- My best childhood memories are right here.
The house that I grew up in is literally 75 yards behind us.
It's kind of weird to be sitting here where I am now, it just
feels so far away, almost like it didn't happen,
it wasn't real.
My dad's Ric Flair.
It never dawned on me that I would have the opportunity to
mean something to his business where I am today knowing that
I've carved out my own history and paved the way with
the women that I came up with.
I could never imagine being a part of something
that was like that.
- Charlotte Flair.
- When Ashley walks in a room you know that's a star.
- When she commits to something she commits to it on a different
kind of level, man.
- She had to follow his act and be a woman.
- I'm going to fall behind in his shadow and just be
Ric Flair's daughter.
- She would just be overthinking it constantly.
- Why aren't we talking about my athletic ability?
Why are we talking about my looks?
- There was guilt for her.
- She was paralyzed.
They were like this.
- I'm going to do this, I don't know how, but I will.
Woo.
- She's got an aura to her.
- There can only be one queen.
- I've become the very best.
- Her resume speaks for itself, is a completely different
legacy than her dad.
- Oh.
[yelling]
- All hail the queen.
- I want to go down as one of the greats, male or female.
- I was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, April 5th, 1986.
I'm the middle child.
My oldest sibling is my sister, Megan, then my big brother,
David, then my little brother, Reid.
Reid is a freak.
Reid, aren't you a freak?
- I'm a freakazoid.
- Thank you.
Well, since Reid and I were so close in age, I guess you could
say we were inseparable.
Rollerblading through the neighborhood, riding our
mountain bikes.
We just did everything together.
- We love you, darling.
- Love you, daddy.
- We love you.
Hey, handsome.
- So my dad is just dad to me, but to everyone else,
he is Ric Flair.
- I'm a kiss-stealing, wheel-and-dealing,
limousine-riding, jet-flying son of a gun.
- I knew he was special and I knew he was famous growing up
because everywhere we went in Charlotte, you know,
everyone always wanted his autograph.
- Driving the women wild.
Woo.
- But growing up, it was drink your milk, eat your vegetables,
clean your plate.
He was very much just dad.
In kindergarten, it was show and tell day and I brought my dad
and his original gold belt.
I remember just being so fascinated with the red rubies
that were on the front of the title.
[crowd cheers]
- "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.
- As I was working I took them with me.
Like if I was working in Florida for the week,
I'd stay in Disney World.
I wasn't on vacation, but at least I was with them
for an hour in the morning.
Diamonds are forever and so is Ric Flair.
Woo.
- Being around the business when I was young really meant like,
oh, I go get to see my dad wrestle, I get to sit front row,
I get to cheer for him, but I didn't think at that moment or
when we were doing all those things that I was going to be in
the business or that I wanted to be a wrestler.
- She never expressed any interest in wrestling, ever,
neither one of us did.
It was like, well, it's kind of what dad does, it's cool.
- She had an early start in athletics and excelled even
at a young age.
- I did jazz, tap and ballet,
- Come on Ashley.
- And then I started at international gymnastics.
- In first place, Ashley Fliehr.
[applause]
- Go Ashley.
- I was also in all-star cheerleading.
- The glam and the glitz and all of that kind of stuff
was not Ashley.
So volleyball I felt was more comfortable for her and she was
great at that.
- Ashley Fliehr is just a junior on the Panther High School
Volleyball Team and she already has the college recruiting
letters that are starting to arrive in the mailbox.
- Yeah.
I would have to say she was the best athlete in the state
for the last two years of high school, boy or girl.
- There is something called the Presidential Test.
So I remember always competing with the boys or wanting
to be better than the boys.
I remember being called Beast.
I don't know why it affected me so much, but it did.
And then the boys making fun of having like hairy blond arms.
- She has never struggled with her weight, but she's always
has been tall, so I think she always felt bigger.
Bigger is not always better when you're a woman,
or it doesn't feel better.
- I just never felt comfortable in my own skin from an early
age, but it didn't stop me from having a great childhood
or playing sports.
- I saw unlimited potential for her.
She could've gone anywhere.
I took her to Indiana, I took her to Michigan State,
I took her to Wake Forest.
