Charlotte has shown more than a few flashes of turning heel in recent weeks. She beat her friend Becky Lynch on an episode of Raw by feigning a knee injury and has introduced several aspects of her father Ric Flair's trademark dirty offense into her arsenal. This was the central story of her clash with Paige at TLC, which culminated in an exposed turnbuckle bump and seemed to execute the beginnings of a double turn in the feud. Despite early promise, Charlotte isn't clicking as a babyface performer on the main roster. The use of her father in an attempt to get her over hasn't worked, but this new direction is an interesting one. Fan criticism of Charlotte is dominated by how she is just becoming a carbon copy of her father, so it makes sense to harness that and take it even further in order to convince people to boo her as a villainous character. This is the kind of directional change that could instantly make her title reign more compelling. The story that the Divas Championship match at TLC told was not perfect by any stretch, given that Paige was clearly a heel in the match too. It did, however, move Charlotte's character forward in a way that could make future weeks in the division very interesting.
Freelance film journalist and fan of professional wrestling. Usually found in a darkened screening room looking for an aisle seat and telling people to put away their mobile phones. Also known to do a bit of stand-up comedy, so I'm used to the occasional heckle.
