WWE NXT, 2014
You only get one chance to make a first impression, and for Becky Lynch, even her wrestling debut at age 15, her global experience, and her year in WWE developmental couldn’t save her from bad ideas.
Bad ideas like making your wrestling persona the biggest mick this side of the Atlantic.
Hey, I’m an O’Donnell. I can use the M-word.
Remember when The Rock first debuted, and management told the ultimate good guy babyface that you can’t smile enough? I have a feeling that Triple H pulled a rib on Becky Lynch on her debut night and told her you can’t dance enough.
The first sight viewers on the WWE Network saw of Becky was of her leaping onto the NXT stage like a leprechaun. | |
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Becky danced a jolly jig to the ring, accompanied by whimsical Irish music with the finest fiddling MIDI could buy. |
In case you didn’t get the picture about where Becky was from, she did another, slightly impractical jig on the ring apron. | ![]() |
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Becky even struck a fighting pose befitting a Notre Dame mascot. |
Look, we got it: she’s Irish. | ![]() |
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I said,
“LOOK, WE GOT IT. SHE’S IRISH”!Just who the hell taught Becky how to dance? |
That was a rhetorical question, but the announcers had the answer anyway: Colin Farrell’s brother! The viewers’ blarney-detectors should have been ringing like mad at that point. | ![]() |
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Trained dancer Summer Rae took offense to the prospect of being upstaged at her own game, turning the match into a dance-off from the opening bell. |
Becky was none too impressed by Summer’s hoity-toity dancin’, responding with — you guessed it — a jig! This was a jig of defiance. She even sang an angry ditty to go along with it, consisting of the words, “Diddly diddly diddly diddly.” | ![]() |
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And as if Becky hadn’t already Irished up her debut enough already, the commentators informed us that she was good friends with Sheamus and idolized Fit Finlay. |
In one of her few non-jig-related pieces of offense, Becky hit an exploder suplex for the victory. Thank God she didn’t give Summer a potato. | ![]() |
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After the match, Becky did a celebratory jig… |
…followed by a limping jig to a smattering of applause from the NXT crowd, in particular those fans who already knew who she was before she debuted as the female Hornswoggle. From the rest of the fans, the reaction to her debut was akin to a post-St. Patrick’s Day hangover. | ![]() |
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The debut turned out downright embarrassing, and by the end of the night most fans no doubt remembered only the fact that Becky danced like a moron. That’s not a good way to start your career, even when performing in front of the irony-loving Full Sail University crowd, whose favorites include an enhancement talent named, “Blue Pants” who isn’t even under contract. |
Fortunately, before she could be branded, “Green Pants,” Becky abruptly transformed into a headbanger… | |
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…and eventually, a steam punk who would fit in better in a Jules Verne novel than in a Lucky Charms commercial. |
And while I’m on the subject of debuts and ethnic stereotypes, does anyone remember Yoshi Tatsu’s first match?
In the summer of 2009, Shelton Benjamin returned to ECW after being drafted from Smackdown. You wouldn’t think that would be something to be happy about, but not only did the announcers spin this demotion into a positive, but Shelton himself celebrated in his own unique way: by becoming astonishingly and inexplicably racist.
His opponent was newcomer Yoshi Tatsu, who not only was part of GM Tiffany’s New Superstar Initiative, but was also, to Shelton’s amusement, Japanese. He also had the peppiest entrance music in WWE history. | ![]() |
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Benjamin, apparently never having met an Asian guy before, found Tatsu’s nationality hysterically funny. It was even more immature than the time that this writer, at two years of age, ran around the house shouting, “It’s a Chinese guy! It’s a Chinese guy!” when the pizza delivery man showed up at the door. (He was black). |
First, he cut a promo in broken English and threatened to summon Godzilla. | ![]() |
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Then, even after the bell rang, Shelton wasn’t done, insisting that he bow before any real action got started. |
And he bowed some more as the announcers sat there, dumbfounded. | ![]() |
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He then shuffled across the ring for even more bowing… |
…because this match wasn’t already enough like a World War II-era Bugs Bunny cartoon. | ![]() |
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You’d think he’d be satisfied, but no, Shelton just had to bow in all four corners of the ring consecutively, like the world’s most racist strap match. |
(And that’s saying something!) | ![]() |
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Then it was time to start the actual match — well, not quite yet, because Shelton still hadn’t done his Karate Kid stance… |
…or his sumo impression. Bless Mama Benjamin’s soul (unless she’s still alive; I can’t remember how that gimmick ended), because I know she’d never let her Shelton act the fool this way if she were still around. | ![]() |
After five minutes of mockery, the Gold Standard appeared ready to get down to business with Tatsu, but not before a plea to squeeze in just one more bow, after which Yoshi Tatsu promptly kicked him in the face and pinned him. | |
The next week, Shelton beat Tatsu in a much more competitive rematch. Still, I’m sure Benjamin was sholly he ever insulted the Japanese people. | ![]() |
Velly sholly.
