Charlotte’s Flair For The Gold - How WWE Ruined Their Own Revolution

Charlotte Flair Raw
WWE.com

The June 9th 2020 Monday Night Raw, as it has been more often than not since switching to three hours eight years ago, was a bit of a slog. Regrettably, no performer came to reflect this week's slog quite as much as Charlotte Flair. She wrestled in a 10 minute opener and a 30 minute main event. She cut and interrupted promos. She beat the Women's Tag Champions, SmackDown Women's Champion and Raw Women's Champion on the same night.

It was a lot.

"How do we rehabilitate a top star?" was obviously the first, last and everything on the agenda of the sh*t-scared creative team for a show set to air just 24 hours after she lost her NXT Championship in a Triple Threat match against Rhea Ripley and new titleholder Io Shirai.

Vince McMahon looked to his minions for answers.

"She's been on Raw, she's been on SmackDown, she's been on NXT, and she just g*ddamn lost on Paul's p*ssant pay-per-view, pal. What does that say to you about Charlotte Flair?"

"Th...there's too much of her?", one younger, newer staffer nervously offered.

"NO G*DDAMN IT!", the Chairman snapped. "People like her, so let's make more of her". Bruce Prichard nodded, so the rest of them nodded, and set to work.

Imagine the world where the one in charge is making you smell his cheese, you mothers, instead of the serf who just wants a second series. Or imagine it no longer because you're living in it. A three-hour Charlotte showcase edition of the flagship show followed, culminating in a pretty good (but not truly great) main event that served to partially justify why she gets so much attention.

Exhausted, that same sh*t-scared creative team looked to their fearless leader for the approval that she had been successfully saved by the booking having taken the pin the night before. It was at that point that one of the more experienced amongst them remembered she didn't take the pin. He - of course it's a he, there's no women booking these women lol - elected not to bother bringing that back up. 'The Queen' was back on her throne, or a throne, and the Mad King was settled in his for one more night at least.

CONT'D...

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 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 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, 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