Charlotte Flair says she still feels snubbed by ESPN ignoring her personal accolades during a 2019 appearance promoting WrestleMania 35.
Charlotte Flair was the guest on Out Of Character with Ryan Satin and the pair were discussing diplomacy on social media and how it’s changed over the years. Satin was discussing how the past few years have resulted in people calling things out and being a bit less diplomatic on social media, and how it might be hard to go back to normal again. Asked if there’s anything related from her own experiences, Charlotte recalled how ESPN ignored her achievements while Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey got more detailed chyrons recognizing their professional work.
“I mean, when ESPN put the ‘Ric Flair’s daughter’ thing before WrestleMania 35, like that still gets to me to this day. I’m like, ‘How is that what you put as my accolade when I’m sitting her beside Ronda and Becky?!’ I still, to this day, my conspiracy theory is that it was a ‘fan’ who did it,” joked Charlotte. “Like, whoever was in the office and was a legitimate, ‘I can’t stand Charlotte! She’s in this match for no reason.’ So, I tweeted about that and how I felt.”
Charlotte appeared on the March 27, 2019 episode of ESPN SportsCenter alongside Rousey and Lynch, her opponents in the first-ever women’s main event at WrestleMania. Rousey was first identified on the lower-third chyrons as the “1st female inducted into UFC Hall of Fame” and “Raw Women’s Champion,” while Lynch was recognized for winning the 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble and being just the 12th person to main event WrestleMania a year after not being on the previous year’s card. Charlotte, however, was simply advertised as “Ric Flair’s daughter” on the same show, and later tweeted her displeasure at the network:
“Dear @espn
7x (now 8) WWE Women’s Champion would have been fine.
If you need a more detailed list of my accolades, feel free to reference last year’s Body Issue or one of the many articles about me on your website.
Sincerely,
Daughter of @WWE HOF’er Ric Flair”
Flair defeated Rhea Ripley to win the RAW Women’s Championship at Money In The Bank on Sunday night, her 14th overall title win in WWE.
Read More: Charlotte Flair Beats Rhea Ripley, Wins WWE RAW Women’s Title At WWE Money In The Bank
Charlotte Flair bashes ESPN’s “Ric Flair’s daughter” graphic, while Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch had accomplishments listed https://t.co/g1b7AT9U91 pic.twitter.com/Eo9z4jGmUw
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 27, 2019
Charlotte also spoke to Satin about the perception of being “Ric Flair’s daughter” in the wrestling business, explaining that she didn’t grow up with that reference and didn’t know how much work went into being a sports entertainer until she started her own in-ring career.
“This sounds silly but before wrestling, I didn’t know what—you have to be “polished.” Like, I didn’t know how to do my makeup, ‘what are hair extensions?’ All of these different things, they didn’t require—I went to my personal training studio and [I didn’t say] ‘What outfit do I need to wear today?’ or [tell myself] ‘I really need to work on public speaking’ or ‘What robe am I going to have?’ It was just, here’s my gym clothes that I could afford and let’s go to work. There’s so many things that go into being a sports entertainer and being in the public eye,” Charlotte remarked.
“People ask all of the time, ‘What was it like growing up and being Ric Flair’s daughter?’ but my Dad did not have me in that environment. I was not ‘Oh, I want to be the actor, model…’ I never thought any of those things, I wasn’t around it. I just played sports and played volleyball in college for almost three years, that was pretty much it. There’s so many things that go into what we do,” Flair said. “I wish I could turn back time. I’m so envious of Rhea Ripley. She’s 24 years old, when I was 24—you don’t want to know me at 24! I was a hot mess at 24. I am where I am today and everyone has their path, but I just wish I had started younger. I’m very jealous of that.”
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Read More: Charlotte Flair: ‘I Don’t Need An All-Women’s Show To Show I’m A Great Wrestler’
