Charlotte Flair Set For NXT Appearance This Week, Will Answer Rhea Ripley’s Challenge

The queen is coming home—Charlotte Flair is confirmed to appear on this week’s episode of NXT.

WWE announced Charlotte would be heading to Full Sail University to answer Rhea Ripley’s challenge that the current NXT Women’s Champion issued on RAW. Ripley’s challenge came a week after Flair, the 2020 Women’s Royal Rumble winner, said she needed some more time to think about her decision as to who she would challenge.

This week, Flair said she’s already beaten Becky Lynch and Bayley, the WWE RAW Women’s Champion and the WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion, respectively. Flair said she has held all the gold but she still wants it. NXT Champion Rhea Ripley then interrupted the Queen. Ripley said she’s beaten Flair and the Queen hasn’t defeated her. Ripley dared Flair to challenge for her title. Flair walked away then said, “Woo.”

Following the in-ring encounter, WWE confirmed Flair would be on Wednesday’s new episode of NXT, and the two potential opponents engaged in some social media banter to hype the appearance. Ripley also spoke to WWE.com after the show and said all she hears about is RAW and SmackDown, but she showed up because NXT is making waves and her challenge is another step in that direction.

Many fans speculated Flair’s Royal Rumble win could lead to a “re-match” with Becky Lynch but that doesn’t appear to be the case anymore. Last week, PWInsider.com reported Charlotte Flair was scheduled to be in Orlando this week for Wednesday’s episode of NXT. Dave Meltzer also spoke about the potential matchups for WrestleMania on Wrestling Observer Radio last week, noting Flair vs. Ripley was the current plan, with Becky Lynch versus Shayna Baszler being currently penciled in as another women’s match for the big event.

Read More: Charlotte Flair: It’s Not Necessarily A Negative If Evolution 2 Doesn’t Happen