- I went to Appalachian State on a full ride for volleyball.
Around the time I went on my first recruiting visit to
Appalachian State, my dad took me on two different tours when
he was with WWE.
- Smile, you're on camera now, honey.
Pretend you're having a good time, loading the bus.
I'm good, thank you.
- I'm good too, thank you.
I was just in awe of the ladies because they're so cool.
They're superstars, they're rockstars.
Like how do they get their hair that long?
Like how they dress.
They're just so glamorous.
Like I could never picture myself in their shoes.
Oh, they get to travel the world and have fun?
This is pretty cool.
I remember getting home and I just remember my dad backing out
of the driveway and was like, "I'm not coming home."
- Even though I knew things weren't perfect in my mom and
dad's marriage growing up, they still played the perfect
part for Reid and I.
It was a lot.
A very confusing time and being done with high school and then
leaving for App at the end of the summer, I think there was a
lack of guidance or direction.
Any time the coach would throw me in the game.
I would be so nervous I degressed as a player,
but I don't know if there was so much mental stuff
going on at home.
I remember that being frustrating.
I had quit volleyball and I just remember, I don't know,
just not really having anything to be proud of and then being
so proud of my dad.
- The time has come for the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair to put
his career on the line.
- It was a retirement match for my dad between him
and Shawn Michaels.
- And there's Ric Flair's family right here at ringside.
- That was such an overwhelming, positive feeling, like look at
this organization that he's a part of and it seems like such
a big happy family.
- If you can read lips, "I'm sorry, I love you."
- The emotion and the respect, the feeling of the audience
and the passion.
- Over 70,000 fans paying their respects to the greatest
to ever lace a pair of boots.
- Then seeing my dad emotional.
I was like, "Oh, this is so cool.
This is amazing.
I want to be a part of this, but in what capacity?
I don't know."
- It's definitely crossed my mind.
I would like to finish school first and I hope
the opportunity's still there when I'm done.
I think it'd be fun if I said, "Dad, I want to try to take on a
role somewhere in WWE."
I think he would support me and be my biggest fan.
I knew I had to graduate because that's what you do.
You go to college and you graduate, right?
It's like, "What do I do?"
I moved back home.
I was working as a personal trainer for a couple years, and
then we went to Miami for the Four Horsemen
Hall of Fame induction.
It was I think the first time that me, Reid, and my dad had
like gone and done something in a really long time.
- Ashley, one more time, baby.
Stand up, Reid. Come on, buddy.
- Reid's goal was to be in the WWE.
We were at dinner at the hotel and he was like,
"We can do this together. You've go to do this."
So I was like, "Okay."
- I said, "Oh, God.
Please don't.
"Dad, I want to wrestle.
I can do it. I know I can,"
That was it, and that was in April.
In July, she was in Tampa.
[crowd chants "FCW"]
- Florida Championship Wrestling at that time was the
developmental system for the WWE.
Triple H and Vince McMahon had their eyes on the new upcoming
stars, so it was very important to make an impact there.
- I remembered talking to Hunter on the phone.
He was like, "This life is difficult, Ashley.
This life is very difficult.
Like you're on the road.
Is this really something that you want to do?
This a full-time job."
I'm like, "Yes, yes, yes.
This is what I want to do."
I remember him being like, "You're not going to get
handouts because your Ric Flair's kid."
I'm like, "I'm not asking for handouts.
I didn't say I wanted a handout."
Why does this make me upset every time?
I don't think anyone that was hiring me heard that I was going
was like, "She's going to be a WWE Superstar and follow
in her dad's footsteps."
Something in my life needs to change.
And had I not taken that leap of faith, I wouldn't have gone,
and that's just overwhelming to think about.
That's why I don't even think about it.
I remember getting to Tampa.
I just remember telling one of the boys, "My dad's Ric Flair,
but please don't tell anybody."
Which everyone already knew.
The entire building already had opinions of me
before I even came.
Everyone has tryouts and you meet each other,
and there's this whole independent scene and,
"Well, here's Ric Flair's kid and she didn't have a tryout."
I just was so worried about what everyone thought of me.
- I was a little leery of having to work with a second-generation
performer because sometimes they can come in with preconceive
notions of how everything should be done here.
