It’s been almost 10 years since Becky Lynch became the inaugural WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion on September 11, 2016. WWE created the title after the brand split, and a six-pack elimination match took place to crown the winner.
Lynch defeated Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya, and Nikki Bella to become the champion, although this wasn’t the original plan WWE had in mind, according to The Man herself.
Becky Lynch Wasn’t Supposed To Win The SmackDown Women’s Championship
Becky Lynch recently appeared on No Contest Wrestling, where she opened up about her 2016 title victory. Lynch believes that Nikki Bella was originally going to win the title, but then the fans started chanting Lynch’s name, which led to WWE pivoting. You can read Lynch’s full comment below:
“That angst was real. Always almost getting the shot, and then never being the one that was picked. Never being the one they were going to hand the ball to and say, ‘Yeah, this is our girl.’ Even the first time that I won the SmackDown Women’s Championship, that wasn’t the plan. I think it was meant to go to Nikki Bella actually. Who, by the way, like a badass, had just come back from her broken neck, but the audience kind of liked me. Once it [the title] was revealed, they just started chanting, ‘Becky.’ And so the office had to take notice of that and go, ‘Well, alright. I guess we gotta go with her.’”
Lynch won the title at Backlash 2016, and kept it for 84 days before losing it to Alexa Bliss.
Becky Lynch Has Become WWE’s Biggest Female Superstar
It took Lynch another two years to regain the championship. She had just turned into a heel against Charlotte Flair, which led to a match at Hell in a Cell 2016 for the title where Lynch won.
Over the next few months, Lynch would see a rapid growth in her popularity among fans and debuted ‘The Man’ character which propelled her to superstardom.
She’s one of the biggest female wrestlers in all of wrestling today, and has permanently cemented her legacy among the all-time greats.
For more on Becky Lynch, Nikki Bella and pro wrestling (WWE, AEW, etc.), you can check out this page. If you’re new to watching wrestling, check out our WWE streaming guide, which is updated for 2026.
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Wrestling news reporter.
