There’s always the debate, is the book better than the movie? Having just finished reading Rebecca Quin’s The Man: Not Your Average Average Girl, I was curious whether that applied to A&E Biography episodes too.
The verdict on the life story of Becky Lynch could go both ways.
While the book was way more in-depth, it is also one-sided as an autobiography, whereas in the documentary, there are other voices — and visuals.
It’s one thing to explain in writing the disappointment of being overlooked, but quite another when there’s footage.
Case in point, having scratched and clawed her way out of NXT onto the main roster, Becky Lynch was in a featured bout at WrestleMania 32, fighting Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks in a three-way. Flair retained the WWE Women’s championship. Not long after, the three combatants were at San Diego Comic-Con and a commemorative figure set was revealed … which left out Lynch. The look on her face is pure and real, and very relatable to anyone who has ever been overlooked.
And that underdog story is at the core of both the book and the Biography.
Becky Lynch with her new book at Bookends bookstore in Ridgewood, NJ, on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. Photo by George Tahinos, georgetahinos.smugmug.com
I can’t say that I learned a ton new, but did come away wondering, Who shot all that home footage, all the stuff as she was training to return after having a baby? It was all so professionally done. It’s almost like this underdog and her championship-caliber husband Colby Lopez / Seth Rollins know how to promote themselves.
The tale of Rebecca Quin has been told before, but the short version of it again, is … she’s Irish, spunky, and acted up as a kid until getting a chance to try wrestling. Her mother, a flight attendant, was always about practicalities of life, while her father was the dreamer and the supporter. Oddly, though her parents were separated, they lived together along with Rebecca’s older brother, Richard.
The vintage footage from the gym run by Fergall Devitt (Finn Balor) and Paul Taylor of Quin learning the ropes was great, and Devitt added his voice. In the book, Quin goes into their personal relationship and how distance forced them to call it off; none of that comes up in Biography, other than a photo of the two holding hands.
Rebecca Quin / Becky Lynch as Rebecca Knox
As Rebecca Knox, Quin travels the world, including a win at SuperGirls in British Columbia, which SlamWrestling covered here: Supergirls strong in B.C. debut. The footage that aired had Mauro Ranallo doing commentary, which was a reminder of how unique he is.
But then life got in the way, she got hurt in Germany — again, seeing the footage is different than reading about it — and took seven years off from wrestling.
The desire was still there, and she called Robbie Brookside, who was a WWE talent scout, and went to a tryout. “I knew there was no way they were going to say no to me,” said Quin. Though she got a deal, her confidence dropped.
The whole NXT experience, the ups and downs, is explored far, far more on the book, including the pain of friends getting released and sent home, the worry whether you are next on the chopping block.
“I was not pegged to be a star,” Quin said about both NXT and then WWE.
Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch. SlamWrestling file photo
From here, we go into fast-forward mode, hitting the high points, like the aforementioned bout at WrestleMania 32, becoming The Man (but not Ric Flair complaining about her co-opting the name), the broken nose which cemented her on top, and the main event at WrestleMania 35. Alas, we hear from Flair, but not Rousey (and I just finished her book too, and it’s absolutely worth seeking out, with a whole lot more scorched earth than Quin’s tome). Quin’s personal falling out with Charlotte Flair is not explored either, but it is in her book.
During that time, her father, Ken, is diagnosed with lung cancer, and that becomes a bit of a sidebar as COVID hits (but is not dwelt upon) and he never gets to meet his granddaughter, Roux, before his death in 2021.
All the baby stuff was great, empowering, and cute, predictably ending the doc with mama being interrupted by Roux and they go to dance in the sunlight.
But to claim this? “Nobody had gone, had a kid, and then come back as a full-time worker, but I’ve always been a little bit of a rebel” as Quin did?
That’s an affront to so many women who had come before that it’s criminal that the producers left it in without context.
Yes, times have changed and women are allowed to leave and come back and not choose between one or the other, but c’mon. Even in just the WWF world, both Sherri Martel and Luna Vachon had kids before working full-time.
But no one was offering them buses to be able to both parent and wrestle. No one was following them around with cameras to celebrate motherhood.
And with that, we come to the end of this season’s run of WWE’s partnership with A&E Biography, a definite mixed bag of mostly good but always adhering to the company line. In honor of Becky, I’ll do a little Irish jig knowing I don’t have to recap these for a while.
TOP PHOTO: Becky Lynch arrives in Toronto for WWE’s annual Holiday Tour on Fri. Dec. 29, 2023. Photo by Steve Argintaru, Twitter/Instagram: @stevetsn
RELATED LINKS
- Becky Lynch story archive
- Slam Wrestling’s WWE on A&E archive