Becky Lynch has no hard feelings about the punch from Nia Jax that left her with a bloody face and knocked her out of WWE Survivor Series 2018. In fact, Lynch now says it may have been the best thing that could have happened to her career.
Lynch revisited one of the most famous moments of her run during an appearance on the No-Contest Wrestling Podcast, where she was asked about the night Jax caught her during the SmackDown invasion of RAW ahead of Survivor Series.
Lynch was already on fire as “The Man” at the time and was scheduled to face RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series. Instead, the punch left Lynch injured and forced her out of the match, with Charlotte Flair eventually stepping in against Rousey.
What happened after the punch became one of the defining images of Lynch’s career. With blood covering her face, Lynch stood in the crowd with her arms stretched out while fans went crazy around her. The crazy part is Lynch barely remembers doing any of it. When the hosts brought up the iconic image, Lynch admitted she has almost no memory of that portion of the segment.
“So, I have no recollection. I have, like, little bits of a recollection, but none of that was my doing. That was all Nia. Thanks, Nia.”
Lynch then made it clear that she isn’t being sarcastic about thanking Jax. Looking back at everything that followed, Lynch believes that punch changed the trajectory of her career and may have helped push her all the way to the WrestleMania 35 main event. Lynch also acknowledged that Jax felt terrible about what happened, but nearly eight years later, Becky sees the accident completely differently.
“No, really, honest to God, it’s one of those things, like, you can never plan these things, but it’s fate, destiny. If that didn’t happen, maybe I don’t—if that doesn’t happen, I don’t get to the main event of WrestleMania, honestly. And that’s all thanks to Nia.”
“And of course she felt terrible about it, but it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me at that time, you know? So, thanks.”
That doesn’t mean Lynch was feeling great when it happened. She revealed that she was essentially out of it while finishing the segment. Lynch said she remembers enough to know that she was waiting for the production light to turn off before leaving, but much of what happened around her was gone.
“But, like, yeah, I didn’t—I was out. I was out.”
Lynch somehow continued through the segment despite being in that condition. She remembered standing in position until she got the signal to leave and then walking backstage without really understanding what had happened to her.
“I remember knowing, ‘Okay, stay here until the light goes off.’ And I remember looking at the light, and then the light went off, and I was like, ‘Okay, walk through.’”
Once Lynch made it backstage, the reality of the situation started hitting her. She recalled seeing a WWE security guard and immediately asking where she was and what had happened. Because Lynch didn’t remember the punch itself, she initially thought something might have happened to her neck.
“And I remember our security guard, Keith—I think it was Keith—I was like, ‘Where am I? What just happened?’ Like, I had no clue how it happened.”
“So I thought, I was like, ‘Is my neck broken?’ Like, my neck hurts.”
That was a huge change from the Becky Lynch fans had just watched standing in the crowd with blood covering her face and daring anyone to stop her. Lynch said Stephanie McMahon was backstage with her afterward, and that’s when the tough-guy act disappeared and the fear kicked in.
“So I went from being this, like, badass tough guy to Stephanie McMahon was there just being the sweet angel that she is and, like, being like, ‘I’m really scared,’ you know? Like, just this—yeah. Two different sides of me.”
The injury killed one major WWE plan immediately. Lynch could no longer face Rousey at Survivor Series, so Charlotte Flair was selected as her replacement. That Rousey match would remain unfinished business heading into the following year. Then came the part Lynch believes may never have happened without Jax.
Lynch won the 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble and ultimately landed in the historic WrestleMania 35 main event against Rousey and Flair. It was the first women’s match to close WrestleMania, and Lynch walked out with both the RAW and SmackDown Women’s Championships.
That makes the Nia Jax punch one of those bizarre moments in wrestling where something going completely wrong somehow helped create something much bigger. Becky Lynch lost her Survivor Series match with Ronda Rousey that night, but the bloody image coming out of RAW made “The Man” look even more unstoppable.
Lynch certainly isn’t blaming Jax for changing her career anymore. She’s giving her credit. A punch that left Becky confused, injured and asking whether her neck was broken also produced one of WWE’s most memorable images—and Lynch believes it helped carry her straight into the WrestleMania main event.
Do you think Becky Lynch still reaches the WrestleMania 35 main event if the Nia Jax punch never happens, or was that bloody RAW moment the final piece that turned “The Man” into WWE’s biggest star? Let us know what you think and leave your feedback in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
