411’s Broken Skull Sessions Report: Charlotte Flair on Her Relationship with Becky Lynch, Sasha & Naomi Walking Out, More

-This is Awesome has been on hiatus the last two weeks, but we were gifted with a new Austin interview this week. Let’s get to it!

-Run Time: 1:20:24

-Steve Austin welcomes us to the show and tells us Charlotte is a workhorse that can have a great match with anyone on the roster. She is also a 13-time World Champion!

-They shake hands and Charlotte calls Austin, “Maverick.” Austin brings up Charlotte won’t say this but she had a crazy travel schedule to get here. Austin congratulates her on the marriage and assumes his invitation was lost in the mail. She says that she didn’t think Austin would want to travel all the way to Mexico. We see a photo of her and Andrade at their wedding.

-They talk honeymoon as they went to Costa Rica for a full 7 days. She said it was amazing as she got to detach from the business and eat whatever she wanted for seven days. Apparently Andrade planned everything and Austin is shocked by that as usually the guy messes everything up. Andrade is her best friend and it’s hard to explain, as a woman, to someone about the business, it can be hard, but Andrade obviously gets it.

-Austin asks at what point was Charlotte destined to get in the business. She brings up wanting to follow in her little brother’s footsteps. She is here today solely because of him. Now it is obviously all about her, but she is not here without her brother. She got the call from Triple H and he asked if she really wanted to do it. He told her just because he was letting her in, didn’t mean he would let her brother in. He told her it would be hard and she said she was ready to work.

-Austin asks about life growing up as the daughter of Ric Flair. Austin again mentions he feels Flair is the greatest of all time. Charlotte says she was born with Ric as champion, so that was all she knew. Her dad would pick her up from school and would drive her to volleyball camps. She mentions she went on tour with him a few times and we see footage of them on WWE’s Japan Tour in 2005. She remembers how beautiful the Divas were and was mesmerized by them. She could never imagine being in their shoes. Her whole life was sports and she was kind of a tomboy. She was told to pick basketball (which Ric loved) or volleyball and she picked volleyball.

-She went on a recruiting visit with her parents to Wake Forest and then a visit on her own to Appalachian State. She picked App State because of how great it was to be there on her own. She had a scholarship and quit volleyball as she was wrapped up in the wrong things. She told Ric she quit when he was getting on a plane for Australia and he said “what” and then the call ended. She found a job as a personal trainer and that held her over for two years. Then her and Reid went to The Horsemen Hall of Fame and someone asked why she wasn’t wrestling. She picked it up to piss off her brother, but he was all for it. She admits she just decided to do it and didn’t have any dreams.

-Austin asks her if she feels it was just predetermined. She gets emotional talking about her brother and Austin apologizes, but she says it’s fine. She felt the people there would hate her because she didn’t have a tryout. They show her first photo and she doesn’t even want to look at it as she didn’t even know how to do her eyebrows back then. She told them she didn’t need a handout as she was a Division 1 athlete. She brings up doing blow-up drills and Austin lets us know what the drill does. Dusty pulled her aside after and told her she was going to be okay.

-Charlotte says Reid called her in September and she didn’t know the wrestling names of some of the producers which annoyed Reid. He was off to Japan, but invited her home for Thanksgiving before he left and she opted to stay and train in Florida. She admits she has regrets about that ever since. They would tweet and face time when he was in Japan. She wouldn’t retweet some of his shows because she was so mad about his drug use. She has regrets about that as well. Ric flew Reid home and they were set to see Charlotte at her first Mania Axxess and he died the night he came home. She showed up to work the next week and Dusty told her she had to let it go and keep moving forward.

-They went to Orlando in the new building and Dusty was the promo coach. He told her she had it now and she realized that she had to make it for Red and now here she is.

-Austin follows up on Dusty telling her to let it go. She says she never really moved forward from his death, but she had no Plan B. Reid’s passing take a toll on her mom and dad. She took her dad to rehab in Tampa and doesn’t believe that’s ever come out until now. Her way of coping with it was to just throw herself into her work.

