WWE Superstar Charlotte Flair, in her own words says: “2024 did its best to kick my a**!”, crucially though, she won the battle and following a triumphant return to action at the beginning of the year, ‘The Queen’, has set her sights on another big challenge at WrestleMania 41 as well as some dream matches in the future.
Back in December 2023, the multi-time world champion tore her ACL, MCL and meniscus during a match with Asuka. An injury so severe, she was away from the ring for a little over a year.
The setback caused Flair to miss out on several Premium Live Events (PLEs) in 2024, including WrestleMania 40, and historic overseas shows such as Backlash in France, Clash at the Castle in Glasgow, Scotland and Bash in Berlin from Germany.
She did, however, return at WWE Royal Rumble 2025, winning the Women’s match to earn herself an opportunity to become WWE Women’s Champion when she faces Tiffany Stratton at WrestleMania 41.
Charlotte Flair is now a two-time WWE Royal Rumble winner
WWE
Standard Sport sat down with Flair during WWE’s European tour on the road to the big event in Las Vegas and she made it clear that retirement was not an option as she prepares to re-enter her domain.
“I think 2024 did its best to kick my a** and I won,” she said. “It could have been a career-ending injury and that wasn’t something that I was going to let stop me. And being away gave me perspective, gave me clarity, gave me time, and to come back and win the Women’s Royal Rumble for the second time, if I had to do it over again I would have done it all over again because it made me realise that I would choose this again and again and again.
“I think people thought, and understandably so because of my knee injury and everything that I had gone through in 2024, that I was going to come back older and less than, maybe less confidence and that stuck with me.
“And knowing that when my music hit and it was time, it was like, alright you got to remind people who Charlotte Flair is and that is all I thought about.
“I am someone who looks at every opportunity, whether it’s in front of five people or a hundred thousand people you always have to remind them who you are every time that music hits but I didn’t have I wasn’t giving myself in that moment you can’t have doubt, you can’t be nervous because it had been a crucial year for me.
The rivalry between Charlotte Flair and WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton has already reached new heights
WWE
“I was like no ‘it’s Charlotte Flair it’s go time’ that’s what I was thinking.
“There have been eight women’s Royal Rumbles I have been a part of six, involved in the story from rumble to mania, I’ve missed two manias since I debuted because I had COVID and then my knee injury.
“To me, missing because of the knee injury really was hard on me. So yes, this WrestleMania does mean more because WrestleMania is my domain.”
‘I’ve done my homework, it’s time to have some fun’
Discussing her upcoming WrestleMania match with Tiffany Stratton, Flair spoke of being a veteran at the big event in comparison to her opponent: “I think if I am truly the person that got her into this, that she wanted to be like, that she said ‘wow Charlotte Flair I want to do that’ I don’t think she would want Charlotte Flair to take it easy on her.
“This is my eighth WrestleMania, this is my domain, this is her first, this will be the biggest, probably the pinnacle of her career.
“Do I feel pressure? I think I’ve done all my homework, I think now it’s time to have some fun. The hard part is what I went through in 2024, anyone who has the opportunity to step into the ring with me at WrestleMania is going to be in for a ride.”
Win or lose at WrestleMania, such is the stacked nature of the WWE Women’s division at present, there are many dream matches that Flair can look forward to in the future.
A singles match with Bianca Belair seems inevitable, but Flair is equally excited about the opportunity to create magic with Jade Cargill after yet another teasing moment between the pair on Smackdown just last Friday, following on from their face-to-face showdown backstage on Smackdown in October 2023.
“I think me vs. Bianca is a main event match,” Flair points out. “I think when you see Jade and I [when we had that face-to-face] you go “damn, that’s something!”
“I think these are all opportunities in the future and I think they will eventually happen when the time is right.”
For the first time ever, WrestleMania 41 will air live on Netflix. Viewers in the UK can tune in on Saturday, April 19 and Sunday, April 20.