But with her, it was zero ego.
- She was so timid and just this sweet little angel.
I just felt like I just wanted to hug her and just
like protect her.
- John Cena right now is the-- The kids ask for him more
than they do Michael Jordan.
- The athletic part of it, she got and she thrived.
Charlotte probably struggled most with promos,
and you know just her kind of insecurities
about herself came through.
- You can't beat someone who never gives up.
My most redeeming quality is-- Yes, I know.
- She would just be overthinking it constantly,
"What do I next week or should I try and partner up
with someone and do something.
- Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?
I stuck out like a sore thumb, but I do remember.
I was like, "Whatever you do,
you're going to be fine athletically."
I did really well in this drill with the guys and girls, and
Dusty pulled me aside and was like, "You're going to be okay."
I just remember thinking like, "Okay."
At the same time, Reid had been in and out of rehab.
The drug was heroine.
- Unfortunately, there's kind of a stereotype of what a heroine
addict looks like, and Reid did not fit that.
I mean he looked like a million bucks.
There was some big push for him to get into WWE at that time.
- He failed the first drug test to get into the WWE.
Reid left for Japan I think right after Thanksgiving.
He had gotten a contract to wrestle there.
Hoping that would turn into something bigger.
Eventually, WWE.
- He really struggled with Ashley in Tampa
and him not being there.
That wasn't working out for him.
Can you believe I'm not there and Ashley is?
So he wanted to go to WrestleMania,
so I brought him back.
- A group of us were going to WrestleMania
for the first NXT Axxess.
I was going to get to wrestle Paige.
Not for the title or anything but just have
like an exhibition match.
My dad had just brought Reid home from Japan and-
The night before they were supposed to leave to meet me in
New York, New Jersey, Reid died.
- Police confirmed, Ric Flair's 25-year-old son was found dead
at this South Park hotel.
Reid Flair was found dead inside a room at the residence in
around 10:30 this morning.
- And so far, investigators have not revealed the cause of death.
- The morning that my dad called me to tell me that Reid had
OD'd, I don't know, even to this day, I still think I put it in a
drawer and I just close the drawer.
How do you-- Your brother, right?
- I think for Ashley especially there was guilt for her.
She was less there for him, not intentionally.
She was fixing her life and growing,
but I think there was a lot of guilt.
- These things were like playing over in my head.
I didn't go home for Thanksgiving to see him,
I didn't go home for Christmas to see him.
[indistinct]
- Happy birthday to you.
- She was paralyzed.
They were like this, but they competed and they argued
and that, but boy they were close.
- That whole year, I had started to make friends,
figure out like, "Oh, I really like this.
I fit in.
This is really cool, but at the same time,
this is everything that he wanted to be doing."
How selfish and unfair that I'm living his dream
and he never got to be there.
Did I cause my brother to OD?
Was the pressure like not-- was that too much on him?
Did I make him-- Was I not there for him?
Was I off doing that instead of being there?
Like, you can't blame yourself.
Yes, I've taken many years to know that, but that is very hard
at the time to not think about those things you know
happening at that time.
- In Reid's passing, Ashley assumed that mantle
and carried his spirit with her everywhere she went.
Make no mistake about it, what you see in Ashley Flair
is not an individual performance.
Everything she does is tag teaming with her brother.
Once you understand that, you understand the enormous
inspiration that propels Ashley to such greatness.
- I just remember a week later coming back to work,
and Dusty just looked at me and was like,
"You got to move on. You got to move forward.
You have to keep going. You don't have a choice."
So I was like, "Okay."
I just kept working.
And when Reid passed away, I guess it was just--
My focus was I'm going to do this.
I don't know how, but I will.
- Back up.
Take another.
[Grunting]
- Take her knees
[Grunting]
- Then July, we moved from Tampa to Orlando.
Officially now NXT.
- When she came back, she was so focused
on getting better in every aspect,
and creating that character.
Just taking in every bit of information she could
and applying it.
- In competition only brings success.
How are Sasha and I supposed to be successful
when there's no competition at NXT?
- We were all still trying to find ourselves.
I think during that time in the first few months at the
Performance Center is when everybody started to nail down
their character because we had no other choice.
