Apropos to talk Women’s History Month and WrestleMania with WWE history-maker Charlotte Flair
With March being billed as Women’s History Month and also the month leading into WWE WrestleMania Week, who better to discuss both, than this history-making, confident and inspiring woman -- The Queen, The WWE SmackDown Women’s Champ -- Charlotte Flair.
She is one of the best sports entertainers (man or woman) going today and is focusing on WrestleMania Hollywood on April 1-2 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, home of the NFL’s Chargers and Rams. WrestleMania will attract tens of thousands of fans from around the world, and they will pack SoFi Stadium, both nights, 80,000-plus each night to see the champ Flair and more.
For this WrestleMania, Flair is embracing her good side against the heelish Rhea Ripley of Judgment Day. The title is on the line in this possible main event, which would be the second WrestleMania main event for Flair and first for Ripley.
Interesting. Pro wrestling/sports entertainment was never Flair’s calling.
After competing in volleyball on a top level in high school and college, she earned a degree in public relations and also certification as a personal trainer.
Her father, the legend Ric Flair, one of the best all-time, and his son, her brother, Reid, was the one who set his sights on becoming second generation in the industry. When Reid died at a young age, Charlotte decided to become a pro wrestler/sports entertainer in Reid’s honor, living the dream together in mind, body and spirit. They were very close.
So she worked very hard, out working the women and men training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando.
During those early days, I interviewed her -- her first pro wrestling interview -- at the Havert L. Fenn Center in 2012 in Fort Pierce, Florida, before a FCW/NXT show. Here is part of that interview.
Flair not only became a pro wrestler/sports entertainer, but she became ultra-successful in it, making her own mark. With 10 super strong years in the biz, The Queen, who is from The Queen City, is already Hall of Fame worthy.
Flair is a 14-time women’s world champion (the most in the history of woman’s wrestling), having won the WWE Divas Championship, the Raw Women’s Championship a record six times and the SmackDown Women’s Championship a record seven times. She has also won the NXT Women’s Championship twice and the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship once, making her a Triple Crown Champion and Grand Slam Champion. Flair also won the Royal Rumble in 2020.
In 2014, she was named Rookie of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI), and was promoted to WWE’s main roster in 2015. In 2016, PWI readers voted Flair Woman of the Year and Top Female Professional Wrestler.
In October 2016, she became the first woman (alongside Sasha Banks) to headline a WWE pay-per-view event. Her match with Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey at 2019’s WrestleMania 35 was the first time that a women’s match had headlined WWE’s flagship event.
Now Flair is preparing for WrestleMania Hollywood, performing at a grand level once again on WWE’s grandest stage. She faces a familiar WrestleMania foe in Ripley.
At WrestleMania 36 in 2020 at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Charlotte Flair won the NXT title by defeating Rhea Ripley via submission. Prior, Flair won the 2020 Royal Rumble and chose the champ Ripley as her WrestleMania opponent.
Fast forward to present day history. Ripley won the 2023 Royal Rumble and re-paid the favor, choosing the champ Flair as her WrestleMania opponent.
If Ripley’s (on-screen) boyfriend Dom Mysterio tries to get involved, Flair will be ready. Her husband is quite the wrestler, too.
Flair, like her father, is noted for her elaborate ring robes, and she has something special planned for WrestleMania Hollywood.
This is from WrestleMania 33. Amazing.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WrestleMania
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MsCharlotteWWE
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charlottewwe/
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A Charlotte, North Carolina original, Flair, 36, is now a very happy Florida resident, enjoying the sun in the Sunshine State.
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This story was originally published March 17, 2023 at 1:19 PM.
