Recently, Ray and Henry took to Busted Open Radio to talk about a variety of professional wrestling topics, including the current feud between Flair and Ronda Rousey.
Current SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair is so good that WWE Hall Of Famers Bully Ray and Mark Henry want her to wrestle men.
Flair successfully retained her title against Rousey at WrestleMania 38 in Dallas, Texas earlier this month. Now, they’ll run things back in an “I Quit” match at WrestleMania Backlash on May 8.
In the build-up to the bout, Flair actually put Drew Gulak in the Figure Eight, forcing him to yell “I Quit” several times. Ray and Henry both loved the segment, and it even generated some interest in them wanting to see “The Queen” work against men in the ring.
Henry went as far as saying that Charlotte Flair has the potential to eclipse her father, two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair.
“She has the potential to eclipse Ric if she’s allowed to wrestle men and have a run doing that and then going back to women’s wrestling and being the ultimate heel, like, ‘I left y’all because y’all beneath me.’
“That can be, you know, another 10 years of her dominance that can make people only think that when you hear the name ‘Flair’ that you think Charlotte.”
As for Ray, he agrees that Flair should be working against men as well, and even suggested she put more men in the Figure Eight heading into WrestleMania Backlash to build up the submission hold.
“I love the fact that she put the figure eight on a man [Drew Gulak] last night. I want Charlotte to wrestle men. As the matter of fact moving into this match, you know, put the figure eight on two more guys, three more guys, have guys tapping out left and right.”
Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey will compete for the SmackDown Live Women’s Title at WrestleMania Backlash in an “I Quit” match from the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island on May 8, 2022.
Three more big matches have been added to the WWE UK tour coming up later this month.
WWE will be running shows from the Utilita Arena on Thursday, April 28 in Newcastle, England; The O2 Arena from London, England on Friday, April 29; the Accor Arena from Paris, France on Saturday, April 30; and finally the QUARTERBACK Immobilien Arena in Leipzig, Germany on Sunday, May 1.
Earlier today, WWE confirmed several matches for the Newcastle and Leipzig shows. First, former WWE Champions Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre will be going head-to-head. Also, current SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair will take on Sasha Banks. In what should be a real treat, RAW Tag Team Champions RK-Bro will be taking on SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions The Usos. And finally, Sami Zayn will go one-on-one with Gunther.
We also mentioned last week that WWE announced three big matches for their respective shows in London and France. Check them out here below:
Undisputed WWE Champion Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre
SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey
SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions The Usos vs. RAW Tag Team Champions RK-Bro
It should be noted that WWE Intercontinental Champion Ricochet, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks and Naomi, Gunther, and Bobby Lashley are also advertised for those shows. More so, the SmackDown Live taping on Friday, April 22 from the MVP Arena in Albany, New York has a special start time of 6:30pm ET.
This indicates that the show will be a double taping, meaning the April 29 episode of SmackDown Live will be pre-taped as WWE is running their shows in the UK.
WWE has announced that their WWE London and France shows will have three huge matches during their European tour.
WWE will hold a show from the Utilita Arena on Thursday, April 28 in Newcastle, England; The O2 Arena from London, England on Friday, April 29; the Accor Arena from Paris, France on Saturday, April 30; and finally the QUARTERBACK Immobilien Arena in Leipzig, Germany on Sunday, May 1.
Also advertised for those shows are WWE Intercontinental Champion Ricochet, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks and Naomi, Gunther, and Bobby Lashley. Matches for the Newcastle and Leipzig events are expected to be announced soon.
It should also be noted that the SmackDown Live taping on Friday, April 22 from the MVP Arena in Albany, New York has a special start time of 6:30pm ET. This hints that the show will be a double taping, meaning the April 29 episode of SmackDown Live will be pre-taped while WWE is running their show in London.
Currently advertised for the Albany, New York show on April 22 are Reigns, McIntyre, Ricochet, Banks and Naomi, The Usos, RK-Bro, Rousey, RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, and Rhea Ripley. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more.
Ronda Rousey is demanding an “I Quit” match against Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania Backlash.
The Baddest Woman on the Planet made a surprise WWE return in January at the Royal Rumble. She won the 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble and went on to challenge Flair for the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania. She came up short and The Queen retained.
Rousey made her first WWE TV appearance since WrestleMania at Friday’s edition of Smackdown on Fox. Rousey came to the ring and told the WWE Universe that she won’t make any excuses for her loss at WrestleMania. However, she won’t be satisfied until she dethrones Charlotte Flair as the new Raw Women’s Champion.
Rousey demanded a rematch against Charlotte Flair at the next WWE premium live event, WrestleMania Backlash. She wants it to be an “I Quit” match.
Flair appeared on the big screen and denied Rousey’s demand. She told told Rousey, “Get to the back of the line, bitch.”
Later in the show, Adam Pearce said the rematch between Rousey and Flair is in the works. WWE confirmed the match on Saturday.
The WrestleMania Backlash 2022 premium live event takes place Sunday, May 8th and streams live on Peacock and the WWE Network.
