411’s WWE Rivals Report: Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch

-Written: 5.25.26
-Source: A&E
-Run Time: 1 Hour (w/ commercials)

-Plugs: Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage

-This is the second half of the Flair Family Doubleheader. Flair/Savage was all nostalgia and just made me so happy to watch. This one should provide something new.

-Gabriel Iglesias is our host and joined at the table by Nattie, Kofi Kingston, JBL and Kevin Nash.

-We start with Charlotte, who is the daughter of Ric Flair. She says as a kid she knew her dad was famous but didn’t fully grasp it. She told her dad in 2012 she wanted to be a wrestler. HHH called her and told her just because she is Flair’s daughter she won’t get a hand out. We see footage of Charlotte training in 2012 and Terry Taylor says Charlotte knew she had a name to live up to and embraced it. We see her debut in NXT.

-Seth Rollins says Becky is a scrapper and we see her training in 2002. She says she was awful at it, but loved it. She started at 18 but gave up for several even though she loved it. Seven years later she get a call from WWE and is brought into NXT. Taylor says she had self doubt but had so much potential. Becky talks about the struggles and says Charlotte helped her. They both felt pressure, but for different reasons. Charlotte says they were innocent and happy to be there. She laughs at the Irish Jig promo they did at promo class.

-May 2024: Charlotte becomes NXT Champion and has a promo backstage with Becky behind her and she puts over the women. Sami Zayn says there was something bubbling in NXT with the women. JBL notes when he came to WWE in 1995 there weren’t even women on the card. Nash says he went to a NXT show and saw girls wearing the merch of the women wrestlers and it blew him away.

-RAW: July 2015: Stephanie McMahon does her promo where she brings out Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair. KO notes it is different when you get called up from NXT and says Becky and Charlotte leaned on each other. Charlotte says she cant’ imagine debuting alone. Becky says they were partners and Ric would call them Thelma and Louis. Charlotte says they were inseparable.

-David Shoemaker says Charlotte debuted as a big deal and future World Champion. She beats Nikki Bella for the Divas Championship. KO says Charlotte had it easier and that’s not a slight as she works harder than anyone, but she got presented better. Becky notes Charlotte was seen as the star and she was the scrappy underdog.

-RAW Nov. 2015: They have a match against each other RAW and Charlotte fakes an injury to steal the win. Becky says Charlotte is a sweetheart but is a much better heel. Charlotte agrees and says she prefers being a heel. This all leads to WrestleMania, but they kind of cut out the other person in that build.

-Commercials!

-They finally mention that oh yeah, Sasha Banks is in the match as well. The Divas Championship was retired and the Women’s Championship was reintroduced but with a new design. Sami talks about the insane pressure on the women to deliver in that spot. The three of them went out and had the best match at WrestleMania. Becky even says they stole the show. The only other contender would be the IC Ladder Match. Charlotte gets the win! Becky says she wrote Charlotte a card to express who happy she was for her and we see them hug each other backstage after the match. Charlotte says they made it happen and it put the three of them on a different trajectory.

-SmackDown: July 2016: The WWE brings back The Draft as they split up the rosters for the first time in years. It made total sense as they had a bloated roster. Charlotte is drafted to RAW by Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon. Becky Lynch is drafted to SmackDown by Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon. They have footage of the roster hearing the picks and you can see Charlotte is crushed losing her friend. Becky isn’t a fan either but they realizes she has a chance to step out on her own.

-Commercials!

-Kofi talks about the difference in driving with people you like and being in a room with people that vibe with you. Bayley calls Charlotte a super motivated person that always gets a reaction from the fans. She gets to be in Hell in a Cell with Sasha, which was a first for the women. She becomes a multiple time World Champion.

-Becky says she had he run of success for a month or two. She becomes the first SmackDown Women’s Champion. She loses the title to Alexa Bliss in a tables match only a few months later. Becky says she meandered around as she wasn’t seen as one of the stars. She asked Charlotte what she was doing wrong and Charlotte didn’t have an answer. Charlotte says she was consistent and thrived in the position.

-We jump ahead and Charlotte is drafted to SmackDown and is the top face. Becky is pushed aside and is in the prematch Battle Royal at Mania while Charlotte gives Asuka her first WWE loss via tap-out.

-Charlotte says after Mania one of her implants burst and she had to be off for six weeks. Becky says that gave her a chance as she was set to challenge Carmella at SummerSlam for the Title. Charlotte then returned and beat Carmella to get put into the SummerSlam match. Becky notes that people were upset and the idea was Becky was going to turn heel and make Charlotte a bigger face. Yeah, about that!

-SummerSlam: The crowd was 100% behind Becky Lynch and wanted to see her win The Title that night. Instead Charlotte hits Natural Selection out of nowhere and pins Becky to become a 7 Time Champion. Charlotte says she realized she came across as an opportunist. Becky knew they were turning the wrong person heel and we hear the crowd boo as they hug. Becky slaps the teeth out of Charlotte’s mouth and gets a MONSTER reaction. Charlotte: “damn, they are really into this.” KO notes Becky was the side kick until one day she said “fuck it, I’m not the sidekick,” and it changed everything.

-Commercials!

