7 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (3 Feb - Results & Review)

1. A Disingenuous Babyface? Or Just Bad At It?

WWE Raw Charlotte Flair
WWE

After more than a year away from WWE, Charlotte Flair returned at the Royal Rumble to enter at #27 and win her second Rumble, punching her ticket for a WrestleMania world championship match. If she wins, it would give her a 15th world title.

Like Jey Uso earlier, Flair came out to discuss winning the Rumble. Unlike Jey, Charlotte soaked in boos from fans as she tried to tell them that she missed their cheers and boos all the same because she didn’t know if she would be able to wrestle again. Flair said she was embracing the boos because she loves all of the fans, and their reaction would not change the fact that she’s the greatest superstar in WWE. Cue more boos.

Thankfully, Flair would be interrupted by Rhea Ripley, who begged Charlotte to pick her as her WrestleMania opponent. After Charlotte quipped that Rhea is still a kid, Ripley again begged Flair to choose her “so I can beat some respect into you”.

While Ripley’s portion of this segment was redeeming, Charlotte just has a “go away” quality to her promos that makes you want to change the channel. If she’s trying to be a babyface, she’s really bad at weathering the boos. If the goal is to be disingenuous, she’s just annoying – and not in a heelish way. Flair’s delivery has always been a strange, stilted one that sounds unnatural and scripted.

Unlike Jey, when the bell rings, Charlotte typically brings the goods, but when she has a mic in her hand, it can be painful.

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Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.