Charlotte Flair is no stranger to championship reigns. “The Queen” has held a WWE World Title 13 times throughout her career. Currently, she reigns as the SmackDown Live Women’s Champion. Flair defended her throne against Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 38 this past weekend in Dallas, Texas, besting the former UFC champion when it was all said and done.
Speaking to BT Sport’s Ariel Helwani before the bout, Flair discussed her current title run, and admitted that it isn’t one of her favorites. One big reason being that Flair hasn’t been able to defend the title as much as she’d like.
“I can’t say that this title reign has been one of my favorites,” Flair said (via Wrestling Inc.). “Because I haven’t had an opportunity, due to unfortunate events to defend the title as many times as I would like. But in terms of when I came back after WrestleMania 37 that I missed, and came back as the Opportunity, I feel like it’s been the most confident my character has been since before, it’s been like a good three-and-a-half years, I think.”
Flair is undoubtably one of the greatest female professional wresters the WWE has ever seen. The daughter of two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair, Charlotte Flair has certainly lived up to the legendary Flair name throughout her run with the company.
After helping pioneer today’s Women’s Division in NXT, winning multiple World Titles, and being part of the first-ever all-female main event of a WrestleMania, there’s not much more for her to accomplish in the world of professional wrestling. It will be interesting to see what’s next for Flair this week on SmackDown Live in the fallout from WrestleMania 38.
The majority of Charlotte Flair’s career has been spent as a heel character in WWE. She is a natural heel and is already criticized for whatever position she is booked in by fans.
The SmackDown Women’s Champion recently spoke with Ariel Helwani from BT Sport about why she doesn’t come across well as a babyface.
“Anytime I try being a face, I think that there’s really nothing in the character other than I have a great relationship with my dad like the father-daughter relationship that people necessarily can relate to. Like when I come across like understand me or this was hard for me, it just comes across as like whining or complaining, or I’m like, ‘No, I really feel this way.’ It doesn’t come across as endearing. So I’ve found like, even though I’m trying to open up and be relatable to the audience,” Charlotte explained, “I don’t think the audience sees it that way. It comes across as entitled. When that’s not really how it’s supposed to be portrayed. So anytime I’ve tried to do that as a face. I think it just comes across as like a cry baby…just whining.”
She cited her match with Rhea Ripley at Money In The Bank 2021 as a perfect example of not coming across well in this role.
“No, with the crowd of Money in the Bank. I truly believe I elicit that response from them to do that with Becky [Lynch] because of our history. So I think the crowd was partially doing that because it was me. And then also, it didn’t help that she’d been gone for how long? A year, year and a half? And she posted a picture outside the venue. So the fans wanted her; they hadn’t seen her. So I was like, Eff you. You’re going to respect Rhea [Ripley], you’re going to respect me, and you’re going to watch this match. And it went from those chants to this is awesome.”
Flair retained her title over Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 38 Saturday. The finish saw a referee bump then Rousey locked in the armbar and Flair tapped, but the referee didn’t see it. Flair with a big boot to Rousey as Rousey got the referee up for the win.
Friday night saw the yearly WWE Hall of Fame ceremony take place as part of WrestleMania 38 weekend. This year’s show saw The Undertaker, Vader, Queen Sharmell, Shad Gaspard, and the Steiner Brothers honored.
Many fans pointed out the attendance of an AEW star, none other than Andrade el Idolo. Andrade was of course there with his girlfriend and fiancee, Charlotte Flair.
Photos immediately began circulating on social media, including a shot of the couple with Finn Balor and his wife, which was published by Charlotte Flair on her Instagram page.
Photo: Instagram, Charlotte Flair
Flair recently revealed in an interview with BT Sport that she and Andrade, who became engaged back in 2020, have set a date for their wedding. It will reportedly be this summer in Mexico.
Flair will defend her WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship against Ronda Rousey during night one of WrestleMania 38 on Saturday.
And as you prepare for WrestleMania, be sure to check out the Top Rope Nation wrestling podcast for your weekly dose of pro wrestling talk featuring interviews, analysis and exclusive news: Apple – Spotify – YouTube.This week’s show features a full preview of WrestleMania 38.
Earlier today, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) star Jon Moxley made a surprise appearance at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s (NJPW) Lonestar Shootout event. Moxley hit the ring shortly after Minoru Suzuki’s win over Killer Kross. Getting on the mic, Moxley touched on the fact that, despite dealing with some hamstring and concussion issues, he won’t miss the chance to step into a NJPW ring against Will Ospreay.
Moxley will face off against Ospreay at NJPW Windy City Riot in Chicago, Illinois on April 16, 2022. The former AEW World Champion vowed not to let pride get in his way of teaching Ospreay a lesson. Check out his promo below.
— Kenny The Sports Guy Podcast (@kenny_sports) April 1, 2022
Charlotte Flair & Andrade Set To Be Married
WWE SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair has announced that she and AEW star Andrade are set to be married this summer. Flair broke the news during an interview with BT Sport’s Ariel Helwani. She noted that the wedding will take place in Mexico, and the couple have already bought a dress and set the date. When asked whether or not she would be taking time off for the occasion, Flair was noncommittal in her answer.