-NXT: She showed up when Paige was the next big thing. She was the anti-diva and Charlotte wanted to be like her because she was different. She was blown away by the Emma/Paige match at the First Takeover and she wanted to be them. She learned from the women she was brought up with: Becky, Sasha, and Bayley. Her goal was to catch up and do what they were doing. She is here because competition breeds competition and without them she doesn’t know if she would be here today.

-Austin jumps on The Four Horsewomen and Charlotte says her and Sasha came in around the same time. She gives a ton of credit to Sarah for the training and also mentions Normal Smiley, and Dusty. She mentions Ricky Steamboat was there, but she didn’t get to work with him as much. She says all four of them were close at different times. Emma was her first match and they were close at times as well.

-Austin switches topics to Dusty Rhodes and they flash a great black and white pic of Dusty and Charlotte on the screen. Austin talks the chemistry between Ric and Dusty. Austin throws to video of Charlotte cutting a promo in promo class and she admits she was nervous as she is shaking trying to get through it. She talks about kids making fun of her about her dad doing fake wrestling and Ric told her it didn’t make him mad. She realized working that it didn’t bother Ric because until you do it, nobody understands. She gets emotional as she says she wants to be part of it and talks about watching her dad, Savage, Luger, Sting, and Miss Elizabeth. She wants to be a role model like John Cena and inspire kids. She tells them she has no character and doesn’t know promos as this is just her.

-Back to the interview and Charlotte says she just wanted to be like. She knows it came across like she was whining, and she felt like she needed to apologize. Only in the last few years she has realized, “who cares.” She just wanted to be liked and everything she said was true. She wasn’t coming in with goals of being in Main Events or changing the game. She didn’t know what Independents were. Sasha knew she wanted to change the game. Bayley and Becky had made names for themselves while Charlotte just wanted to be liked.

-Austin says that in his opinion Charlotte is better as a heel and she agrees as she says she is a natural heel. She is relatable when talking to people in person, but it’s not fun. She knows it is hard to be relatable when you are the daughter of Ric Flair. Again she was worried about people not liking her and now she doesn’t understand why it mattered. If they are booing then she needs to go with it and she wishes she could go back and do things differently.

-To the video as it’s Charlotte w/ Ric in her corner against Natalya w/ Bret in her corner in NXT. Charlotte admits she had a dry mouth and this was going to be the longest match she ever had. She knew she was in good hands with Nattie in there with her. Charlotte credits the match being so good because Nattie told her to just listen to me. She then laughs as Bret makes a face at the awful sharpshooter she applied and Austin chimes in that he could never get it right either. She jokes that her dad is going to try to steal the show even when he is out there at ringside with her. She credits Norman and Sara for Natural Selection and notes she wanted to do it off the ropes, but they told her that would be a lot to take night after night. She credits this match with the moment she got people looking at here and it also gave her the confidence to know that she was getting it.

-Charlotte mentions her feud with Sasha in 2016 was feud of the year and they are now totally different opponents. She mentions the Survivor Series match with Ronda is when a switch kicked in and everything came naturally.

-Austin feels some of her best matches are when they are gritty and knockdown. She agrees! They flash a photo of HHH congratulation her after winning the NXT Women’s Title for the first time. She just wanted to make him proud and says she wishes she would have gone to him more for advice, but she didn’t want people thinking she was using the relationship he and her dad had to gain something.

-They flash a 4 Horsewomen photo and talk about the transition out of the Diva era. Charlotte isn’t sure if what they did in NXT made competition with the women on the main roster. She knows Nikki Bella was hungry when they faced off and she could tell the main roster wanted what they were getting in NXT.

-WrestleMania 32: It’s Charlotte vs. Sasha vs. Becky for the Woman’s Championship as the Divas Title was retired. She felt nervous to a degree, but she was in there with Becky and Sasha where there was so much comfort. They knew they had to steal the show because if they didn’t they may not get more opportunities. Charlotte notes than any of the three could have won that night and it would have been okay. They laugh as Ric has to get his stuff in and even takes a bump from Becky. They show the moonsault press to the floor and Austin say it scares the shit out of him. Charlotte: “I learned over time you don’t always have to do it.” This is fun to watch as Charlotte is dissecting everything she felt she did wrong and it’s cool to get in the mind of someone looking back. Again, I will gladly take a show with Austin and a few guests just sitting down watching classic matches. Charlotte gets the win and says she didn’t feel ready when she won The Divas Title, but felt she was ready when she won The Woman’s Title that night.

