch said she wasn’t WWE’s initial pick to become the inaugural SmackDown Women’s Champion in 2016. Fan reaction at Backlash changed the company’s direction, Lynch says, and set a different course for her career.
Immediate fan chanting for Lynch during the title reveal influenced WWE’s decision to give her the belt.
Lynch views the experience as fuel for her later push to become a top star, leading to her transformation into “The Man.”
# The core claim
# Backlash 2016 Lynch described the moment WWE unveiled the new SmackDown Women's Championship at Backlash. When her name was revealed, fans began chanting for her. Lynch says that immediate crowd support forced WWE officials to reconsider and ultimately hand her the title that night.
# Why this mattered to Lynch's career Winning the inaugural SmackDown Women's Championship helped elevate Lynch's profile, but she still felt WWE did not fully view her as the long-term centerpiece. Lynch said she believed the company would not give her the title again unless she actively took it back. That perception contributed to her decision to stop waiting for opportunities and to push herself into top positions — a change she credits with leading to her breakout run in 2018 as "The Man."
# The alternate history question Lynch framed the situation as a "pretty crazy alternate history." Had WWE followed through with its original plan and made Nikki Bella the first SmackDown Women's Champion, Lynch suggested the trajectory of her career could have been very different. She attributes the actual outcome to the crowd making its preference clear and WWE changing course in response.
# How Lynch describes her mindset afterward After Backlash, Lynch still felt she had to prove herself and not rely on WWE's goodwill. She watched other performers seize their moments and decided to act similarly: treat each opportunity as if it belonged to her and run with it. That approach informed how she worked toward becoming a consistent top star in the company.
# Why readers should care This anecdote offers a concrete example of how live fan reactions can alter creative plans in professional wrestling and how a single decision point can affect a performer's career path. It also illustrates Lynch's personal narrative about agency and persistence: she positions the Backlash moment as one stimulus among others that pushed her to change her approach and capitalize on future chances.
# Short takeaway According to Lynch, WWE planned to award the first SmackDown Women's Championship to Nikki Bella, but live fan support for Becky Lynch at Backlash 2016 prompted WWE to give Lynch the title. Lynch says that moment, and the company's continued skepticism about her long-term status, motivated her to seize later opportunities and build her breakthrough run.
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