- I tell people all the time, sometimes it's just
a switch with WWE.
You know when it comes to promos and like self-love.
It's just a switch that goes off, and then all of a sudden
you're just like,
"No, I feel comfortable. This is it."
- Ladies and gentlemen, my daughter, Charlotte.
[Charlotte Flair's music plays]
- The NXT debut of Charlotte.
- I debuted on NXT TV against Bayley, which you couldn't
pick a better debut partner.
- Look at that move.
- Then she just completely took over.
- This is for the NXT Women's Championship.
Bow down to the queen.
Charlotte's the NXT Women's Champion.
- Charlotte, she is one of the originals.
She helped change the perception of what women's wrestling could
be just by physically what she could do.
The girls were definitely they were just
capable of it, never really allowed to do it,
especially on the main roster.
- Charlotte has a recognizable name
and an unbelievable skillset.
Now, as you're ushering in a new era of women,
it was the perfect fit.
- There hasn't been that level of competition that I'm looking
for that I think everybody here is looking for.
It is time for us to make a change right now.
Allow me to introduce the woman who was bred for this business.
- Women are making their mark, and it is time for us to make
a change right now.
- Charlotte, I could tell she was nervous.
"What if they don't like me?
What if they-- I'm like,
"You have to forget that.
Whether they like you or not, this is your house."
- Joining forces with Paige will be a woman who was bred
for this business, Charlotte.
[crowd cheers]
- I just didn't know what it was going to be like.
"Am I really going to stay up here?"
I had wanted it so bad, at that point, and I kept wondering,
what was wrong with me, why we hadn't debuted?
Because there was so much buzz.
I was just ready for it.
- What an opportunity tonight for Charlotte.
She looks to become just the second woman to hold the NXT
Women's Title and WWE Divas Title.
- I didn't have that confidence as a performer to just
go with the flow.
It was just like, "Wow, Nikki Bella is such a star."
- Nikki Bella.
Her record-setting reign as Divas Champion
is at 301 days tonight.
- I did not feel comfortable in my wrestling boots.
It was like fake it till you make it.
That's basically what I was doing.
- Figure-Four first.
She's got to bridge through into the Figure-Eight.
There is the bridge.
Into the Figure-Eight.
- Nikki tapped.
[bell rings]
- What?
- Charlotte wins the title.
- I'll tell you how important her brother is, I'm like,
"Every time she wins a match, she goes like this."
She was pointing to Reid.
I was so happy for her.
- It was like,
"I couldn't believe this is happening" moment.
I felt like many pieces missing, and I didn't feel like
the champion.
[applause]
- They decided to put my dad as my manager.
- Charlotte, the Divas Champion, accompanied by her
Hall of Fame father, ''The Nature Boy" Ric Flair.
- He only knows how to be a showman.
He only knows how to steal the show.
I didn't, so I took it as "I'm either going to sink
or I'm going to swim."
I'm either going to use this as a platform, or I'm going to fall
behind in his shadow and just be Ric Flair's daughter.
The pro was reconnecting with him because there was kind of a
lull between high school and then.
Our dynamic is super special.
- I know she struggled with it a lot.
For any WWE Superstar trying to find where your comfort level is
and where you can the excel the most is so difficult.
so, I can't imagine having to be Ric Flair's daughter.
People are going to have high expectations of her.
- I'll make you proud.
- You always do.
- You could tell Charlotte has much more of a concern with
perfection and legacy than anybody else here.
It's a huge shadow to grow up under.
And she didn't just have to follow his act,
but she had to follow his act and be a woman.
- Tonight is the biggest WrestleMania in history.
This is just a fraction of the nearly 100,000 members of the
WWE Universe that are waiting to make their way
inside to witness history.
- When I pulled up, and I saw big graphics on the stadium,
I was like, "Ooh, the men look
like the eye candy, and we're front and center."
I have goosebumps just thinking about it.
This is what I've worked for every single day.
- WrestleMania 32 was the most high-profile women's match,
at that point in time.
The Divas Championship became the Women's Championship.
Charlotte had enough time, at that point, that she was ready
to take the reigns and usher in this new era of performing.
- WrestleMania 32 was a shift.