-Austin wants to talk getting out of Ric’s shadow, but also knowing that is your dad. She mentions they fight a lot and she tells him what she thinks. He takes it well though. Ric is protective obviously because he is a dad. She thinks sometimes he is spot on with her and other times she feels he is way off. Ric pushes her to do more athletic stuff because she can, but he tells her that he didn’t have to do all that stuff. She knows it is because he is proud of her. She jokes she learned what not to do on the road and says she has kept all her robes. Nice!

-The show the famous photo of the woman’s roster in Dallas. She puts over Nikki for showing her what it is like to be a star. She learned and took something from each woman in the photo. Austin notes that Asuka is not in the picture and wants to jump to her.

-WrestleMania 34: Austin notes they beat the hell out of each other. Charlotte says Asuka had nothing to prove because she wrestled all over the world and had this reputation in Japan. That may seem weird, but she felt she needed to prove she could hang with Asuka. To the video as we see Charlotte get the special entrance. She mentions she only wanted to wear a robe for Mania 32 and didn’t wear them at house shows until someone said the fans might be disappointed and that clicked for Charlotte. We see video and both give high praise to Asuka. Charlotte puts over Finlay huge as he was the producer of the match and she says he raised her on the main roster. Austin tells a story of how he told Vince that if he could find a guy that was 6’3” and let him train with Finlay for two years he would be a World Champion. Charlotte isn’t 6’3” or a man obviously, but he brought up Charlotte who became a World Champion. Charlotte notes that she hugged Asuka too fast after the match because she was so caught up in the emotion of the match. Asuka recovered obviously, but it was weird that both Rumble Winners lost their Title Match that night. Charlotte jokes that she was cashed in on the next show and now she may question the decision, but not back then.

-She talks about being naturally competitive and has a story from her Uncle Arn and it’s not the one he tells about Austin and his dropkick. That has Austin rolling and he has to take a minute to tell the story. It was when he was part of The Hollywood Blondes with Pillman. Austin watched The Hart Foundation and wanted to do a double dropkick. Pillman hit his perfectly and Austin connected with the guys knees/shins. Arn would sit backstage watching on the little monitors busting on people and when Austin came through the curtain: “Hog, that was the worst dropkick I have ever seen.” Charlotte pops on Hog as she remembers that being the nickname Arn had for Austin. From that day forward Austin never tried another dropkick and it may have saved his career. Arn would say nobody could have the talent, body, and promo and Charlotte questions why she couldn’t have all. Charlotte says if she ranked the 3 she would be talent at 1, talker at 2, and body at 3. It is hard to rate body type with women as guys are the ones labeled as a body guy and Austin agrees.

-Becky Lynch: Austin asks how the competition between the two affected their friendship. Charlotte says there are two women that want to be the best. They were each others crutches at one point, but Becky got married and had a baby and she found Manny on the road. The chemistry they have is different than the chemistry she has with Asuka. Charlotte notes they grew up together on TV and people didn’t know how close they were.

-Evolution: To the video where it’s Becky vs. Charlotte in a Last Woman Standing Match. Her favorite part of the match was when they were in the crowd trading blows with the fans around them. Becky hits a legdrop off a ladder through a table but Charlotte is up and the crowd boos. Charlotte notes the boos and wonders why she just didn’t go with it. Nasty bump as Charlotte takes a powerbomb off the apron through a table and that is enough to count her out. She wishes she would have brought her heel mannerisms and not changed what made her character popular. Austin notes when he switched heel, he flipped what he was doing and it didn’t work. He went from a bad ass to a chicken shit heel.

-Ronda Rousey: Charlotte says they had no build, no story, and Ronda was her dream opponent. She also knew she was about to lose a Mania spot. It was to be Ronda and Becky and Charlotte felt if she got Ronda now, then it would not happen at Mania. She figured out she needed to ramp it up and show that she still deserved a Mania spot. She wishes what she did there was something she did the previous five months. She calls Ronda awesome and she couldn’t have asked for a better match.

