Charlotte Flair Opens About Pressure & Guilt Of Entering WWE As Ric Flair's Daughter

As a 14-time world champion in WWE, Charlotte Flair is now accustomed to carrying around extra baggage. In her early career, though, that added weight came in a vastly different form.

During an interview with "No-Contest Wrestling," Charlotte opened about the internal sense of guilt that lingered throughout much of her formative years as a WWE wrestler. Most of it stemmed from her status as the daughter of Ric Flair, a decorated champion and WWE Hall of Famer.

"It wasn't even pressure. And I don't know why I'm using this word, but it was almost like I had guilt because I didn't have a tryout," Charlotte said. "I basically was like, 'I want to wrestle.' Triple H had the talk with me because he was taking over developmental at the time. He was like, 'Just because I'm giving you this opportunity, doesn't mean I'm going to give [your brother] Reid this opportunity.' But it's also a very hard life. He gave me the pep talk. 'We're gonna get you into FCW' ... the next contact after Triple H who I was supposed to talk to, he was like, 'We're going to treat you the same. You're going to have to abide by the rules and you're going to have to do all these things.'"

Charlotte's arrival to WWE came on the heels of a professional move away from personal training and an inquiry extended by her father Ric in 2012. Once she stepped into a WWE ring herself, though, officials made it clear that the future "Queen" would have to prove herself to stay in it — something she used as motivation during her subsequent training. Still, as Charlotte attests, the feeling of guilt seemed to only strengthen from there.

"I'm not telling you that I knew how to be polished, do my makeup, do my hair, or look like a Diva or cut a promo. I was actually scared of my own shadow, but I could out-condition anyone in that ring, even though I didn't know what a move was or how to take a bump, but I relied on those," she said. 
"So as my career grew, and listening to all these stories of these girls, how hard it was on the indies, spending their last dollar to go to camp, or doing all these things, I almost felt guilt. If I didn't out-perform or if I didn't overdeliver, if I didn't do certain things, I had this guilt of like how I got to the dance."

According to Charlotte, that sense of self-reproach manifested into physical apologies at one point, with the second-generation wrestler saying sorry for the opportunities that came attached to her last name in WWE. Once she refused to let anyone dull her shine, however, she settled into her position more comfortably.

Within the WWE history books, Ric Flair is recognized as a 16-time world champion, meaning Charlotte is now only trailing him by two title reigns. Nevertheless, her focus currently lies in the women's tag team division, in which she regularly works with her fellow former WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Alexa Bliss. Whether that dynamic will once again shift into something more singles-based for Charlotte has yet to be seen.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "No-Contest Wrestling" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.