Charlotte Flair Weighs In On Current Title Reign, Criticism Of Her And Her Booking

Charlotte Flair recently discussed her current reign as Smackdown Women’s Champion, fans’ criticism of her and her booking, plus more. Flair spoke with Bleacher Report ahead of her match with Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 38, and you can see some highlights below:

On her current title reign: “For me, I think I would’ve liked to have more title defenses on pay-per-views, but under certain circumstances… It was cool being champion going into the Royal Rumble because that’s never happened before [with the women]. Having that match with Naomi, I’ve been waiting for that match for five years now and we were finally able to have it on SmackDown last month. I thought that was incredible. It’s so cliche, but that was only a taste of what we can do. It was only one match. That was special for me. With Survivor Series [vs. Lynch], all I can say is that number one doesn’t talk about number two, but it was fun to revisit that bitter best friend [storyline].”

On her match against Rhea Ripley at Money in the Bank 2021: “It’s one of my top favorite matches. I took an uninterested crowd and by the end, I had them chanting ‘This is awesome.’ Rhea is the future of the women’s division, I tell her all the time. I have so much respect for her, and I know our paths will cross again.”

On criticism of her and her booking: “I have been on top since 2015, whether I’ve been holding the title or not. “People don’t realize how much pressure and hard work and dedication and I’ve never been about for a lengthy time. I’ve never had a major injury and to be able to stay on top like that is a tremendous amount of work in our industry. 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.'”

On her various title reigns: “There’s a lot of title runs I’m not proud of just because I didn’t do anything with it, but when you look at it, it’s multiple feuds with multiple women that I dropped the title to. One of my favorite matches of all time was a main event on Raw where I dropped the title to Bayley in 2017. With where I’m at today, it’s not that they don’t like the good, they just don’t like the best. There’s a quote I look at, that’s not exactly it. But I must be doing something right to always be talked about: good, bad or indifferent.

“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. That means you’re the hardest worker in the room when you’re holding that title. Yes, I don’t understand the criticism sometimes, but at the same time, my haters make me that much better.”