Charlotte Flair recently sat down with Newsweek to discuss a handful of topics, including her recent victory over Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 36, Ripley herself, and the WrestleMania moment that occurred in an empty arena.
On winning the NXT Women’s Championship:
I think I surprised a lot of people when I won the Royal Rumble. And just the journey from main event to feeling a little bit lost for a couple of months and tagging in and out with Becky—that didn’t feel natural at all—to having an NXT female challenge me and having the opportunity to showcase that title where I started my career on WrestleMania. It’s full circle. If anyone knows how much pride I take in NXT, because I feel people forget I’m NXT homegrown. I’m their product.
On Rhea Ripley:
I can’t be more proud of Rhea. I’ve been to WrestleMania—this is my fifth and this was her first—so I can’t imagine the nerves being thrown into this wild storyline that no one was expecting. I couldn’t be more proud of her as a performer, she really stepped it up.
It’s crazy because I think she’s been wrestling a little bit longer than me. [laughs] That’s what I was most excited about, going against someone who was my size. I think what sets her aside from other tall people is how athletic she is. And when you take someone of our size, but also someone who can move and is agile that makes a difference. And she’s definitely extremely athletic.
On wrestling for no crowd:
The company has done an incredible job of keeping us safe. It is different in closed sets, but the fact that we were able to pull off WrestleMania as a whole, I could not be more proud. I guess it’s just waiting for when we go back to work and this is the first time I’ve been home this much, so I’m enjoying my time being home with Manny [WWE superstar Andrade, Flair’s fiancé].
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