-Becky is cutting heel promos each week and is cheered. This is where she started finding The Man character and voice. They meet at Hell in a Cell (but not a Cell Match) and Becky says she finally felt comfortable. She counters a spear into a pin and wins the Title to a big pop. Sami says Charlotte got accustomed to a certain dynamic in the friendship. Becky becomes red hot and the story was about her. Charlotte says she was lost as the fans loved Becky, while she was trying to be the face. Becky says the fans were behind her and she couldn’t ignore it just to help Charlotte as a face. She admits they never sat down and had a conversation. Instead they just started drifting their separate ways. Rollins notes they were both Alphas and only one can be at the top. Becky notes she lost the ability to move one side of her mouth because Charlotte hits so hard.

-Evolution: The first all women WWE PPV sees Becky and Charlotte tear the house down with a Last Woman Standing Match. Amazing match! Becky says she really enjoyed that match and felt like she had arrived. Charlotte says nothing ever felt hard when they had to work together in a match. Becky gets the win.

-Charlotte says the matches were great, but she struggled with Becky using Charlotte’s breasts in a tweet. They post the tweet and it’s Becky famous blood nose with the caption “I missed ONE Smackdown for this.” The other picture is Charlotte’s chest with the caption “She missed ONE MONTH of SmackDown for something I don’t remember.” Yeah, that’s not good. Charlotte admits to having body image issues her whole life and she felt used as a friend. Becky admits that she went too far on social media, but she was trying to make it as real as possible and make the crowd care. She admits again that she went too far. Cut to them exchanging words on SmackDown and Becky calls Charlotte “plastic faced.” Charlotte says she didn’t know Becky was going to say that. “She made the fans call me plastic and body shame me cool.” You can see how hurt Charlotte is talking about it. The table talks about how you want to bring the fans it, but don’t want to break trust. Seth says they were not seeing eye-to-eye anymore and there was a real disdain between the two.

-Commercials!

-We jump the build to Mania XXXV and have to mention Ronda Rousey. She becomes RAW Women’s Champion and for the first time ever the women will Main Event WrestleMania. They skipped over Charlotte being inserted into the match which is kind of as that was a big point of contention. Charlotte says her dad was never the Main Event of Mania. I mean, the episode before this we were told Flair/Savage is the only match to Main Event Mania and Starrcade. I know what she means though as Flair/Savage was Main Event in name only and didn’t close the show. Almost liked they needed two nights of WrestleMania back then.

-WrestleMania XXXV: Becky says it was nearly midnight when their match started. Yeah, I remember! This was the last marathon Mania as the pandemic led to two nights and we haven’t looked back since. The focus is obviously on Charlotte and Becky, but we know they don’t Main Event if Ronda isn’t in the match. Becky turns Piper’s Pit into a pin and gets the victory and becomes RAW and SmackDown Women’s Champion. BECKY 2 BELTS! Charlotte notes any of them could have walked out as Champion. Nope! If Becky doesn’t win after making the crowd sit through that long show they would have booed either other woman out of the building and social media backslash would have been something else. Becky admits to be cocky and feeling herself after the match.

-That was supposed to the end of her and Charlotte. She sent Charlotte a long text during COVID, apologizing for how she behaved. That wasn’t the end though as we have another draft and each woman holds a Championship. We get the stupid deal where the make the Champions exchange Titles since they were drafted to different brands. I hated that so much as it just wrecked title history. One of the best things HHH did was get rid of the RAW and SmackDown names on the titles and just go with World and WWE. They were supposed to exchange titles and the idea was Becky getting the Title and holding up both Titles in Charlotte’s face. Charlotte didn’t understand why her character would accept that and I see her point. They argued over how to do the exchange and Becky knew Charlotte was going to drop the title. Sure enough Becky reaches for the belt and it drops. Charlotte says it was an accident and points out she immediately picked it up. Becky admits that got her really upset and she lost it. They start screaming at each other backstage and it seems Becky called Charlotte a “cunt” in front of everyone. We cut to a producer asking Becky backstage what words comes to mind when Charlotte is mentioned. “Bitch.”

-Commercials!

-Becky says she was pissed but could still see the dollar signs in their feud. Charlotte is glad Survivor Series happened. JBL says right or wrong it did add to their story against each other. Charlotte doesn’t know how she is the bad guy and I can see her point after watching this episode.

-Survivor Series 2021: Greenberg says it felt like something real. Becky says it needed to look real and feel like a fight. “Which it was.” Charlotte says the fans don’t know what’s real and what’s not. Nattie says everyone backstage wanted to watch as they knew there was real life animosity. Charlotte says they always blurred the lines and that happens when you fight your best friend. Charlotte tries to cheat and gets caught, so Becky reverses and cheats herself for the win. KO thinks it is their best match together.

-Becky says there is a large part of her that has nothing but love for Charlotte. Charlotte admit she loves Becky and her career isn’t where it is without her.

-Survivor Series 2012: They are teammates at War Games and seemingly reconcile. Becky says they are kindred spirits even when they hate each other half the time. Nattie talks about their importance to women’s sports and not just WWE. Charlotte says nobody will top what they did. Becky doesn’t think we have seen the last of them against each other.

-This was wonderful! I had high expectations and it topped them. Having both women there was key as we got each woman’s side of the story. We didn’t need a ton of other talking heads but the ones we got were there to just fill in gaps and tell us what people backstage were thinking. I appreciated they got into the personal stuff in as much detail as they could and yes, it did make me feel bad for Charlotte. I think the pairing with Alexa has helped Charlotte in the eyes on the fans and with Becky’s heel character, I think they could touch on this rivalry again and the fans would back Charlotte. Check this one out if you get a chance. Thanks for reading!