“Who knows? You’re acting like I’m gonna lose the title at WrestleMania [laughs],” said Flair (via WrestleZone). ” I think [he] would be a little angry with me if I walked down my aisle with my title.”
Flair will defend her SmackDown Live Women’s Championship tomorrow night at Night One of WrestleMania 38 against Ronda Rousey in Dallas, Texas. It is expected to serve as the main event of the evening.
Charlotte Flair is going to face Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 38’s night one in the main event. Flair will defend her WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship against the UFC women’s bantamweight champion on April 2.
Rousey has garnered criticism from vocal WWE fans. When Ronda made her WWE debut in 2018 she made a meteoric rise to the top of the women’s division. Rousey was able to get a WrestleMania match within 6 months of her debut. She won the Raw Women’s Championship and it wasn’t even an entire year since she debuted. Fans felt like she took the spotlight away from other well-deserving candidates, like 2018 Royal Rumble winner Asuka. She has since become the target of trolls on social media, and was named the “most abused athlete on Twitter”.
Flair talked about her opponent and upcoming match with Rousey in an interview with SHAK Wrestling for CBS Sports, where she also mentioned the hate Rousey gets from fans. Flair defended her rival, stating that it’s not as easy as the keyboard warriors think to do what Rousey did in such a short time and it warrants respect.
“I didn’t know fans saw her in the wrong way. What percentage of people really say that,” Flair said. “If I listen to what people said about me, oof, I wouldn’t be here today. First of all, I’m facing Ronda next week. Don’t take this as I’m going to bat for her. I’m just saying, you can’t knock someone who did something in one year that takes many years and years and years to learn or to grasp. And she did a pretty damn good job in one year. It’s just easier to be negative.”
Flair also defended Rousey in another interview where she said that Rousey helps bring more attention to WWE and she welcomes such collaborations. “Sometimes people get critical of outside talent coming in, but she wants to be a part of what we’ve done here, that should make you feel good, and she does bring more eyeballs to people who aren’t necessarily familiar with the product, like Total Divas.” said Flair.
Ronda Rousey has opened up to the fact that she started resenting WWE fans for the hate she gets. She candidly expressed how she struggled with the adversarial relationship with her critics.
“Everyone was booing me out of the stadium,” Rousey recalled. “I was just like, man, fuck these people, I can’t wait to go home. When I left WWE, I had been getting booed out of the stadium, like, every day for months. Do I stay true to myself and tell them to go fuck themselves?”
Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair would go at it in the ring at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Saturday, April 2.
Despite reports going around that indicate Kevin Owens and Stone Cold Steve Austin are slated for the main event of WrestleMania 38, Ronda Rousey has indicated that she will be main eventing one of the two nights for the event this weekend.
We already know that Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar will main event night number two. The question revolves around who will be in the final slot for night number one.
Originally, it was assumed that either Flair/Rousey or Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair would main event night one. Last year, a male match headlined one night and a female match the other. However, the reports about Owens/Austin had seemingly put those assumptions to rest.
But then Rousey appeared on the Ellen show on Tuesday and addressed this weekend’s WrestleMania 38 show.
“I’m going to be in the main event for the second time. I was part of the first main event with women, this is the third. It’s becoming almost something that doesn’t even need to be mentioned anymore, which is the goal,” Rousey said. (h/t Fightful)
This could be semantics as the Austin/Owens segment is not an advertised “match.” Will Rousey and Flair be the final official match on the card, and then perhaps we see the KO Show segment come out and close the show? We’ll have to wait and see. Under that scenario, we’d observe Flair/Rousey to be the final actual match on the night one card.
Here are the cards for both nights of WrestleMania 38 this weekend as things stand right now:
Night One
WWE RAW Women’s Championship Match Becky Lynch (c) vs. Bianca Belair
The Miz and Logan Paul vs. Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio
Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match The Usos (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs
WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship Match Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Ronda Rousey
Seth Rollins vs. An Opponent of Vince McMahon’s Choosing
KO Show Featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin
Night Two
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match Queen Zelina and Carmella (c) vs. Sasha Banks and Naomi vs. Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan vs. Natalya and Shayna Baszler
Anything Goes Match Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn
Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory
WWE RAW Tag Team Championship Match RK-Bro (c) vs. The Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy
Edge vs. AJ Styles
Bobby Lashley vs. Omos
WWE Championship vs. WWE Universal Championship – Winner Take All Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns (c)
As you prepare for WrestleMania, be sure to check out the Top Rope Nation wrestling podcast for your weekly dose of pro wrestling talk featuring interviews, analysis and exclusive news: Apple – Spotify – YouTube.
WWE has always been open to outside collaboration and bringing in celebrity guests or talents from other sports. However, such partnerships also attract criticism for stealing the spotlight from regular hard-working talents.
One such star who has received criticism for taking the spots from the more deserving talents is Ronda Rousey who will be facing Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania.
