10 Fascinating WWE Backstage Facts About Charlotte Flair

2. A Real Life Relationship Resulted In A Fictional Tag Team Breakup

Aleister Black Ricochet
WWE.com

After a long of intentionally splitting couples and friendship groups up in some sort of strange ritualised testing of their workers' mettle, WWE has more recently worked to keep partners together whenever a Draft or "Superstar Shake-up" rolls around. The compromises are typically so effortless that it speaks to the sociopathic cruelty of Vince McMahon in the first place to even not try and make these arrangements, but one such case in 2019 did result in the dissolution of a popular tag team.

Having been called up to the main roster without much forethought, Aleister Black and Ricochet were paired together and had unsurprisingly excellent chemistry. Their NXT TakeOver: New York opener opposite The War Raiders may be one of the most underrated doubles matches in company history, and it looked as thought they were going to continue in that vein of form until real life relationships resulted in a parting of the ways. One of which was Charlotte Flair's with Andrade.

'El Idolo' was associated on screen with Zelina Vega at this time, and with those moving to SmackDown in order to keep him and Flair together, so too did Black - the real life partner of Vega. It was decided that 'The One & Only' was needed for the red brand, meaning that - by this convoluted and circuitous route - the team were split and never spoken about again. 

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett