In a recent interview with Digital Spy , Stephanie McMahon opened up about some female WWE superstars having an issue with Becky Lynch’s nickname.
Lynch has been calling herself “The Man” since 2018, and the gimmick led to her becoming one of the biggest stars in the company afterward. However, some of her colleagues didn’t agree with the gender connotations associated with the moniker.
Lynch, meanwhile, refused to change the gimmick following the criticism. The Irish performer supposedly never took the name as seriously as other performers seemed to, but she also had a specific reason for choosing it, according to the executive.
“[The nickname] really was her idea. It’s funny because some women were very against it like, ‘Why do you have to call yourself the man? Why can’t you be The Woman.’ But she just didn’t take it, you know, too literally. The whole point was to turn that nomenclature on its ear, right, because everyone says, ‘oh the biggest, the most successful person in the room is The Man. Well, why can’t The Man be a woman?”
There didn’t appear to be any serious heat on Lynch, and officials seemed to support her vision. The promotion is regularly criticized for being too micromanaged, but McMahon’s words suggest that the higher-ups have placed a lot of trust in Lynch and her ideas.
It wasn’t just the women’s locker room that had a problem with Lynch using the moniker. As The Inquisitr previously reported, Ric Flair threatened to sue the company unless he was compensated for Lynch using it.
Flair has been using the moniker for decades, and while he didn’t have an issue with Lynch adopting it from a creative standpoint, he did reportedly have his own business interests to think about.
The legal matter appears to have been sorted, as Lynch kept referring to herself as such until she took time off following WrestleMania 36 . Flair, meanwhile, has been featured on WWE programming lately in an angle with Randy Orton.
During the conversation with Digital Spy , McMahon also opened up about missing Lynch in the company. The Irish superstar is currently taking time off to give birth, but McMahon is excited for her colleague to be starting a family.
According to the executive, having a child is one of the best things a woman can experience. She also said that it’s great to live in a time when they can have careers and families simultaneously.