In a week from this Saturday, Lita will be having not only her first one-on-one match since her retirement in 2006 but her first championship match since then as well. Over 15 years later and Lita will be facing Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship at Elimination Chamber in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 19.
In anticipation for this match, and coming off of the impact she had surrounding and being in the Royal Rumble, DS Shin from Ring the Belle sat down with her to go over the Top 5 moments in her career. These moments were put in chronological order and are as follows:
- Lita vs. Stephanie McMahon (c) – WWF Women’s Championship RAW 08.21.00
- Lita vs. Chyna (c) – WWF Women’s Championship 2001 Judgement Day
- Lita returns from injury 09.15.03
- Lita vs. Trish Stratus (c) WWE Women’s Championship Raw Main Event 12.06.04
- Lita challenges Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship at Elimination Chamber 01.31.22
Throughout the interview, DS discusses all five moments with the Hall of Famer as well as other topics surrounding both the Royal Rumble and her upcoming Elimination Chamber match. They talk about her and Chyna, the match with Stephanie McMahon, and of course the infamous main event of Raw with Trish Stratus.
When asked about her ring gear for the Rumble, Lita had the following to say about the representation and the focus point on what her look meant.
“When you’re full-time, you have the next week if your outfit didn’t look quite right. You can take a risk, a la Becky at Raw last week. When I’m only coming out for a short time, I want to make it count. I just wanted to highlight some issues that are important to me. So I had a patch on my gear that said, “end gun violence.” I had a patch that said, “no human is illegal.” And then I had a trans rights patch on there with the rainbow flag around it.”
She continues with talk about how the Elimination Chamber match with Becky came about and how quickly it came together and why the match with Becky is so special. And believe it or not, Lita was supposed to go home after the Royal Rumble and ended up appearing on Raw to challenge Becky instead.
“Renee Young lives in Cincinnati. These [clothes from WWE Raw after Royal Rumble] are her clothes because that is how little time I had to prepare. They were like, “can you come?” After St. Louis, I was supposed to go home. And on Sunday, I drove to Cincinnati and swung by Renee’s house. And I’m like, “girl what can I wear?” Johnny Ace asked me. He’s like, “do you want to fight Becky?” I’m like, “wait what? Like you know that I do. You know that she does.” And he’s like, “how about in like two weeks?”
Continuing on about the match itself, “I think this match is like a true generational clashing match because we are very kindred spirits. She lives like a pirate, kind of took a very meandering journey to get to her spot in WWE. Same thing [for me] so I kind of cut from the same cloth. I saw a lot of her in me, as she was starting as I first just met her. And then to be at home and watch her catch fire. I was like, “girl.” Not only did I know she had it, but also I was like, “let me in there.”
When asked if she would want a one-on-one with Charlotte Flair she didn’t hesitate to agree to that as well. She equates Charlotte and Becky to be a lot like her and Trish Stratus. Charlotte and Trish were always supposed to make it whereas she and Becky were not.
From being very outspoken about WWE’s relationship with Saudi Arabia when it first started, she was asked about the controversial relationship between the two and how she feels going into her match.
“I was outspoken on the early relationship between WWE and Saudi Arabia. They say they want women to wrestle over there, but I don’t know if I believe it. There are no women on this card. There are women on the card [now]. I’ve talked to the women personally that have been over there, and they’re like it’s unbelievable. There are women crying, never thinking they would get to see two women be so strong in the ring. They’re like, “it’s really powerful and you’re gonna enjoy that.”
Lastly, Lita gives a lot of credit to the fan reaction that is making her have confidence in both the Rumble and her upcoming match with Becky. As she said on Raw, as long as the fans support Lita there will still be a Lita.
“I will tell you, I was apprehensive when they said they were going to announce the people in the Rumble prior. But everyone’s reaction gave me that much more confidence. So please be loud like everywhere. Be loud online, bother me, bombard me. Because each comment, it gives me a tiny bit more confidence to know that I can go out there and do this.”
Thank you to DS and Ring the Belle for the transcriptions and this interview. Ring the Belle has just hit 60K subscribers on YouTube, if you haven’t subscribed then what are you waiting for? Go check them out.
How do you feel about the build towards Lita vs. Becky Lynch? Join the discussion below.
Check back in with Diva Dirt on Feb. 19 where there will be a Discussion Post to discuss this match and the women’s Elimination Chamber Match.
