Charlotte’s Flair For The Gold - How WWE Ruined Their Own Revolution
WWE.com
When crusty old Vince garbled out "Shalllotflair" to the disgust of Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey and those in attendance for the February 11th 2019 Monday Night Raw, he did so with the expressed intent of bringing to television what most fans already thought. Flair was the favourite, above all the rest, including 'The Baddest Woman On The Planet' and especially 'The Man'.
Trolling makes up half of WWE's heel booking now, and this was a f*cking big one. Protractions followed delays followed hurdles but babyface Becky limped her way back into the headliner and won the big match and enormous push that followed. But this experiment failed to shake off the glued-on beef between the Lynch fans and Flair herself.
McMahon disappeared back into the shadows but on went Charlotte, absorbing neither boos nor cheers but that vague arrangement of noise that greeted Roman Reigns when he returned in 2019. She held the SmackDown Women's Title for minutes in May and days in October before laying down for Bayley on both occasions, but the die of her as the Cena/Roman figure was cast.
Never was this clearer than when she won the 2020 Royal Rumble.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, 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