The Queen recently had an interview with Bleacher Report where she discussed a number of things. When asked about the complaints about Rousey, Flair mentioned how the former UFC champion was the one who wanted to join WWE. She then explained why she welcomes such collaborations:
“Sometimes people get critical of outside talent coming in, but she wants to be a part of what we’ve done here, that should make you feel good, and she does bring more eyeballs to people who aren’t necessarily familiar with the product, like Total Divas.” said Flair.
“Total Divas brought outside viewers and that’s great for us,” she added. “I want Bad Bunny to come back! He was incredible. It’s an entertainment show. That’s what we do!”
Charlotte also mentioned how the special attractions have led to more spotlight and main events for the women’s division on the whole. She also responded to people who are critical of her constant push.
You can check out Flair’s comments on the matter here.
Charlotte Flair has been the chosen face of WWE’s women’s division since her debut in 2015. She always finds herself in the center of the most important stories concerning the division. This constant push, however, has also led to a lot of criticism for the Queen.
The SmackDown women’s champion recently addressed the IWC’s grudge against her in an interview with Bleacher Report. Flair claimed that she has put in an incredible amount of work to stay in the position she has been. Instead of praising her ethics, however, people take the critical approach:
“People don’t realize how much pressure and hard work and dedication and I’ve never been about for a lengthy time. Instead of looking at it as a positive, like ‘Wow, what a consistent performer, what a hard-worker,’ it’s just, ‘Ugh, she’s always in the title picture, she always has the title.'”
Charlotte Flair then explained that she must be doing something right if she is always talked about. She mentioned how the male workers of the industry aren’t always met with the same criticism as her:
“I don’t think the same criticism always goes toward men being in the title picture. In this business, you want to be the champion. It’s not like you wake up and say, ‘Today, I don’t want to be the champion.’ No, you should always want to be the champion.”
Flair noted that being the champion means that you have to be the hardest worker in the room. She claimed that while she doesn’t understand the criticism sometimes, her haters make her that much better all the same.
Charlotte Flair already has her eyes on Bianca Belair and Rhea RIpley as opponents following her match at WrestleMania 38.
The current SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair will face Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 38 on the Saturday show. The former RAW Women’s Champion, Rousey, won the 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble in her return to the ring, and then went on to challenge ‘The Queen’. It seems like Charlotte may be looking pass this possible WrestleMania main event and towards two other former Women’s champions.
Charlotte Flair Names Who’s Next For Her
Charlotte appeared on HOT 97, and said, “I guess it’s the question is, who’s there to beat me? Rhea and Bianca, are my targets next. I expect big things not that Bianca hasn’t already done big things, and I still look at my Money in the Bank match with Rhea Ripley, it was a great match. I want to see, you know, what’s next for the both of them and I’ve never had a completely full program with either one of them.”
Charlotte continued, “I think Rhea has kind of been start-stop. WrestleMania we had the NXT. But that wasn’t really followed up. You know, we had that WrestleMania match in the Performance Center during COVID and then I lost the title at TakeOver.”
“So there was really no story or build-up or what happened after and then when we got when she came to Raw, it was the Money in the Bank match, but then it turned into a Triple Threat and I got cashed in on. So I still think there’s a story left there, and she’s got to climb this mountain, both of them.”
WrestleMania 38
The SmackDown Women’s Championship will be defended against Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 38 Night 1 on Saturday, April 2.
Bianca Belair also has a championship match set for WrestleMania 38 Night 1 on Saturday, April 2. She will face Becky Lynch for the RAW Women’s Championship after winning the Women’s Eliminiation Chamber Match on February 19.
Rhea Ripley currently does not have any plans for WrestleMania as of right now. However, that could obviously change as there are still 28 days until the event and the card is still developing.
Charlotte Flair says she can’t control her father, Ric Flair, and how vocal he is about issues related to her career.
The SmackDown Women’s Champion was interviewed by Hot 97 this week to promote WrestleMania 38 and Saturday’s WWE live event from Madison Square Garden.
The Nature Boy has been very outspoken about Charlotte’s career and has made headlines when talking about her being underutilized. Ric Flair also has an ongoing beef with Becky Lynch.
During for a conversation with Peter Rosenberg, Ebro and Laura Stylez, Charlotte said she’s spoken to her father about reigning in the things he says. However, she realizes Ric Flair is his own man with his own opinions.
“I’ve tried to control that and I’ve realized that I can’t,” said Charlotte about her father’s controversial comments. “So, whether my dad’s my biggest cheerleader or what… He’s gonna say what he wants to say and I can’t persuade him any other way.”
Charlotte feels that Ric Flair’s comments about her career and her co-workers come from a place of love. “My dad would do anything in the world for me and how much he loves me, and my career means everything to him. So, I’m gonna try not to fight that battle anymore.”
She doesn’t think she needs to be protected by her father, but at the end of the day, she still considers herself “daddy’s little girl.”
Charlotte Flair will battle 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble winner Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania Saturday.
The women first met at Survivor Series 2018. Their match did not have much build or backstory at the time, but Charlotte says they earned one another’s respect that night. She compares Ronda Rousey to Kurt Angle, as others have, when describing how quickly she excelled in pro wrestling.
“I mean, just she picked up so quickly,” she said of Rousey. “It’s all about instinct and she has the instinct and that’s half the battle. You can be in this business for a long time and never figure out instinct, in my opinion.”
