After listing all the accolades and "first-ever" achievements Becky Lynch has to her name, Lyra Valkyria was able to hold one major accomplishment over her by calling attention to how she was the inaugural women's intercontinental champion. However, The Man wasn't far off, as just a few weeks later, she has now become the second WWE Superstar to hold the Women's Intercontinental Championship after winning it from Valkyria at WWE Money in the Bank 2025, crossing off yet another milestone for her already Hall of Fame worthy career.
How We Got Here:
Lynch and Valkyria have a rather deep history together at this point. Both being from Ireland, Lyra looked up to Becky as an idol and a mentor. This friendship was apparent from the start and the driving force behind their first clash, wherein Valkyria defeated Lynch to win the NXT Women's Championship at NXT Halloween Havoc 2023.
At WrestleMania 41, Valkyria was scheduled to team with Bayley to face Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship, yet Bayley had been attacked the day before. Stepping in to fill her shoes, Lynch partnered with Valkyria and they captured the titles. However, the next evening on Monday Night Raw, they lost the belts right back to Morgan and Rodriguez, and Lynch beat down Valkyria.
Eventually, Lynch revealed she was Bayley's attacker, getting some revenge after their own storied rivalry dating back several years. Lynch viewed Valkyria as guilty by association of being Bayley's friend, setting up this title match for Lyra's singles championship.
At Backlash, Lynch challenged Valkyria for the title, coming up short and continuing their story of Lyra having the edge over her idol. However, the feud was far from over, leading to a rematch being booked with a bonus stipulation for each. If Valkyria won, Lynch wouldn't be able to challenge anymore for the belt. If Lynch won, though, she'd rub salt in the wound and force Valkyria to raise her hand in victory and acknowledge her as the better woman.
Match Details:
Since WWE only has referees that pay attention to rewinds and the replay feature when the script calls for it, if someone cheats to win a match, it just goes through with the excuse that "the referee's decision is final" and that is what happened here.
Lynch and Valkyria fought it out in a rather even contest, but The Man continued to be unable to put the champion down for the count. This forced her to resort to illegal tactics to score a pinfall, holding Valkyria's tights outside of referee Jessika Carr's point of view.
Following the match, Valkyria did what she agreed to do if she had lost, raising Lynch's hand. However, Lynch continued to press, demanding that Valkyria raise her hand and present her to all four sides of the ring, and even strap the belt around her waist. Enough was enough, and Valkyria then laid out Lynch with a suplex and a Nightwing for a measure of revenge.
Personal Reactions & What Happens Next?:
Lynch makes sense to hold this title. Not only has Valkyria held it long enough that losing it now won't hurt her, but dropping it to The Man of all people is certainly okay. Anyone saying she's buried needs to recalibrate what that term means.
Valkyria will probably stay in contention with Lynch until Bayley returns to get her own payback as a new challenger for Lynch. Whether Bayley wins the belt or not remains to be seen, but she's just as capable to dethrone The Lass Kicker, especially if Valkyria helps her out of spite to Becky. Even if that's not the case, Lynch holding this belt allows a prominent name to give more credibility to the belt for whoever wins it next, while not overcrowding the Women's World Championship picture and allowing some new faces to level up to main event status instead of just reverting back to Lynch on top of the division.
What do you think about Becky Lynch becoming the new women's intercontinental champion? Who should be next in line? Drop your reactions, thoughts, and predictions for the future in the comments below!