WWE Divas Champion Charlotte recently talked to Busted Open Radio about her life in wrestling and being the Divas champ. Here are the highlights.
Charlotte on being Ric Flair’s daughter in the wrestling business:
I’m going to be honest – mixed blessing. First of all, having my dad there, following in his footsteps, winning the Divas Championship, him saying that this was probably the biggest thing that’s ever happened in his wrestling career knowing everything that he’s accomplished, knowing what we’ve been through as a family the last three years and winning – oh, I’m getting teary-eyed now. So it was a really big deal for us as a family and a huge moment for me that I will absolutely never forget. But I think too, it’s hard – mixed blessing, when I say that – is just because it’s like, dang, my Dad’s always around. So you kind of feel that, you feel the whole ‘Ric Flair’s daughter’ thing a lot. That’s what I mean by a mixed blessing. But in terms of ‘Seriously, I wish someone would pinch me and be like is this real?’ because I seriously can remember my first day in Tampa at FCW and when I stepped in the ring with Norman Smiley, I was legitimately shaking. I was so nervous. I thought my heart was going to come out of my chest. So I was like, ‘Oh my god, what did I decide to do?’ and then being Divas Champion three years later, I’m so blessed.
On being part of the NXT movement:
Honestly, it’s – I don’t know. I want to say destiny because, honestly, I never grew up wanting to be a wrestler. Watching both my brothers struggle in the wrestling business, being Flair’s kid. It wasn’t something that I ever was like, ‘I want to be the next Trish Stratus or I want to be the next Lita’. Triple H started NXT and then me being a part of it and then being there. A couple months later, Sasha [Banks] comes in and then Bayley comes in and then Becky Lynch and then the Four Horsewomen. It’s just something that must’ve been part of my plan, my bigger picture, but being able to see the growth of NXT and being able to look back in ten years and say, yeah, I was a part of – Paige was the first, I was the second, and then debuting and being on the first live event outside of Florida. Then, being on – I didn’t necessarily wrestle on that first special where it was Paige and Emma. But I had a backstage segment leading up to – I was going to feud with Paige, but then she became dual champion and then vacating the NXT title. I’m honored to be a part of that process and to watch it. Actually, I told someone the other day, I’m kind of jealous that NXT gets to go overseas and I’m not on NXT anymore. But being the Divas Champion, nothing tops that. I am beyond proud of what NXT has accomplished. It’s amazing.
Being the Divas Champion:
It’s been two weeks now since the pay-per-view. I’m actually looking forward to all of the duties because I want to empower women. I want and I know, collectively, all the girls want to say we’re just not Divas. We are athletic, strong, intelligent athletes. Yeah, we’re Divas, but we’re also WWE Superstars and that we have the capability to main-event just like Sasha and Bayley are in NXT this week. They deserve to main-event. That will be a match of the year candidate. To be able to be on the main roster now as Divas Champion, I know when I was in NXT watching us slowly – Sasha and I Main Evented Philly, then them Main Eventing a special, me being Divas Champion up here. I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that I have lofty goals and that I just want to open the doors for women in terms of Main Eventing on a bigger scale, the main roster, and what we’ve been able to do at NXT and gain the respect like we did at NXT on the main roster.
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