Catch Charlotte Flair’s appearance on Hot 97:
SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair sits down with Ebro in the Morning to discuss her recent success, what’s next for her, her opinion on Ronda Rousey, being the daughter of a legendary wrestler in Ric Flair, her thoughts on some superstars in the Women’s Division and even addressed rumors of her future in the WWE. You can watch her live on the Road To Wrestlemania Saturday, March 5 at Madison Square Garden on Ticketmaster!
Next week’s episode of WWE SmackDown has already been taped in advance, as the company will be heading to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Elimination Chamber on Saturday 19th February.
One of the segments that were taped for next week’s show saw Naomi, Sonya Deville, Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey take part in what appears to be a contract signing for their match at the Elimination Chamber show.
Unfortunately, there was an extremely noticeable botch during the segment, when Rousey tried to slam Flair’s head on the desk in the middle of the ring.
SmackDown Botch
As you can see via the tweet below, the execution of the spot was horrendous, and it has since been going viral on Twitter.
It’s extremely likely that WWE will edit the segment as much as possible to avoid this going out on television next week, but with this fan cam footage, we can see just how bad the spot really was live.
Hopefully, the match between the four women at the Elimination Chamber PPV event itself won’t be quite so botchtastic.
Here is the current card for the Elimination Chamber 2022 event:
WWE Raw Women’s Championship Number #1 Contender’s Elimination Chamber Match: Doudrop vs. Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Nikki A.S.H. vs. Bianca Belair vs. TBA – The winner will receive a WrestleMania 38 title match for the WWE Raw Women’s Title.
Universal Championship Match: Roman Reigns (c) vs WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg
Raw Women’s Championship Match: Becky Lynch (c) vs WWE Hall of Famer Lita
SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: The Usos (c) vs The Viking Raiders
SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair & Sonya Deville vs. Ronda Rousey & Naomi
Ronda Rousey will indeed challenge Charlotte Flair for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Title at WrestleMania 38 after she made her return at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event in St Louis, Missouri by being a surprise entrant in the Women’s Royal Rumble match.
She won the match and earned this title shot. After teasing going after Becky Lynch’s Raw Women’s Title on this past Monday’s Raw, she said she would make her announcement on Friday Night SmackDown this week and that’s exactly what happened.
However, WWE did try to swerve fans by having Sonya Deville announce Rousey had chosen Lynch and Flair stated that she would face Sasha Banks at WrestleMania. However, Rousey came out to the ring and said that the last time she checked, she got to pick her opponent. She said she plans to teach her daughter the family business of kicking ass and Flair is just one of many who she owes an ass kicking.
Rousey said Flair isn’t lucky, but just first and she would see her at WrestleMania. She tossed the microphone at Flair, who said that her title is her baby and it’s prettier than Rousey’s child. Rousey attacked like she was about to throw down with Flair. Sonya tried to tell her to back off, but Rousey picked her up and hit a samoan drop before locking in the armbar while staring at Flair.
The WWE has reportedly decided on Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair’s opponent for Wrestlemania 38.
Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reports that Ronda Rousey will challenge Flair for the Smackdown Women’s Championship at Wrestlemania 38. The event will be a two-night affair held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on April 2nd and 3rd.
Rousey had a two-year run in WWE before taking time off. However, she quickly became one of WWE’s most featured talents on TV. The report states that the WWE wants Rousey to be a member of the Friday Night Smackdown roster to appease Fox. She could also appear for Monday Night Raw to help their TV ratings.
“Her being on Smackdown is to throw a major bone to Fox, which had hoped for both Rousey and Brock Lesnar to be regulars on the show,” said Meltzer.
Lynch recently teased facing Rousey on social media. While the report shares that it won’t happen at Wrestlemania 38, Meltzer doesn’t rule that the matchup could happen at Wrestlemania 39. He also admitted that Rousey vs. Lynch made more sense for this year’s Wrestlemania, but WWE thinks differently.
The forbidden door has flown off its hinges with the recent news of a WWE and IMPACT Wrestling crossover.
In the anticipation of the annual Royal Rumble event, WWE revealed some of the entrants in this years Women’s Royal Rumble match, including seven legends. Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool and Lita all make their exciting returns to the match on January 29th. In addition, Summer Rae returns to WWE for the first time since 2016. Most notably though, former WWE superstar and current IMPACT Knockouts World Champion, Mickie James, was amongst the announced entrants into the Royal Rumble.
Since her release from WWE last April, James has once again risen in the ranks of professional wrestling. Leading the charge in producing NWA’s first ever all-women’s pay-per-view Empowerrr, Mickie James has simultaneously catapulted her stock over the course of the last six months. After engaging in a high intensity feud with “The Virtuosa” Deonna Purrazzo, James re-captured the Knockouts Championship at IMPACT’s Bound For Glory in October. This marked the beginning of James’ fourth Knockouts Championship reign.