“and I don’t mean Mosh and Thrasher; I mean the kind of headbanger who doesn’t suck”
Sure, they weren’t the greatest wrestlers in the world, but I kinda liked The Headbangers.
Thrasher is one of the main babyfaces (I think? Haven’t gone there in a long time) in one of the local feds in my area. He had a pretty good hardcore match with Michael Tarver.
Did he claim that Headbanger Thrasher tried to end his career with steel steps as well?
People seem to forget that its only recently that NXT was any good, and even more recently that the women’s division was given any prominence.
For the longest time, NXT was completely shit.
People haven’t forgotten NXT use to be terrible afterall who could forget the awfulness of season 2,3, & 4 of the show back when it was essentially an American Idol inspired knockoff.
This wasn’t early NXT though….this was last summer. After the highly-touted matches between Paige and Emma and Charlotte and Natalya.
At the time of Lynch’s debut, NXT was already pretty good and so was it’s women’s division.
Oh man, a flapping Dickie. That’s comedy gold.
Me rike-a the flied lice!
Sorry, love that Krusty joke.
I will not have you besmirch the good names of Mosh and Thrasher. I bid you good day sir.
But Fez….
I SAID GOOD DAY!
Poor Yoshi Tatsu. Dude was quickly becoming the second top babyface on WWECW then show got canceled and all of a sudden “creative has nothing for you.” He has a feud with Tyson Kid on the otherwise awful fourth season of NXT during it’s pre-developmental phase that gets over despite neither man appearing regularly on television and they repackage him with cool make-up and then… “creative has nothing for you.”
Then after being squandered he comes back to New Japan, is given this big push where he’s going to feud with the Bullet Club and one month later A.J. Styles breaks his neck.
Fucking Styles.
Yoshi broke his neck fucking Styles?!
Yes because it’s Styles’ fault, he clearly used his evil mind control powers to make Tatsu take the move wrong.
You could say Yoshi Tatsu and WWE had a “clash of styles”.
I think Becky started dancing that way after she snorted some crack she got from her sister Claire.
I’m shocked Vince didn’t have a storyline where Sheamus & Becky would be brother & sister and have a incestuous relationship with Hornswaggle being the offspring. But in a twist it would be their “father” Finlay who also had relations with his daughter so they could feud over who is the real father of Hornswaggle.
See, that was what was missing from the Burchill/Katie Lea schtick! A “british” little man (Jody Fleisch?) and Drew MacDonald as the father that has relations with Katie.
On the bright side, WWE could still bring in one of Paige’s brothers, her father and some little man to do that angle! And then the English could feud with the Irish…
Is it worth pointing out that Drew McDonald was Scottish?
Mama Benjamin got written out via “heart attack” – I have no idea why I remember that. Especially since I sometimes need to double-check where I took my shoes off.
Becky Lynch doesn’t look like some steampunk, she looks like the O’Brien in “Monkeyman & O’Brien”. (Google it and you’ll see what I mean)
One minor quibble: steampunk is a genre. One person is not a “steam punk”.
On another note, I thank the Lord that Becky ditched this awful gimmick so quickly. It was embarrassing to the Nth degree, even for a Brit like myself who was brought up on crude jokes about how stereotypically stupid the Irish are.
Steampunk is the lamest thing ever, so no one cares.
No, Cheatum was much lamer.
