Charlotte Flair was absent from WWE for the better part of 2022, leaving in May after losing the SmackDown Women’s Championship to Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania Backlash.
She wouldn’t return until December 30th, where she made a shock appearance and defeated Rousey for that same title on an episode of SmackDown, sending her into WrestleMania as champion.
After winning the Royal Rumble in January, Rhea Ripley declared that she would face Flair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania, and the two put on a master class of wrestling on the Grandest Stage of Them All. The hard-hitting bout received heavy praise from fans and critics alike, with Charlotte’s father Ric Flair blasting the company for “breaking tradition” and not putting the women’s title bout in the main event of night one.
In the end, Ripley defeated Flair with a Riptide off the second rope, her first victory over The Queen. After the dust had settled on WrestleMania, it was reported that Flair would be taking another break from WWE following her latest title loss.
Now, an update from PWInsider Elite sheds light on Charlotte Flair‘s whereabouts during her hiatus. According to the report, she and husband Andrade El Idolo will be traveling internationally for an indeterminate amount of time. This comes after the two spent time in Hawaii immediately following WrestleMania in Los Angeles.
There is currently no known timetable for Flair’s return.
Ric Flair Says Charlotte Flair Is The Best Performer In WWE
Speaking on his To Be the Man podcast following WrestleMania 39, Ric Flair spoke fondly of his daughter’s match against Rhea Ripley, praising Charlotte as the “best performer in the company.”
“She’s on another level now, I know people are gonna say that’s your daughter. She’s the best performer in the company. She just flat out is, man or woman. Nobody can take bumps like that at her size, or no woman rather. Unbelievable. And Rhea stepped up. I mean, Rhea was a real pro man, what a match.
In a match like that, it doesn’t even matter who wins or loses. You have to keep track, you keep track of, you know, like at her stage because of the world titles but damn they stole [the show], I’m not kidding you. And I watched everything. I didn’t see anything. I saw good matches, but nothing like that. And they started out slowly, does that make sense?
At first I wondered because if there was enough interaction, enough heat, enough build up, build up to it, because they kept her off TV so much I couldn’t figure that out. I’ve heard an explanation, I’m not buying that. But boy, once they got rolling what a match, unbelievable.”
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit To Be the Man and link back to this article with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.