Last week, Rhea Ripley defended her Women’s World Championship against Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler in a Triple Threat match at the WWE Live Event in Springfield, Illinois. During the match, Ripley performed a stinkface on Jax, which became a talking point on social media.
In an interview with Steve Fall of Wrestling News, Becky Lynch was asked about Rhea Ripley’s viral moment at last week’s WWE Live Event. Lynch said it sucks to talk about it because she and other women fought to change that culture.
“That just sucks that we’re talking about that. You know, like when I think of the amount of women that were at one stage, fighting against that treatment, like, that was what they were forced to do in two-minute matches. Maybe I’m just like stuffy and and jaded because this is the stuff that I had to fight against. Of course, everybody loves it, and it’s cool and it’s edgy.”
Lynch explained how Ripley’s spot would negatively affect a little girl who is in the crowd dreaming about being a pro wrestler.
“But if I’m a little girl sitting in the crowd, and if I have my daughter, and she’s seeing that, and she’s thinking that that’s what she needs to be if she’s a professional wrestler, and that’s the stuff that’s getting a reaction, and if I’m a girl who’s grown up and wants to be a professional wrestler, and I see, oh well, that’s the stuff that gets a reaction. And that’s the stuff that people are talking about. And that’s the stuff that we’re posting on social media, and we continue to, and even the company does and pushes that, then that is the stuff that gets over, and then I’m not taken seriously for what I do in the ring. And for the person that I am in the mind that I have.”
The former women’s champion said that she fought for so long to change these things.
“No, it’s just about my body. It’s about how it looks. And it’s about fulfilling a bunch of men’s fantasies out there in the crowd, and it becomes not about the art; it becomes about that. And I’ve fought so long to change that and so I kind of go when I’m talking about that, and when I’m forced to answer about that, I go that just f–king sucks. That just f–king sucks.”