[fireworks]
My walkout, I was like, "I am exactly where
I'm supposed to be."
- This is for the WWE Women's Championship.
- I think we're seeing the greatest era
of the women's division.
- These superstars digging deep into the playbook.
- Charlotte is going to-- Oh, no.
Going up top.
- Whoa.
- Moonsault.
Moonsault by Charlotte.
- When she did that moonsault, everyone died.
I never saw her do it.
Just a little girl all grown up.
- Yes.
- She's better than I was.
Man, she left me in the dirt long ago.
- We've got a new title, and we've got a great champion
in Charlotte.
- That was like whatever the biggest thing in women's
wrestling that had ever happened was right here,
and that was like right there.
- The match was okay?
- Yes.
- Hey.
- For me, I felt like this was my brother's dream.
But, was the Superbowl of our company,
and this is really the beginning.
This is where the hard work starts.
- One, two, three.
[crowd yells "Woo"]
- The WWE Network was being launched in China, and I was
sent to do an international tour.
Yes, so I was on my flight back from Hong Kong to Boston.
I got a phone call from talent relations.
"Your dad's in the hospital. He's sick.
We need to get you home as soon as possible."
There was so much going on that first two years.
I'm trying to travel the world and become a superstar,
and my dad's you know, having health issues.
It's just a lot to deal with.
- When someone's septic, and then they go into organ failure,
you really don't know.
So there was a process where we can't fix the heart
until we fix the kidney.
We can't do the surgery until we get him whatever.
The surgeons came in, and they said,
"There's probably about 15% chance he's going to make
it through this.
- When you know the nurses were explaining to me,
my sister, and my brother, you know that my dad
might not make it,
I could not mentally wrap my mind around that there was
a chance that he wouldn't make it.
I just couldn't process that.
They gave us all an opportunity to say goodbye to him,
and I didn't really like say anything.
I just wasn't going to take goodbye as an answer.
I compartmentalized by just throwing every ounce of energy
I have into work.
- All hail the Queen, gentlemen.
- I personally want to thank everyone for their thoughts
and prayers while my dad's been sick.
[crowd cheers]
- Yeah.
- Man, Charlotte handles everything incredible.
If I were to go through something like that,
it's very private.
Nobody would even know that that was happening, and I can deal
with it on my own and privately.
But with her is the whole world knows.
- Life is fragile, and that's why you have to make
the moments count.
So from here on out, I'm going to make every moment as big as
possible for me and my dad.
[crowd cheers]
- There I go, I'm working again.
I don't know.
Onto the next, right?
It's just another bump in the road.
[crowd cheers]
- Natalya's championship is in danger.
- Is this Charlotte's moment?
[bell rings]
- Charlotte wins.
- The queen sits on the throne of SmackDown Live.
- In her home town, Charlotte.
[crowd chants "You deserve it"]
- All of you know that my dad, for the last couple of months,
has had a really hard time.
I love you, Dad.
This was for you, tonight.
Woo.
- Proud father, victorious daughter.
An emotional night in Flair Country.
- Charlotte, in many ways, is nothing like her dad,
and in other ways, there are similarities.
And if anyone knows anything about Ric Flair,
they know that there was a time later in his career when he lost
his confidence and needed to lean on people
like Triple H to find himself.
- And the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
- Any critiques other than I'm going fast?
- No, no, no.
- Charlotte's been very public about the fact that she
struggles with her confidence.
- Yes, sir.
Overthinking is the worst thing possible,
and I think I overthink a lot.
Just like today, I was getting ready for the shoot and this guy
walks over who owns a salon, and he is like,
"You're Ric Flair's daughter."
I get it every day.
I'm not jealous.
I'm super proud, but I'm just like, "Dang."
I still feel like I have to be a certain way because of the
expectation that I'm Ric's daughter.
That was super hard.
- Her resume speaks for itself, you know?
She's done things that Ric hasn't even done before.
She's main evented WrestleMania.
I hope she can see now that she is not her dad
and she's a completely different legacy than her dad.
- I think Ashley's the only person in any conversation that
doesn't realize just how great that Charlotte is or can be.
Charlotte can be a hundred miles above Ric Flair's shadow,
and Ashley will still be struggling to escape from it.
