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WrestleMania 35: Becky Lynch beats Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair in historic match

anthony sulla-heffinger
Staff writer
Becky Lynch celebrates after winning both the Raw and Smackdown women's championships at WrestleMania 35 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. (WWE)
Becky Lynch celebrates after winning both the Raw and Smackdown women's championships at WrestleMania 35 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. (WWE)

Becky Lynch walked away as both the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Champion after a historic main event match at WrestleMania 35 at MetLife Stadium.

Lynch, who over the past year became one of the most popular stars in WWE, pinned Ronda Rousey to win the winner-take-all triple-threat match which also included Charlotte Flair.

The match, which kicked off at midnight, was the final one of the night and lasted more than 20 minutes, featuring several big spots and thrilling moments.

The match started with a flurry of kicks and punches from Rousey, who forced the action outside by kicking both Flair and Lynch outside the ring. Rousey then landed one of her signature moves, “Piper’s Pit,” on both stars.

Flair looked strong throughout the duration of the match, including landing a Spanish fly on Lynch from the top rope and snaring Rousey in the Figure Four and Figure Eight leg locks. Flair also landed a double spear and a double “Natural Selection” on her opponents.

In addition to Flair’s Spanish fly, both Rousey and Lynch pulled off impressive high-flying moves during the match. Lynch landed a “Becksploder” suplex on Flair from the top rope and broke up Flair’s Figure Eight leg lock on Rousey with a top-rope leg drop.

Rousey’s lone daredevil move was a crossbody that hit both Lynch and Flair. Rousey also put both of her opponents in her patented armbar submission at the same time.

Rousey and Lynch briefly teamed up to send Flair through a table, eliminating her from the final sequence, which began with a showdown between the two rivals.

The closing moments of the match featured Rousey appearing to set Lynch up for another “Piper’s Pit” move which Lynch quickly reversed into a pinning combination to walk out of WrestleMania as a dual champion.

As Lynch celebrated her victory, Rousey pleaded with the referee that her shoulders were not down for the entire three count, creating a bit of intrigue moving on to “Monday Night Raw.”

The historic match was the first WrestleMania main event featuring only women. In addition to being a trailblazing moment, the triple-threat contest capped off a movement that started in earnest back in 2015 when the #GiveDivasAChance hashtag sparked the “Women’s Evolution.”

In the weeks leading up to the hotly anticipated match, the three women involved did an incredible job building the feud.

After debuting last year at the Royal Rumble and having her first match at WrestleMania, Rousey recently did a complete character 180 by turning heel while Lynch and Charlotte both pulled double duty, appearing on both “Monday Night Raw” and “SmackDown Live.”

In the “go home” episode of “Raw,” all three teamed together as part of a six-woman tag-team match against the Riott Squad. Despite winning, Rousey, Lynch and Flair all attacked one another in the aftermath, which ended with one of the most talked about moments of the week -- the three women continuing to brawl despite being placed in the back of police cars.

Winning the WrestleMania match is the culmination of a months-long rise for Lynch, who quickly became one of — if not the most — popular stars in all of professional wrestling. While Lynch and Flair had faced each other in the past, including in a jaw-dropping last woman standing match at WWE’s “Evolution” pay-per-view, Lynch and Rousey hadn’t officially squared off in the ring before Sunday night.

A match between Rousey and Lynch was scheduled to take place last November at the “Survivor Series” pay-per-view but a real-life injury derailed that champion versus champion contest. Flair stepped in for Lynch for that match, effectively thrusting herself into the middle of the rivalry.

The landscape of the match changed drastically over the past two weeks, as Flair defeated Asuka to win the SmackDown Live women’s championship and it was announced that both the Raw and SmackDown Live women’s championships would be on the line in the contest.

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