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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Narin Flanders

WWE's Doudrop says Royal Rumble bout with Becky Lynch is 15 years in the making

Scottish WWE fans have long been used to seeing Drew McIntyre in the main event picture.

But at this weekend's Royal Rumble it's another Scottish superstar who is getting getting a chance at the title.

Doudrop, aka Kilbirnie's Kimberly Benson, has been a familiar face on the independent wrestling scene during a 15-year career, including stints working for some of the biggest promotions in Japan, NXT UK and even ITV's ill-fated World of Sport wrestling show, where she was known as Viper.

She's now taking on Becky Lynch for the RAW Women's Championship after beating Liv Morgan and Bianca Belair in a triple-threat match to secure her number one contender status.

It's a pretty stratospheric rise for a woman who only made her RAW debut in June, basically as a sidekick for Eva Marie.

Speaking to the Record, Doudrop told us: "Honestly, it's I feel like I'm in a dream world sometimes, it's such an accelerated, almost meteoric, rise through the ranks. It's just dumbfounding to me to be honest.

"If you had went back just seven months ago, and said to anyone Doudrop's going to move up to the main roster they'd have been like, 'Oh, no, she's not what you're talking about?'. And then Doudrop's going to be on SummerSlam. 'No, she's not'. Here I am.

"It's impossibility after impossibility. I just show up. I'm like, well, here I am. Got it. That's that, so let's go on to the next one."

The significance of her first pay-per-view title shot being with Becky Lynch is not lost on Doudrop, with her describing it as a match that's been 15 years in the making.

"When I first started wrestling training way back in a little unit in the middle of Linwood in Renfrewshire there really wasn't many girls around.

"There was me, Nikki Storm had also just started training. Down south there was Jetta and MsChif, who were both incredibly busy. And over the way in Ireland was one, Rebecca Knox.

"And it was well known to us that Rebecca, as she was known at the time, was the top of the mountain and we really wanted her to come over and my trainers tried to book some matches with her.

"But unfortunately, at that time, she was just getting ready to move over the way for WWE, so I never got that match.

"So this feels like a real full circle moment. To be finally getting this match that I've wanted for so long and to be having it on Royal Rumble is just dizzying, absolutely dizzying."

This year's Royal Rumble is on Saturday (January 29) and will be broadcast from St. Louis, Missouri from 1am Sunday morning UK time so at least UK fans have Sunday to recover if they end up watching it live via BT Sport Box Office or the WWE Network.

The card also includes the two iconic male and female Rumble events, which see 30 competitors join a battle royal every few minutes until just one victor emerges, winning a main event shot at WrestleMania.

Elsewhere, Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar are going head-to-head, while former Shield comrades Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins are also going up against each other.

Doudrop and Becky Lynch will be going head to head for the WWE Raw Women's Championship title. (WWE)

But for many UK fans the women's championship match is going to be one to watch on the card.

Is Doudrop ready to be champion, beat The Man on Saturday night and do a Drew McIntyre-triumphant return to Scotland carrying the title?

Doudrop's answer is cautious but pretty firm: "I don't think there's ever a point where you're going to be like, 'yes, I'm absolutely ready for this' because I think if you did feel like that, then you would probably be a bit complacent. I think you need that fear a little bit, because it's the fear that keeps you on your toes.

But luckily, for me, I seem to do well in the face of panic. So I'm gonna bet on myself.

"I'm getting my match. And I'm going to kick her arse and I'm going to take her belt while I'm at it!

"I miss my homeland terribly, I'm not gonna lie. It's strange, because when you've travelled as much as I have, you can along for home and then you go home and then home's not quite the same any longer.

"But I miss the fresh air of Scotland."

* Royal Rumble will on BT Sport Box Office live from 1am on Sunday morning, which is available on BT TV channel 495, or Sky channel 494. Virgin Media subscribers can access BT Sport Box Office by heading to the On Demand section on their TV box and selecting 'Live Events'.

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