WWE star Becky Lynch has become the hottest commodity in professional wrestling, thanks to the development of her character, “The Man.” (Photo Courtesy of WWE)

For 651 days, Rebecca Quin had to watch as she was continually passed over and overlooked. Despite being the anchor of an entire division and having more than a decade of professional wrestling experience, Quin was the red-headed stepchild – pun intended – of WWE.

Those slights simply fueled the fire inside of Quin and her WWE alter-ego, Becky Lynch.

For the majority of her time in WWE, Lynch has been a “face” – a good guy, in layman’s terms – and has been consistently in the conversation of the most competent performers in the company, but up until 2018 she had only one 84-day championship reign.

This past summer, it looked like Lynch again would fall short in her quest to regain the WWE SmackDown women’s championship, when longtime friend – and sometimes onscreen rival – Charlotte Flair emerged victorious at WWE’s second-largest annual event, SummerSlam.

What happened next ignited what has become the hottest professional wrestling angle in years.

“I think I knew going into it that I wasn’t the bad guy in that situation,” Lynch told Yahoo Sports. “How could I be the bad guy? I had gone on a winning streak unmatched by anyone on ‘Raw’ or ‘SmackDown.’ I owned the show. As soon as Charlotte comes back she gets a title opportunity and then steals the win from me. I think the fans wanted me to have that single moment.”

While Lynch turning on Charlotte in Brooklyn should have solidified her as a “heel” in the ongoing storyline, something bigger happened. Instead of booing the 31-year-old for her dastardly acts, the crowd erupted, creating the most electric moment of the night.

“Yes [I was a bit surprised],” Lynch said. “I don’t think you can ever expect a response like that. When you get one it’s incredible, but it’s never expected or guaranteed.”

In a single moment, Lynch, despite still not having the SmackDown women’s championship, became the top dog in not only her division, but all of WWE.

“[Fans] want somebody that they can look at and emulate,” Lynch said. “Someone who knows when enough is enough. When they’ve been passed over continuously, undermined, underestimated and they say, ‘No, you know what, I deserve this. I worked for more than this, I am more than this. I’m going to show the world.’ That’s what [I’m] doing.”

In the weeks and months that followed, Lynch would undergo an entire character overhaul, something that is rarely seen in real time on WWE programming and a risk that none of her fellow “Four Horsewomen” – Flair, Sasha Banks, and Bayley – have been able to take during their time on the main roster.

While it may have seemed drastic to the viewers, the change is something Lynch admits she had been tinkering with for a long time.

“It’s something that I knew that I had in myself, but I didn’t know how to bring it out, what the right opportunity would be,” Lynch said. “I’ve walked around saying the things that I’ve been saying in my head for a long time and now the truth is coming out and I’m saying what I want to say without any fear of what people think of me, fear of being disliked. It’s been very freeing.”

With the steampunk-inspired attire and chipper demeanor gone, Lynch’s newfound swagger only grew after she took the SmackDown women’s championship off Flair in September. With that, the transformation into “The Man” was finally complete.

View photos WWE star Becky Lynch has come a long way. (Photo Courtesy of WWE) More

“That’s been a gradual thing of self-belief,” Lynch said. “The top dog in the company has always been the man. Now I’m the top dog. It’s been a progression of believing it and owning it.”

Lynch’s unprecedented run has captivated the entire wrestling world. In a business where eliciting a fan reaction is the most valuable thing you can do, Lynch has been compared to the all-time greats – “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and her fellow countryman Conor McGregor.

Story continues