Exclusive: WWE's Becky Lynch on Destroying Lita, Ronda Rousey's Mania Pick, More

WWE's Elimination Chamber event every February is the final obstacle the Superstars of SmackDown and Raw must overcome en route to WrestleMania, but for Becky Lynch, this upcoming installment means so much more.

Despite reigning as the Raw women's champion for the last four months, she's actually been in possession of gold every day she's been an active member of the roster since WrestleMania 35 in April 2019.

Her heel turn at SummerSlam 2021 has led to her becoming a recurring Raw highlight and in turn given Big Time Becks some of her greatest opponents to date: Bianca Belair, Sasha Banks, Doudrop and Liv Morgan. All of them came close to capturing the championship only to fall short in the end.

Lita, however, poses an entirely different challenge Saturday.

It's been well documented that Lynch grew up idolizing Lita, modeling the early years of her career after the trailblazing WWE Hall of Famer. A lot of similarities can be drawn between the two, but Lynch knows that being awestruck by this opportunity to face one of her lifelong heroes could cost her the title if she isn't careful.

"Thirteen-year-old me would be losing their mind," Lynch told Bleacher Report. "Even 30-year-old me would losing their mind. The me that had Lita first introduce the women's title to them at WrestleMania 32 would be losing their mind. But the me that I am today, the champion, having gone through all of these obstacles, coming back better than ever, to have my childhood hero try to get a rub off that and try to challenge me at the most important time of the year, that's very conflicting for me."

The significance of this match isn't lost on Lynch. WWE has been touting all week that Lynch vs. Lita is the first women's match ever to be promoted on a billboard in Saudi Arabia and that this truly is a dream match many years in the making.

Once that bell rings, Lynch won't be holding back. Rather, she fully intends on ending Lita's comeback tour before it can even really begin.

"I'm forced to either destroy my childhood hero or let her think she has a chance against me," she said. "I have to destroy my childhood hero. This is an awful predicament that she's put me in. Now, I realize the gravity of it and the impact of it and what it means for me and for the future and for Lita, and it's huge, almost beyond my comprehension, that this is happening right now. If you told teenage me in 20 years that I'd be having a match for the Raw Women's Championship against Lita, I think I'd literally lose my mind. My head might explode."

With Lynch still at the peak of her popularity, she isn't at all surprised that so many notable names are coming out of the woodwork wanting to steal her spotlight.

On the same show Lita challenged Lynch to a Raw Women's Championship match, The Man was also confronted by the returning Ronda Rousey. Of course, Rousey's final last match before taking time off saw her lose to Lynch in a Triple Threat at WrestleMania 35, so there's obviously unfinished business there.

Ultimately, Rousey chose to cash in her guaranteed title opportunity from winning the women's Royal Rumble on SmackDown champion Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 38. In doing so, she merely delayed the inevitable.

"Can you blame them? I'm magic right now!" Lynch said about Lita and Rousey. "I'm nothing but magic. Everything, better than ever. Matches, better than ever. Every time I talk, better than ever, bringing up Liv Morgan and Doudrop and making them all household names. I don't blame anybody for wanting to work with me.

"I also don't blame Ronda for not wanting to work with me because I'm better than ever and I came back," she continued. "Nobody understands how hard what Ronda is doing better than me. Being a mom is hard. Traveling with an infant is very hard. Wrestling is very hard. Combining all of those things is a huge difficulty and I make it look easy, but it's not easy."

From her words, it's easy to surmise that Lynch respects Rousey but doesn't see her as a true threat to her title. She's beaten her before and will do so again if she ever decides to rekindle her rivalry with Lynch, which will undoubtedly happen sooner rather than later.

WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles would be as perfect of a stage as any to host such a colossal clash, but odds are they'll cross paths much sooner than that if the social media banter continues.

"If I was Ronda, I wouldn't want to face me," Lynch said. "We're two women in the same position and obviously I'm just killing the game. If I were her, I would do what she did, too. I'd start with the easy thing. Well, look: If I was her, I wouldn't have done what she did because I'm me. ... If I were to give Ronda advice, I'd say go with the starter, go with the appetizer.”

Rousey shifting over to SmackDown left Lynch without a concrete WrestleMania 38 opponent. Thus, an Elimination Chamber was announced to determine the No. 1 contender to the title at The Show of Shows.

It'll feature a mix of familiar foes for Lynch and a few fresh faces: Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, Doudrop, Nikki A.S.H., Alexa Bliss and Rhea Ripley. Big Time Becks isn't pulling for any one person to win, but she take the time to single out Ripley in particular.

"They're all incredible women," Lynch said. "With Rhea Ripley, we haven't even begun to scratch the surface with her. She's an incredible athlete, incredible at what she does, and looks amazing. A Superstar in the making, but she ain't coming for my title, so let's wash her aside. ... Maybe it'll be Liv Morgan and I'll beat her again and send her packing."

Between being a mom and one of WWE's most sought-after Superstars, Lynch always has a lot on her plate. That's why penning an autobiography and filming another WWE documentary for Peacock aren't among her top priorities at the moment, but they are works in progress.

"Time is not plentiful for me at the moment, but I'm still working on that book," she said. "Slowly but surely chipping away at it and that will come out soon. As for the documentary, there is a lot of footage and it remains to be seen."

Everything she's doing these days on WWE TV is constantly catching the attention of everyone in the wrestling world, including one Ric Flair. The two-time WWE Hall of Famer's questionable takes on Lynch have only caused fans to feel apathy for him more than anything else.

Thankfully, Lynch isn't afraid to clap back at her detractors in entertaining fashion on Twitter when necessary, but she still questions what causes someone—specifically a wrestling legend with nothing to gain but relevancy—to be so overly critical.

"Here's something: I was watching the Olympics last night and was watching these incredible athletes do ice skating. They're doing these incredible 360s. I'm not a good ice skater. I'm sure I can put one foot in front of the other and keep my balance, but I can't do flips and all of this mad stuff and dancing and twirls. I said to my husband, 'I don't like these people' or 'I don't like their facial expressions' or whatever it was, and then I laughed at how ridiculous that is.

"But imagine if I had put that up on Twitter," she continued. "Imagine if I criticized these people who had been training their whole lives doing these impossible tasks that I've never done. Look, it's silly. We here [in WWE], we're the best at our game. We're the best in the world and anybody criticizing me when I'm arguably the best at what I do is just silly."

Speaking of her husband Seth Rollins, Lynch did put to rest any idea that they shop for their over-the-top outfits together before wearing them on Raw. She added that they didn't have a chance to properly celebrate Valentine's Day due to the holiday falling on a Monday but that they did watch the Super Bowl the night before with breakfast tacos.

"You know what? Actually, we don't [shop for our outfits together] and it's always just a coincidence that we have similar nuances in our dress wear and our outfits," she said. "That is certainly not planned. I guess we're just in sync like that and that's so sweet."

WWE Elimination Chamber airs this Saturday, February 19 at 12/11c on Peacock and WWE Network.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.