Lana has come a long way from being "The Ravishing Russian" alongside Rusev (Miro in AEW).
Over the years, she has amped up her in-ring work and is now in line for a WWE Women's Tag Team Title shot alongside her partner Naomi.
Speaking to Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT, Lana credited Fit Finlay, Natalya, Tyson Kidd, and Becky Lynch for helping her grow as a performer.
On Lynch specifically, she said, “Becky has helped me a lot. That would be someone that probably people don’t know about because of characters, storylines etc. But man, I have learned so much from Becky! I think partly, before The Man started, at live events she would be in the match and taking heat and I would be learning from her. She was so tough on me. But man, if she wasn’t tough, I wouldn’t be where I am right now. She was so tough [laughs] she would always be like ‘toughen up!’ and this and that. And now, I get texts from her saying ‘I’m so proud of you.’ She texts me every single week. I’m so thankful for that because when this whole pandemic started, I remember being so discouraged and I remember her telling me ‘you’re so strong. You’re such a strong woman. Now you’ve got to be who you are. Keep on carrying this, keep working hard, harder than anyone else so we can bring the people back that we love so much’ – and I remember those words [begins to cry]. I’m sorry. I just remember when she was like ‘you’ve got to be the strong woman that you are’ – those words helped me not to give up, you know? Hearing Becky say that about me. Every single day I start my morning like ‘I’m strong, I’m resilient I’m durable – I’m going to keep going.’ I just think it’s so important the words that we use to people and that’s such a great example of Becky giving me hope. Her texts and guidance every single week is just… I’m so thankful."
Lynch has been off television since announcing her pregnancy on the May 11, 2020 episode of WWE Raw. She delivered her daughter Roux on December 4.
A date has yet to be announced for the WWE Women's Tag Team Title bout between Lana & Naomi against Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax.
