Becky Lynch Says She Should Make More Than Vince McMahon, Talks Tonight’s Match With Asuka

Becky Lynch spoke with Newsweek for an in-character interview promoting tonight’s match with Asuka on Raw. You can check out some highlights below:

On keeping motivated atop the division: “I can sit back on my laurels, but I just love this, I love this game. I love being the best at something, and right now I’m proving that. I’m riding high. It’s a great feeling. Nobody wants to give that up. Nobody wants to come down the mountain when they see the view and scenery. It’s beautiful up there. That keeps me motivated.”

On having confidence issues: “It was a doubt. I doubted how good I was. Maybe I wasn’t as good as I thought I was. Maybe all the haters were right? Maybe I was a flash in the pan. Maybe I’ve just been lucky every single match in an entire year? That’s just bulls**t that I can’t believe I’m saying it. But I had that doubt. I was walking around with my head down contemplating if I was good enough. I needed something to slap me out of it.”

On her match with Asuka at the Royal Rumble: “She was the best. She is not the best anymore because I beat her. Now I’m the best. I’m better than the best. Now I’m the GOAT. Asuka does have the style not many have trained in. Luckily, I have trained in the art of Japanese wrestling, having done tours and matches and main eventing at Korakuen Hall at the young age of only 18. [Asuka] was an opponent that brought a style that I haven’t really used in a while, so that was the trickier part. I finally overcame my white whale at the Royal Rumble.”

On taking the rematch on tonight’s Raw: “Why did I do it? Because I needed to prove that beating her wasn’t a fluke. No, I’m lying. I don’t need to prove anything to anybody. I am ‘The Man.’ I am the greatest of all time. But you know what? I like a good risk. I like a good challenge… If you’re not scared to fail, you can achieve anything or do anything really. I think that has been my motto the whole time. I’ve risked it all and come out successful and better than I have before.”

On Corey Graves saying that fans may be getting tired of her: “I love that we are giving energy to that when I went out there at Royal Rumble and the crowd went mad. I had the best match of the night and the crowd went mad … No matter whether I’ve been given two minutes or 10 minutes, I evoke interest. I get people invested. No matter who my opponent is or what my story is, I have been on top longer than maybe anybody else in the last decade — maybe beyond that. To have somebody who sits on the sidelines talk about me like that, that’s fine. I’m like the stock market, sometimes I’m up and sometimes I’m down, but I am always money.”

On her negotiations for a new contract: “I should be making more in that whole company, everybody — Vince McMahon included. I want to change the game. I want to prove that it doesn’t matter your gender, your race, your background, if you are doing the job and keeping people invested, if you are keeping people interested, then you deserve to be paid at a level higher than anybody else. Or as high as anybody else. As high as the best of them. I look around the arenas and the majority of the people are in my shirts. The majority of people hold signs for me, so pay me as such and that will be the way it will be.”

On WWE needing to give people exposure based on merit instead of ‘filling a quota’: “It’s about what is most interesting. If that’s the case, then let’s put that there. We need to get out of the old thinking of, ‘Oh, we’ve already seen a women’s segment or two women’s segments.’ We can leave that back in the ’80s … We’re all doing our thing and entertaining the fans because that’s all that matters at the end of the day.”

On the possibility of a match with Shayna Baszler at WrestleMania: “If she wants to come back, that’s fine. But as far as I know she has been hiding in NXT. I don’t make my whereabouts hidden. Everyone knows where I am at all times. I’m at Raw every single Monday. I’m at every single live event like a real champ, so if she wants to come find me, she certainly can…Whoever wants to come make some money, they know I’m the big match. Whoever wants to be better than they were before, come find me.”