Absent WWE Star Discusses Challenges Surrounding Most Recent Match

WWE

Charlotte Flair has discussed the challenges behind her match against Rhea Ripley on WrestleMania 39 Saturday.

Flair notably dropped her SmackDown Women’s Championship to Ripley at the April 1 event in a bout which many consider a match of the year contender.

In an interview with Boardroom, Flair noted that she wanted to make the match memorable to prove that the contest could’ve headlined the show.

Explaining why she viewed the bout as a challenge, Flair said:

“Well, at this point in my career especially, that was my seventh WrestleMania, and at all seven I’ve either been the challenger or the champion, and that’s never been done.

“So, experience-wise, I’m able to go out there and enjoy it; before, I was never in the moment. As time goes on, you get more comfortable, so I was like, yeah, I need to make this memorable.

“We need to show them why we should have been the main event, that the women can tell stories just as good as the men, work at that level and rate and professionalism.

“As a viewer, you will forget the gender as you’re watching us. Not just a good match; it needs to be one of the best matches of the weekend, so I knew that I could do that with Rhea. I had that confidence going out there.

“This was a different role, too. Like, I’m usually always the bad guy. But in prior years, I didn’t have that edge or I didn’t have that knowledge to still play that role and do my job and not have some of those ‘Flair-isms,’ like (for) the heel-ness and the bad guy in me to come out.

“It was my job to portray [Rhea] as the big guy, the dominant guy, the evil one.

“I find it as a challenge — and that’s what I was so invested in, the challenge — because it’s easy for me to just go out there, be an arrogant you-know-what.

“Rhea’s character isn’t necessarily arrogant; it’s edgy. It’s cool. She’s not a heel. You want to portray her as a star; you don’t want to label her as a good or bad guy.

“Knowing that, I could make that come to life was such a great challenge for me as a performer and where I’m at.

“That’s when it gets fun, I’m outta my head just changing some of the things up that I would naturally do in a match. It was a great challenge; I don’t know how else to put it without giving away the magic.”

Flair is currently on a wrestling hiatus, and hasn’t competed since this bout.

Ripley was confronted by Natalya on the May 8 edition of Raw, seemingly confirming Ripley’s next title feud.

Here’s a recap of what happened on the show:

Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins def. Damian Priest, Shinsuke Nakamura in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament

Mustafa Ali def. Otis when Chad Gable and Maxxine Dupri argued and distracted Otis

Finn Balor def. Cody Rhodes, The Miz in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament

Brock Lesnar, who had cost Cody Rhodes the aforementioned three-way, attacked Rhodes and demanded a rematch from Backlash at Night of Champions, which Rhodes later accepted

Rhea Ripley def. Dana Brooke and was then confronted by Natalya

Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn def. Giovanni Vinci & Ludwig Kaiser

Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis reunited The Way backstage, and Gargano hinted at someone else returning soon which could be Tommaso Ciampa

Zoey Stark def. Nikki Cross

Becky Lynch returned and confronted Trish Stratus

Dominik Mysterio def. Xavier Woods

Seth Rollins def. Finn Balor in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament

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• WrestleMania
• Charlotte Flair
• rhea ripley
• wwe

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