Whoah, whoah, whoah, sweet child of mine! I cannot stand back and have the good name of Steampunk mocked in such a way. Especially in the case of Becky Lynch. Coolest ring attire ever.
Wait, if Becky Lynch did a steampunk gimmick then why wasn’t she teamed up with the Vaudevillains instead of “Blue Pants”? (I know the Diva Revolution killed everrything they did in NXT but still…)
Their gimmicks are completely different though – English and Gotch have a sort of 1920s silent-movie/carnival gimmick while Becky’s is more Victorian sci-fi.
I do, however, agree that the Divas Revolution has basically achieved the exact opposite of what they were presumably going for (or maybe they really did want them all to fail, which would explain why this “revolution” is more akin to the AWA’s Team Challenge Series than an actual force for change. All it needs is for Paige and Sasha to fight over an uncooked turkey, and we’re good to go).
Great induction, Art! Now this is what Wrestlecrap is all about: bad gimmicks and bad ideas!
And boy was that a bad idea! If I were her, I’d be so freakin’ embarrassed. Good grief…
I actually wish she weren’t on the main roster, because there, she’s just an afterthought. But on NXT, she’s more over than she’s ever been. And we never got the NBextT Womens title reign!
And off topic, but I have to ask out of curiosity: why was that recent Hulk Hogan induction removed?
It’s still here.
https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/hulk-hogan-on-arsenio/
Okay, The Headbangers maybe weren’t the best, but I don’t remember them sucking, then again, I was a kid, so I’m not sure.
They did around late 1999-early 2000. Just look at Mosh’s entry in the Royal Rumble in 2000 to get a hint.
That’s after the time period I was referring to in reference to them. I’m talking mid-90’s, not late 90’s early 2000’s, wasn’t their gimmicks tweaked by that time to be really stupid? Well, more stupid than before?
Like Hogan, WWE is racist to a point.
They are more stupid than racist.
Stereotypes aren’t generally intended to be racist.
At least they didn’t make her Hornswaggle’s girlfriend or have her carry a box of Lucky Charms to the ring like the movie The Great White Hype…
Plus I find it amazing the WWE is still doing racial angles in oreder to generate cheap heat for decades, and yet Hogan was the one who got future endevored.
Hogan got future endeavoured because Vince was pissed that Hogan didn’t do it in front of a WWE camera and an “unsanctioned” camera filmed him instead!
If it had been a WWE camera, Vince would have made it a Gooker Award contending angle for sure! 😉
I recognize that cartoon gif. It’s from “Bugs Bunny Nips The Nips”.
I WANT TO MAKE A COMPLAINT!
There was reference to Tiffany the illustrious ECW GM yet no Tiffany ‘Yey!” picture. That is not acceptable.
I’m not mad.
Whatever happened to stain on the underwear of life known as Hornswoggle? Has his crappy Leprechaun movie been inducted yet?
He appeared on Swerved a few times (which you can see on the WWE Network for an undisclosed monthly fee), but other than that has been mercifully absent for unspecified reasons. Thank goodness.
You’ve missed the three best things about this:
1) Summer’s magnificent confused reaction (fourth GIF down on the left)
2) Future Becky colleagues Charlotte and Sasha mockingly dancing themselves outside (you can just see them third GIF down on the right)
3) And this one can’t be stressed enough… THIS ISN’T EVEN THE BEST VIDEO OF BECKY LYNCH DANCING STUPIDLY TO THE RING. And this one also features a foetal Paige and Paige’s magnificently murderous mother too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93nBkPSV1-k
Blue Pants? What is this, Chikara?
I can hardly wait for the WWE debut of Red Pants. Cause ya know Vince must change anything that gets over before apprearing in WWE (NXT doesn’t count).
“It was even more immature than the time that this writer, at two years of age, ran around the house shouting, “It’s a Chinese guy! It’s a Chinese guy!” when the pizza delivery man showed up at the door. (He was black).”
This really made me chuckle. Just be glad some loathsome PC tosspot wasn’t around to try and make you “check your privilege” even at that age.
Just wait until they repackage Finn Balor with this very same gimmick on the main roster once his first push fades.