25 Great Wrestlers That EVERYBODY Turned Against

21. Charlotte Flair

Charlotte Flair Tiffany Stratton
WWE.com

Charlotte Flair might not have imagined that her 2025 return (at the Royal Rumble, with a victory in the Rumble match itself no less) would require rescuing by aligning her with Alexa Bliss less than six months later, but fans had made it crystal clear what they thought of her before she linked up with her fellow golden era NXT alumni.

It would have been reasonable to assume that absence had made hearts grow fonder for Flair, but outside of the battle royal win, the opposite was true. Flair was positioned against WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton heading into WrestleMania, and when their promo battles very quickly developed into both women delivering fairly sharp barbs at one another, the fans made it clear who they favoured. 

'The Queen' couldn't mask her disappointment at how quickly things had reverted to type, but what chance did she really have? The character had been relentlessly spotlighted during the last insane years of Vince McMahon's creative tenure, so much so that unfavourable comparisons were constantly made to the dire Roman Reigns megapush of the 2010s. Audiences have long memories, and the prospect of yet another extended singles run for the Charlotte Flair character at Stratton's expense pinpointed something very specific from the recent past they simply had no thirst for.

Ultimately, their WrestleMania battle was decent, Flair lost and the crowd - now free from panic - gradually re-embraced her as one of the division's true legacy players. 

Contributor
Contributor

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