Charlotte Flair Recalls How It Felt Having Ric Flair With Her On WWE TV
Charlotte Flair has looked back on her early days as a WWE superstar when her father was often seen on television with her.
When 14-time WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair started her main roster run in WWE in the summer of 2015, she had only been wrestling on television for about two years on the NXT brand at that point.
The lack of experience that Charlotte had is why WWE felt like it was a good idea to put Charlotte with her two-time WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, who was his daughter’s manager of sorts for a while.
At Charlotte Flair’s first WrestleMania match at WM32 in 2016, she beat Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks in a triple threat match while making Lynch tap out in the Figure Eight submission. That’s also because Ric held onto Banks to prevent her from making the save.
During an appearance on the Forever Young Podcast, Charlotte Flair spoke about working with her father during her first days on the main roster in 2015 and 2016. After getting more comfortable, Ric was no longer on television with her as she learned how to be a WWE superstar on her own.
“My dad raised me to be very, very competitive. Are we competitive with each other? I think so, but not to where — my dad is my biggest fan. But when I say my dad is competitive, it is more, he is the spotlight. When I said competitive, like when he was managing me in 2015 and ‘16, all I kept thinking was I’m either gonna sink or swim. My dad’s either gonna steal the show when we’re on-camera together or I’m gonna take this as an opportunity to show the world that I don’t need him or outshine him or that I can keep the attention and focus on me.”
“So that, I think took me to the next level — not next level, but taught me a lot and definitely performed under pressure. But even if my dad and I were on TV together, say, next year, my dad still wants to be the star, the spotlight, the man. But it’s not competitive, where he knows he’s a star and I know I’m a star.”
“He’s not like, man, are you gonna break my record? Or anything like that. But, I think it’s just his showmanship.”
“He’s my biggest fan. It’s almost sometimes where it’s like, can you stop talking about me in interviews? You’re making people not like me because you like me so much (she laughed). “
Ric Flair is clearly Charlotte’s biggest fan since he has gone on record as saying she’s the best overall performer in WWE.
Charlotte Flair Thought “Life Was Over” When Suffering Knee Injury
The year 2024 has been a rough one because she hasn’t wrestled in WWE at all. Charlotte suffered a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus in her left knee in December 2023 while in a Smackdown match with Asuka. It’s a long rehab process that keeps most athletes out for at least nine months and even longer in some cases. In the same Forever Young Podcast, Charlotte Flair spoke about how initially she was devastated by the injury, but in time she has learned to deal with it.
“When it first happened, I thought my life was over. I was like, ‘oh my gosh, a perfect storm’. My husband (Andrade) had just come back to the company or was on his way back. I knew he was going to be debuting soon. From the moment I was taken out, I just have kept telling myself that I’m going to come back the best version of the Queen when I do come back, and you never like to be sidelined due to an injury. But then again, I’m not sure if I would have ever sidelined myself had it not been for the injury.”
“So it’s been a challenge, but a challenge I know that’s going to make me in the long run because I’ve had the opportunity over these, I think it’s been like nine, eight months now to go back and see things that I would have done over. What can I do over? Look at the landscape of the division and try to figure out where I can add character layers when I come back.”
A recent report of Charlotte Flair’s return has noted that she may not return to WWE TV at all in 2024, which means an early 2025 return seems likely. However, all of it is determined by if the creative team has a storyline in place for her and when she’s physcially able to step back into the ring.
It’s worth mentioning that Flair also said in the interview that she wants her return to be a surprise, so it’s not like she would tell fans when it will happen.