-Jump to Rumble where Becky beats her and Vince tells her that he is just going to insert her in the Mania Main Event. She wishes they would have followed up with the hatred the fans had for her. Austin asks how many Triple Threat Matches she’s been part of, and she jokes, “all of them.” She has no problem with them and likes doing them on live shows. She knows people get sick of her being inserted into matches. She agrees that Becky should have won at Rumble, but wishes they had a better reason and follow-up as to why she was put in the Main Event at Mania.

-WrestleMania 35: She had no nerves at this show as she knew she belonged her. She did what she said she was going to do. She notes that her father never got to Main Event a WrestleMania. I mean, technically he did as they promoted VIII as a Double Main Event, but he didn’t close the show like she did. Austin talks about closing out Night One of Mania 38 at this stage of his career and how there are a ton of legends that never closed a Mania. Charlotte says she did it, but she wants more.

-Austin asks if she ever stops and smells the roses with her father. She says they joke that they will need a whole wing for everything they have won one day, and says it was only a joke. They are each other’s biggest cheerleaders. She loves performing and realized how much she missed performing in crowds and over seas following the time away from fans due to COVID.

-Austin jumps to the title exchange last November with Becky. Charlotte notes they all had boo-boo faces. Charlotte says she didn’t drop the title on purpose. “Things happen on screen.” She would never go on a scripted TV show and do something on purpose. SHOTS FIRE AT CM PUNK EVEN THOUGH THIS WAS TAPED BEFORE HIS PROMO EVER AIRED BUT I AM SURE IT WAS!

-Austin asks where she stands with Becky now. Charlotte says seeing Becky with Seth and the baby she is showing everyone that it can be done and she wants that. One day, when it is right she would like to have kids.

-Austin asks for her opinion on Sasha and Naomi walking out on RAW. Charlotte notes she was not there as she left after Backlash. She knows what it is like on social media to read headlines that are far from the truth. She doesn’t know what happened, but she knows she can’t imagine never wrestling Sasha again. She is her Ricky Steamboat. She feels she also has unfinished business with Trinity as they had a great match on SmackDown and not much after. She can’t speak on behalf of them or the company as she wasn’t there. Austin notes he walked off and felt the wrath of it. He worked himself into a shoot, but still stands by it.

-They discuss the highs and lows of the business. Charlotte says her problem is she always wants to be on top and she would constantly be working if it wasn’t for people telling her to stop and smell the roses. She wishes her Backlash Match with Ronda was the Mania match they had. She knows Rhea is out there and wants to beat her and still more with Bianca. She wants that next big match and big feud. She wanted Mania to be too perfect and realized at Backslash she just needed to do what she does. She says that when she comes back it won’t be as a good guy. She is curious what that looks like as you don’t mess with what works, but you also want to evolve.

-Charlotte admits she never gets over a bad performance and she will dwell on it. Austin says to him if it doesn’t come off as 5 out of 5 then he shit the bed. She just wants to make the next one better and hope they forget it.

-Charlotte says that Ric doesn’t understand social media they way people today do because of his age. HA! Austin notes that Ric is her biggest fan and lives vicariously through her. Austin believes Charlotte would still have gotten over like she has even if she was not Ric Flair’s daughter. “They aren’t growing people like you on trees.” She notes she doesn’t woo anymore in the ring and it was hard as the fans do it, but she wanted to be more serious.

-Austin asks how her health is and how she is doing mentally. She says he took Austin calling her a workhorse a compliment. She thinks this break has been good for her as the fans have gotten a break from her. For her the question is, what is next? She can’t just be Charlotte Flair the 13 time Champion, but she also knows that is a lot. Austin compares it to Taker making changes and evolving. She jokes that she isn’t dying her hair.

-Austin thanks her for coming out and says besides her dad, he is her biggest fan. Austin wraps up and we are out!

-This was solid as all these shows are at this point. It seemed like they were on different pages with a a few questions, but worked back into what Austin was trying to ask or Charlotte would get her point across for Austin to understand. This an easy watch and provided a few interesting nuggets. Thanks for reading!