Before Becky Lynch was The Man, she was Rebecca Knox, a popular Independent wrestler who began building her name through standout moments in Shimmer. In 2006, Lynch suffered a head injury and reportedly suffered from "extremely painful headaches, loud buzzing in her left ear and vision as a result of the injury."
Lynch was forced to take a hiatus from wrestling due to the injury and feared she may never wrestle again. Appearing on the Pro Wrestling Illustrated podcast, Lynch discussed stepping away from wrestling in 2006.
"It felt like death to me. There was this thing that I loved more than anything and it was what I identified with," said Lynch. "I was Rebecca, the wrestler. And then I wasn’t the wrestler, so who the hell was Rebecca? It was my whole goal that I wanted to change the landscape. I wanted to just go out there and wrestle and make people care. Then, all of a sudden, I was just lost with no goals, no ambition. I felt like I let everybody down. And I was so ashamed. I just remember pure shame, of not being able to know what I was going to do with myself, not being able to own up to the fact that I wasn’t doing it, or that I was confused about it."
Lynch continued, "I just thought that the door closed for me for life. This fear of success, but fear of failure. Fear of...I don’t know...of the future, really. And I went into a depression. But I would always write in my journal that I felt like I had unfinished business. I feel like I'm meant to be in the WWE, but I didn’t know how to get back there. I felt like I burned these bridges, but this is what I’m meant to do and how am I going to do it? It was a horrible, harrowing feeling, to not know how to get back there. Luckily, some twist of fate or freakin' divine intervention – I don’t know what you want to call it – just brought me back to what I feel is my calling, my destiny, if you believe in those kinds of things. And here we are."
Lynch wrestled three matches during her hiatus from wrestling. In April 2013, she returned to wrestling for good, signing a developmental deal with WWE.
"It was in my heart, my soul, my gut but I would bury it away. I would go to guidance counselors and therapists to ask, how can I get over this thing?" questioned Lynch. "How can I find a goal or something that I wanted to do as much as I wanted to wrestle? But there was nothing. I did a million different odd jobs, I went back to college. I was trying to find that thing that fit but I wouldn't let that be wrestling because I thought I had to be done with it."
Now, Lynch is one of the biggest stars in WWE and has a chance to headline WrestleMania 35. If The Man defeats Charlotte Flair this Sunday at WWE Fastlane, she will be added to the Raw Women's Title match at WrestleMania between Ronda Rousey and Charlotte.
