Charlotte Flair knows exactly why WWE crowds spent years rejecting her—and she isn’t running from it. The Queen says constantly winning made it nearly impossible for people to see her as someone they wanted to support.
While speaking to Ilona Maher on Power Hour, Flair explained that she initially relied heavily on her athletic ability because the entertainment side of wrestling did not come naturally to her. Being Ric Flair’s daughter only added another layer to how audiences viewed her. Flair said she wanted people to respect how hard she worked, but her character may have connected faster if she had simply embraced being the privileged daughter of a wrestling legend.
“I heavily leaned on my athletic ability early on. The entertainment side and charisma did not come naturally at all—like, at all. Now that I’m, what, 13 years in, being Flair’s kid, I wanted the fans to like me because I work really hard. But it could have been easier character-wise to be like, ‘I’m Ric Flair’s daughter. I get everything handed to me. I don’t even do back exercises. I just have a great back. Why are you guys so disrespectful to me? No, seriously, I want to know why you guys are so disrespectful to me.’”
When Maher asked why she had been disliked, Charlotte did not blame the audience. She acknowledged that her extended dominance and constant presence in championship matches made it difficult for people to get behind her.
“I’m not taking away how good I am and what I have done for the industry, but I think what has helped my career so much in the last year is—you don’t want to cheer for someone who always wins. You know what I mean? You want the underdog to win.”
Charlotte believes stepping away from the main championship picture gave her something she had been missing. Instead of being presented as the untouchable champion, she was able to show more vulnerability and let people see the person behind The Queen.
“By default, this last year, being out of the main title picture—and that’s what I was synonymous with—everything that I do right now, every second, every minute, every hour, every day, I just want to be the greatest of all time. Literally, it doesn’t matter, male or female.”
She also credited her willingness to discuss difficult moments from her personal life with changing the way people connect with her character.
“Me showing my flaws and stuff that I’ve gone through in my personal life, and actually being like, ‘It’s okay not to be that perfect champion of what you think a champion is,’ has allowed me to have this fresh layer of paint for the character.”
Charlotte spent years trying to prove she deserved everything she received, but her latest evolution appears to be built around accepting that perfection was part of the problem. The Queen may still want to rule WWE, but she now understands why people needed to see her struggle first.
Do you think Charlotte Flair’s time away from the championship picture made her easier to support? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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