Becky Lynch was sitting on top of WWE when she decided to start a family, and she now says part of that decision was about proving women shouldn’t have to sacrifice one dream to have another. Lynch explained that she wanted to show it was possible to become a mother without accepting that her days at the top of professional wrestling were over.
Speaking during the 2026 espnW: Women + Sports Summit, Lynch revealed that the same event actually played a role in changing how she viewed motherhood years earlier.
Lynch recalled attending the summit in 2019 and listening to Olympic sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce discuss returning to competition after having a child. Hearing from someone who had already gone through it gave Lynch an example that she didn’t feel she had before.
“I will say this panel has a lot to answer for because in 2019 I was sitting on this panel and I was with this sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser, and she was talking about how she had a two-year-old and she came back, and I was like, ‘Oh, it can be done. You can do that. You can go have a kid and come back and be at the top of your game.’ Six months later…”
That realization came while Lynch was experiencing the biggest run of her WWE career. She had already main-evented WrestleMania and was in the middle of a 399-day championship reign when she eventually stepped away from WWE after becoming pregnant.
Lynch said she had always wanted a family and felt she had found the right person to build one with in Seth Rollins. What she didn’t accept was the idea that motherhood automatically meant surrendering everything she had worked for professionally.
“Well, you know, for me, I always wanted to have a family. I met the perfect partner. And, you know, for me, it didn’t feel like I was giving up my top spot. It felt like I was doing something with my top spot because before it was, if you go off and you have a kid, well then that’s it. Goodbye.”
Lynch’s goal was bigger than simply proving that she personally could make a comeback. She looked at the biggest male wrestlers and saw that they were never expected to choose between becoming fathers and remaining at the top of WWE.
“I wanted to show that I could have everything, you know, like the top men, they don’t have to choose whether they have a family or they’re on top of the game. And I was like, ‘Huh, well, if they don’t have to choose, why would I have to choose?’ And it was the best decision I’ve ever made.”
Years later, Lynch believes that mindset has become much more common inside WWE. She pointed to the growing number of mothers in the locker room and said women now understand that having children doesn’t automatically mean walking away from their careers.
For Lynch, becoming a mother wasn’t the end of her run as one of WWE’s biggest stars. She came back, won more championships and helped prove the exact point she wanted to make when she first stepped away.
What do you think about Becky Lynch intentionally using her position at the top of WWE to show women they didn’t have to choose between motherhood and their careers? Let us know your thoughts and feedback.