Since then, she’s defeated the likes of Madison Rayne, Mercedes Martinez, and Kiera Hogan, and remains undefeated in singles competiton since August. Most recently, James rekindled her spark with rival Deonna Purrazzo in a heated Texas Death Match, in which Purrazzo invoked her rematch clause for the Knockouts Championship. Mickie James would go on to once again defeat “The Virtuosa” at IMPACT’s Hard To Kill event, guaranteeing herself to walk into the WWE Royal Rumble as the Knockouts World Champion.
The addition of Mickie James to the Royal Rumble has sparked intriguing conversations as to what James’ exact role will be in the match. With the shocking addition of Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair as well, the wrestling community, and Mickie James herself, have seemingly started the campaign for these two decorated champions to finally meet one-on-one.
During Mickie James’ second run in WWE (2016-2021), “The Queen” and herself nearly evaded any interaction in a ring together. The two fierce competitors found themselves on separate brands, until the Superstar Shakeup of 2019. There, Flair and James were both assigned to Smackdown. Charlotte would assume a feud with her WrestleMania rival Becky Lynch, reclaiming the Smackdown Women’s Championship at Money in the Bank. The same night, Flair fell victim to a successful Money in the Bank cash-in from Bayley.
Meanwhile, Mickie James was kept off screen. She would return to live events in late May of 2019, facing off against a former Smackdown Women’s Champion, Carmella. However, her return to a WWE ring would be short lived, as she sustained an ACL injury while on the live event tour. Surgery would then keep James out of action for over a year, before she made her eventual on-screen return in August of 2020.
James would begin a short series of matches against the likes of Natalya, Zelina Vega, and Asuka on Monday Night RAW before suffering from a broken nose, and disappearing from television. Mickie James would then reemerge in the 2021 Women’s Royal Rumble, which ended up being her last match in WWE.
Entering the fray at #19, James joined the match with the likes of Bianca Belair, Naomi, and…Charlotte Flair (who entered at #15).
After James knocked down her opponents, she stood tall to be met eye-to-eye by Charlotte Flair. “I’ve been waiting for this a long time, baby,” she exclaimed to Flair, before the two engaged in a series of strikes. Flair would contribute a series of chops before the two respected competitors moved to the corner turnbuckle. James would retort with a slap before landing a hurricanrana on “The Queen”, sending her flying across the ring. Flair would quickly bounce back, tossing James through the ropes and onto apron, attempting to eliminate the six-time women’s champion.
This moment would be the only moment that these superstars would ever engage in the ring together in any capacity. Mickie James wants more though.
In a recent interview with Tru Heel Heat, James revealed that she wants more magic with the current Smackdown Women’s Champion:
“I still would want a moment with Charlotte because I never got it, that’s number one. That will always be…I really wanted to have that moment with her. I don’t know why it matters so much, I’m just like ‘God, we finally got that little moment in the Rumble,’ a little beat, and it was pretty awesome. My whole tenure there, the whole time I was back, we were never in the ring together until that moment, which is so crazy to me.”
Similarly, Charlotte Flair also declared two years ago that she’d like a true match with the current Knockouts Champion:
Mickie James and Charlotte Flair barely scratched the surface last year, but now, there is hope for that true moment between the two decorated champions.
Since the announcement of James’ presence in the Royal Rumble and the surprising addition of Charlotte Flair, James has seemingly set her sights on the Smackdown Women’s Champion.
In an intriguing move by WWE, Charlotte Flair announced herself as an entrant in this year’s Royal Rumble. This will mark the first time in the history of the Women’s Royal Rumble that a champion will enter their respective Rumble match. No formal explanation has been given, but perhaps if Flair wins this year’s Royal Rumble, she will hand select her WrestleMania opponent?
It’s a definite possibility.
On the other hand, Mickie James enters the 2022 Royal Rumble as the IMPACT Knockouts World Champion. Moreover, WWE acknowledged James as the Knockouts Champion when announcing her entry into the Royal Rumble. Though James is a certified WWE legend, never before has World Wrestling Entertainment crossed over with IMPACT Wrestling in an exciting headline like this. As of this writing, Mickie James and Charlotte Flair enter the Royal Rumble match as the only two singles champions. Besides that fact though, there is one other link between the two legendary superstars that could and should cause that dream one-on-one matchup.
Though the Flair and James have never engaged in action outside of the Royal Rumble, there is a huge story and date that has the power to spark this potential forbidden door match: March 26th, 2019.
For thirteen years, WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus held the record the most women’s championship held by any competitors in WWE, with an outstanding seven reigns. In March of 2019, Charlotte Flair changed that. Defeating Asuka for the Smackdown Women’s Championship on an episode of Smackdown, Flair claimed her eighth women’s championship in the company. There, she cemented herself in WWE history with the most Women’s Championship reigns of all-time, now ahead of Stratus.
Upon her second return to WWE in 2016, Mickie James was one title shy of tying the record then held by Stratus. James found herself competing for various championships, including a six-pack challenge for the Smackdown Women’s Championship, an Elimination Chamber match for the RAW Women’s Championship, and against Alexa Bliss for the RAW Women’s Title on two occassions. In every opportunity however, James fell short.
