Charlotte Flair On Which Women Impress Her the Most on Each Brand, Working With Rhea Ripley and Io Shirai

Speaking with Maria Menounos for Menounos ‘ Better Together Podcast, Charlotte Flair named the women who most impress her on each of WWE’s brands. Flair has been working Raw and NXT regularly and has been able to do some Smackdown work as well thanks to the Brand Invitational, and has had ample opportunity to work with lots of WWE’s talent regardless of what night they work. She talked specifically about Rhea Ripley and Io Shirai on NXT, both of whom she has worked with a lot in the past couple of months, and singled out Ruby Riott and Nikki Cross for Raw and Smackdown.

You can check out some highlights and the full video below:

On workiing with Ripley at WrestleMania: “Well, I have to give credit to two ladies in NXT. But for Rhea to be put in the position she was, like I don’t know what it would have been like in NXT if someone had said, ‘Oh, hey by the way, you’re at WrestleMania this year. Like, in two months, be ready.’ Because that story just came out of nowhere. That was not the plan, that wasn’t in the books, that was just fly on the moment, right? And I talked to her before the match and I said ‘Bring it,’ and she did exactly what she needed to do. And that’s a lot of pressure to have on someone. So Rhea meant — to have that mental calmness, and she was able to get through it — kudos to her.”

On working with Shirai: “But having having the opportunity to be in the ring with Io, because you hear a lot. Like you know, ‘She’s considered one of the greats,’ ‘She’s traveled all over the world.’ Just being in there with her, the way she moves, she’s so quick. She’s so solid. So I just was like, ‘I didn’t get to wrestle you enough! I want more!’ And just her kind of, the loner aspect she tries to play, and the look, I love it.”

On who she’s impressed with on Raw: “Man, I know Ruby Riott has it. I think she is a natural babyface. And when they give her the ball and let her run with it, I think she’s — she has a very similar Paige element to her. No matter how hard you try to be bad, like, people love you. They relate to you. You’re one of them, and she has that cool, like, ‘This is me, this is who I am look.’
On who stands out on Smackdown: “Man, I love Nikki Cross. She’s another, she just radiates on your screen. When she runs down and she’s all crazy, she is just another like, a white meat babyface. That’s who she is, she’s just bubbly, she’s nice. She has all that energy. When those two have the opportunity to shine, they will.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Better Together with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.