Charlotte Flair has admitted that not all of her title reigns have been as she would have wanted, as she hits back at criticism of her place at the top of the women’s division.
At WrestleMania 38 Charlotte Flair will defend her SmackDown Women’s crown against Ronda Rousey. Should Flair emerge victorious, it would further cement her status as the most dominant star in WWE’s women’s division.
Flair currently stands as the most decorated female star in WWE history, as well as being one of only a handful of women to appear in a WrestleMania main event.
However, that success has not come without criticism. As a near-constant fixture in the title picture for much of her career, the star has faced accusations that she’s occupying a spot which could be used to highlight other Superstars.
Speaking in a new interview with Bleacher Report, Flair hit back at the criticism explaining that her longevity should be seen as a positive.
“I have been on top since 2015, whether I’ve been holding the title or not,” Flair said. “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.'”
Despite her numerous title reigns, which are well into double figures, Flair admitted that she’s not especially proud of all of them. Although she claimed that as she is often the talk of the wrestling world, she must be something right.
“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,” Flair said. “One of my favourite 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.”
Flair also suggested that she receives more criticism because she is a woman, noting that her male counterparts appear to have an easier time.
“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.”
Charlotte Flair’s sixth SmackDown Women’s Championship reign currently stands at 155 days and counting. She had of course held the Raw version for 62 before being drafted to the blue brand. The Queen’s most recent defence came against Naomi on the February 11th episode of SmackDown.