James would meet Trish Stratus in the 2018 Royal Rumble, as Stratus taunted James by holding up seven fingers in her face, symbolic of her historic seven championship reigns. From 2010 until 2018, Mickie James was always second behind Stratus in the WWE history books. Every appearance of James on WWE programming following her sixth championship win, raised the stakes of her potentially tying history with Trish Stratus. Unfortunately, Mickie James never reclaimed a championship in WWE following her sixth Women’s Championship victory at the 2010 Royal Rumble.
James would forever trail Trish Stratus by one reign in the history books for the record, until 2019. Charlotte Flair would be the one to surpass Stratus on March 26th, 2019, becoming the Smackdown Women’s Champion and solidifying her eighth title reign in WWE.
Charlotte Flair reached a feat that Mickie James failed to do in her collective nine years in WWE. That realization is the fuel Mickie James needs to use upon her return to WWE. If James was never going to break Stratus’ record, perhaps a grudge match with the woman who did might provide her character some closure.
Flair has already beaten Trist Stratus’ record, and beaten Stratus herself at SummerSlam 2019. Then again, Mickie James has also beaten Trish Stratus, in her WrestleMania debut in 2006, ironically on the same day as this year’s WrestleMania: April 2nd.
Charlotte Flair will forever have a leg up on James in terms of the history books, but James might finally have a chance to change her fate this year. The addition of Charlotte Flair and Mickie James to the Royal Rumble could possibly lead to an ultimate forbidden door collision: Champion vs Champion.
Mickie wants it. Charlotte wants it. Now, it’s up to WWE and IMPACT to capitalize on the momentum and buzz.
Royal Rumble entry placements for Flair and James are still unknown at this time, but the drawing value is undoubtedly there. It is an absolute MUST that these two formally meet this year.
NOW is the time to book Mickie James versus Charlotte Flair.
Charlotte Flair is one of the leading athletes of not only the women’s division but all of WWE. She is always put into top storylines and marquee matches by the officials. This position in the roster often also attracts criticism from people rooting for more opportunities for fresh talent. Though Natalya who is a 14 year veteran of the women’s division herself, has a different outlook of the situation.
The Canadian star recently had an interview with Jonathan Hood on Tuesday Wrestling Tuesday. She talked about a number of things including how young talents such as Liv Morgan on Raw and Toni Storm on SmackDown are being given new opportunities. Natalya said that she is rooting for Storm to take the SmackDown women’s championship from Flair because it’s time for a change. However, she also acknowledged the perspective of The Queen:
“Charlotte Flair, I think it’s a tough spot because there’s only so much that she can do, there’s only so many places you can go. Once you’ve done it all, once you’ve main evented WrestleMania, you’ve won X amount of championships. When you have had everything and you have experienced everything, it is really really cool to watch other women rise to the occasion and get a chance.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Natalya was asked if there is something in the business which she still wants to accomplish. Replying to it the former SmackDown women’s champion noted how she has never won the Raw women’s championship. She also named a few opponents she would like to face:
“For me, I am currently a triple crown champion in WWE. I would like to be a grand slam champion. I would like to win the Raw women’s championship at some point in my career. There’s a ton of women that I want to work with that I’ve never had the chance to work with, like Io Shirai I’d love to work with. Indi Hartwell is somebody that I’ve kind of got my eye on. I think she’s really really talented,
Of course, my dream match right now would be against Toni Storm. Those to me are all things that I want to accomplish. I also feel like how cool would it be for Beth Phoenix and I to win the women’s tag team championships together.” said Natalya, “I think that would be so freaking cool because Beth is my best friend, also a WWE Hall Of Famer. To do that together with her would be so much fun.”
If you use any quotes from the article please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription
Charlotte Flair has no interest in a Queen vs Queen match against Zelina Vega.
During an interview with Metro UK, Flair said she has no interest in Vega’s crown.
“I don’t think I need to fight over a crown, sorry.” she said. “I don’t think I need a crown to be called the Queen, I am the Queen. It’s silly to me. [laughs] No offense!”
Flair continued to say that she has no problem facing Queen Zelina, but she’s not interested in a storyline or a match over a crown. She believes she’s the “Queen of them all” and always has an “invisible crown” on her head.
The Real Queen of WWE
Charlotte Flair continued, “I mean, maybe facing Zelina, but to have a match focused around Queen versus Queen? Like, I’m the Queen of them all – without a throne,’ she insisted. ‘I don’t see that as – she has a long way to go before that becomes her… I don’t know how you say it? I always wear my invisible crown.”
Flair did not participate in the recent Queen’s Crown tournament, which saw Zelina Vega defeat Doudrop in the finals.
While this cannot be confirmed, it is being reported that Andrade and Charlotte Flair have broken up. The couple had announced their engagement on New Year’s Day in 2020. They had gone public with their relationship in early 2019.
According to a report from BodySlam.net, the engagement is off and the couple have gone their separate ways. It was also reported that Charlotte Flair made the decision to end the relationship. No reason as to why she decided to break off the engagement was reported, however. The break-up reportedly occurred a few weeks ago.
It was noted that Andrade stopped following several of Flair’s social media channels late last month.