- Once Charlotte got on top, she stayed on top.
She ran that division.
- Charlotte Flair called herself the Iron Woman of WWE.
- All the emotional trauma she's dealt with has made her stronger
and more focused.
- I've seen the difference of Charlotte, the character
from Ashley the person.
Charlotte is strictly business and she's focused on being
number one and focused on being superior, where Ashley
doesn't hide things well.
We've had moments where I could tell something's
bothering her, you know, and you just have one of those things
where you have to talk to a friend and it has nothing
to do with wrestling, it has nothing to do with work.
- When I quit volleyball in college,
I had nothing to be passionate for.
And I think that manifested in other ways like, maybe,
I wasn't good enough.
Maybe body dysmorphia, but I was more hurting myself
mentally than physically.
I was 20 when I got my first breast augmentation because I
thought, okay, if I had a bigger chest that would
make me more beautiful.
That really affected me.
Online, I've gotten so much criticism over the years,
"Charlotte's built like a man.
Charlotte looks like an iPhone.
She has no ass."
Like constant, every day.
Why aren't we talking about my athletic ability?
Why are we talking about my looks?
- There was a few times backstage where she'd just
continuously try on different outfits, and she's like,
"Does this one make me look chunky?
Does this one make me look like a man?"
I'm like, "You're beautiful.
What are you talking about?
What are you seeing right now?"
- When you're still like trying to figure out who you
are, it affects who you think you are.
- "Oh, no, no."
- She's not just going to be judged on her wrestling ability,
she's also going to be constantly judged on her looks.
- I've learned that over a course of time,
that your self worth doesn't depend on what you look like.
Being an athlete is cool, being strong is cool,
lifting weights is cool.
- Women come in all shapes and sizes and it's so important for
someone to be a face of a certain body type, too.
Charlotte just has this beautiful,
athletic, strong body.
You need someone like Charlotte to have a platform.
It's so important.
- So this is an actual copy of the body issue that
came out in stores.
This is my layout.
Super proud of it.
- When you do ESPN Body, this is you showing all of your
vulnerabilities and all the things that you're
most insecure about.
I think she looked absolutely beautiful.
- This was like, "We want athletic bodies
because they're beautiful."
As an athlete, I want to be put in that category.
I like these that show my backside because I knew
the comments were coming, but anyone that's commenting
can't do what I can do.
That's how I looked at it.
- She was one that I gravitated towards because we have
the bigger frame, like big shoulders,
we've got muscles.
think it's very important to show girls that
that's feminine as well.
- A woman being unapologetic, being dominant, being physical,
being strong, being in control in a male dominated world is
what the most important message for me is right now.
"You look amazing, Queen.
Oh my goodness."
I've always wanted that superhero in my real life
and for little girls, it's just having a role model.
Can I get a video of you and switch out the title?"
You just want to wrap your arms around them.
You want to be everything that they see you as
and remembering that little girl doesn't see you
the way you see you.
That's what's most important is she sees you as
larger than life.
She sees you as that superhero.
Cheese.
My natural form is what got me to where I am, being strong,
being 5'10", being muscular.
Rise above it all and don't give in to negativity,
to social media or the haters.
Follow your own path.
- I think over the last few years Charlotte has started
to believe in Charlotte Flair.
- Since I started in 2012 in Tampa, I've never really taken
the time to display all the wonderful things
that I've done along the way.
And I just moved into this new house and I've collected
a lot of these plaques and my gear, and now I'm looking back
and I'm like, "Dang, I've done some pretty cool things."
That is when I won my first main roster title,
the Diva's Championship.
The WrestleMania 34 plaque.
This is the robe I wore in that match.
I believe it was the first women's single match on
WrestleMania since Trish Stratus and Mickie James.
Here is a piece of the ring in the plaque from WrestleMania 32.
Here's versus Trish at SummerSlam.
That match needed to be how people remember her because
that's her technically last match,
which turned out really well.
You have to enjoy the journey to get to the destination,
and it goes by fast.
I feel like for a couple years, I was just, "Go, go, go."
and not really taking a second to look and see what
I'd accomplished and done.
This was like part of that process to be like,
"Wow, I've done all these things."