In 2019, Flair spoke with News-18 about her relationship with Andrade.
“What’s so special is having someone with you that understands what you do,” Flair said. “His grandfather was a wrestler, his dad was a wrestler, his uncles are wrestlers. Being in the industry, liking the same things, understanding the pressure, understanding the travel.”
Charlotte Flair is the current Smackdown Women’s Champion. She’ll be facing Toni Storm next for the title. As for Andrade, he recently main event’ed the last episode of AEW Dynamite. He was defeated by Cody Rhodes after going through a flaming table.
Ric Flair wants to see his daughter Charlotte mix it up with reigning AEW Women’s World Champion, Britt Baker.
On the latest episode of his Wooooo Nation Uncensored podcast, Flair hyped up this potential dream match.
“Britt Baker is definitely a very nice person but, you know, I wish her nothing but the best,” said Flair. “However, I would love to see her facing Charlotte.”
As for if we will ever see that match, Flair says it all comes down to business.
Charlotte & Britt Baker
We’ll have to see if Charlotte Flair ever leaves WWE for AEW. However, if that were to happen, Charlotte vs. Britt Baker would be a no brainer.
Britt Baker recently named Charlotte as one of the people who inspired her to get into pro wrestling, along with Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Bayley.
Charlotte Flair also aware that many fans are clamoring for this dream match. During a live podcast with Renee Paquette that took place over the summer, Charlotte was showered with “DMD” chants. You can see how she reacted below:
Flair has been making a lot of headlines with comments he’s made on the new podcast. Flair lashed out at the treatment he received towards the end of his latest WWE run.
“I could never work for Nick Khan in my entire life,” said Flair. “Vince McMahon, I could work for. Nick Khan [is] the guy who orchestrated taking me off the show. I’ve got my facts together, orchestrated taking the ‘wooo’ off – never in a million years.”
WWE booked the biggest match possible with its top female talent in Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair at the Survivor Series pay-per-view event in Brooklyn, New York.
Neither title was on the line. The match opened the show and they went straight into a fight. After brawling, Flair took over and beat her down for a few minutes before Lynch rallied back. At one point, Lynch locked in the figure four leg lock. Lynch pinned Flair with Lynch holding the ropes but the ref didn’t see it.
Last year’s high profile champion vs. champion match for the women featured Raw Women’s Champion Asuka losing to SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks.
Both stars changed brands in the draft, but to resolve the situation with their titles, the company decided to have a championship exchange segment on an episode of SmackDown last month where Lynch became Raw Women’s Champion while Charlotte became SmackDown Women’s Champion.
It was reported that Lynch and Charlotte had a legitimate backstage confrontation following the awkward title exchange.
Time will tell where the company goes with these two wrestlers heading into the Day 1 pay-per-view event in January from State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
There was a reported backstage confrontation between Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair at the October 22 episode of WWE SmackDown after they had a championship exchange segment.
Flair had gone to WWE management before the show to voice her concerns regarding the segment and how it would make her look weak. Despite her best attempts, it didn’t work and they went with what the creative team had planned. After the segment, there were loud words being exchanged but no physicality.
While being asked about the criticism she gets for always being the champion in an interview with BT Sport, Flair spoke about how she stands up for what she believes in.
“If I was a man would it rub people the wrong way? No one looks at a man and goes, ‘why does he want to be the world champion again when he’s been on top all these years?’ Is it because I’m a woman and have done it all and we have a smaller division? Charlotte is difficult? Because I stand up for what I believe in? That makes me difficult? If I was a man, I’d have big balls. I know how good I am. Man or woman, I am the best.”
Lynch didn’t confirm that an incident took place. However, she did acknowledge that they were not on good terms.
“I don’t know, man, we don’t talk anymore. We don’t talk,” said Lynch. All I’ll say is, the locker room needs a hero sometimes, and sometimes somebody has to be that hero. I’m all right being that hero. That’s all I’ll say on that matter.”
On this week's SI MEDIA PODCAST, I asked WWE superstar Becky Lynch about a recent backstage incident with Charlotte Flair and their real-life heat. Lynch did not pull any punches. https://t.co/A6BAlsrEmOpic.twitter.com/zo8zFwyWLT
Becky Lynch Unable to Trust Charlotte Flair Currently
She tried to avoid commenting more on her relationship with Flair. However, Traina asked her how she deals with working with someone with whom she has a problematic relationship within the ring. She wrestles Flair at Survivor Series on November 21st at the Barcley Center in Brooklyn, NY.
Lynch discussed how wrestlers have to trust each other in the ring and work together to entertain their audience.
“…When you have two people that are wanting to work together to make magic, then you make magic, said Lynch. She continued, “Sometimes when there is hostility when you can’t trust the person, then you never know what’s going to happen. And you always have to be on guard. It’s like a game of chess.”
Traina asked if she currently trusts Flair and if they were friends. Lynch responded by saying that she doesn’t trust her.
At one point, they were best friends. It’s unclear why or when their relationship became problematic. Flair hasn’t responded to reports of their relationship status.
Both wrestlers will have to work together through their problems in less than two weeks.