"What, baby?
Do you want to stay with me forever?"
- [laughs]
- Oh, okay. Okay.
If you're a fan of wrestling, you know what I've done,
but if you don't, that stigma is there like,
"Okay, the dad's a wrestler, she's a wrestler,
Ric Flair's daughter."
No matter what I do, I'm always compared to you.
- I don't believe that anymore.
- I do.
- You've far exceeded me.
Do you know what people will forget about me?
I've been on TV for 50 years.
She's been on for 10 years.
She's already set the bar so high, anything she does more
will just be adding to her legacy.
- See, that's where I get frustrated because it's like
I feel like I'm just now getting good.
I feel like I'm just getting started.
- I've been saying it for a long time in different ways,
but to be the best you got to beat the best.
She's the best professional wrestler I've ever
seen in my entire life.
- I get annoyed when he says that, but I only feel like I can
get there and I feel that within myself.
I will look at my work from 2015 and I'm like,
"Oh, that's no good."
16, 17, "Oh."
18, I started to really figure it out and now I'm like,
"All right. It's game time."
It really is our Super Bowl.
What makes this Mania so special is this is where I put myself
on the map where I made a name for myself.
I had everything to prove then, at WrestleMania 32.
I feel like I've proved myself all these years,
and now I have to prove that I'm now as good as they say.
- Go do it, kid.
Kill them.
- I met Manny in 2018.
He's been so supportive.
His biggest thing is I need to always know my worth.
"You're Charlotte Flair.
Don't lower yourself to what you're not."
- This is her Olympics, and she treats it as such.
She trains and thinks and commits like an Olympic athlete.
- I think that as many accomplishments as she's had,
she can get in the way of herself.
She can be her own worst enemy and not let herself enjoy all
of the successes that she's had, all of the history that she's
made, and just how damn good she is.
- Charlotte is so far removed from Ric Flair's shadow.
It's not even a freaking joke.
She has built such an important legacy.
She has a Hall of Fame career.
I have chills thinking about that.
- You get goosebumps.
You know that you're watching someone
who is a generational talent.
She's the real deal.
- And a cover.
Flair retains the title.
- There's a reason why queens stay queens.
[applause]
- I can't believe it's over.
I want to do it all over again.
I feel like a grown-up now versus when
I was here last time.
- I feel like I've been playing catch-up all these years.
I'm finally getting the hang of it, but I've already had such
an incredible career.
But if I could do it all over again, now I'm just learning it.
Now having fun in there and feeling them and the crowd,
and the emotion, and enjoying the moment.
When I hear "Woo" like the arena does, I just hope one day that
all those little kids grow up and that's my "woo".
They're not doing it because I'm Flair's daughter.
They're doing it because I'm Charlotte Flair.
♪
- It's been a while since I've come to see him.
- He'd probably be loving all the attention.
[laughs]
I talk to him sometimes, but I think it's just hard that
I'm getting older and he's not.
He's the same age, so I just wonder what he'd be like older.
My success, I had hoped that it had gotten him
on the right path.
He was proud of me.
I always get upset when I say this.
When he was in Japan, he sent me a Facebook message,
"When I'm tired and I don't feel like going or--"
He said he didn't give up because he would
think of me and how hard I worked.
That's how he thought of me, that I inspired him when
ultimately I'm here because of him.
I think it's just a reminder not to get caught up in the wrong
things and remember why you started.
Don't take it so serious.
I didn't take it serious when I started and it got me this far,
so don't overthink it now.
[laughs]
- After WrestleMania, I married the love of my life,
everything is perfect right now.
- I think Charlotte Flair is just a standalone name.
She's able to do things that other women aren't able to do.
She's just done so much that brings attention to the WWE.
- The 13-time Women's Champion.
- I love her so much and I want her to know that
nobody could ever carry on a legacy for anybody better
than she could carry on mine.
- Charlotte Flair was built for the spotlight,
built for the grand stage.
- I would never in a million years,
never thought I'd be here.
Sometimes it hits me that I made it on my own.
To see my progress, it's like growing into my own boots.
It's a good feeling, rewarding to watch yourself
and not criticize yourself.
Like, wow, that's awesome.