Fans haven’t heard a lot from Charlotte Flair while she has been out of action from WWE for the past several months.
Until now.
“The Queen” appeared as a guest on the Forever Young podcast with Dr. John Layke and Dr. Payman Danielpour for an in-depth interview covering the knee injury that has kept her on the sidelines throughout 2024.
“When it first happened, I thought my life was over,” Flair said of her initial reaction to when she suffered the serious knee injury during her December 12, 2023 match on WWE SmackDown against Asuka. “I was like, ‘oh my gosh, a perfect storm’. My husband had just come back to the company or was on his way back. I knew he was going to be debuting soon. From the moment I was taken out, I just have kept telling myself that I’m going to come back the best version of ‘The Queen’ when I do come back, and you never like to be sidelined due to an injury. But then again, I’m not sure if I would have ever sidelined myself had it not been for the injury.”
Additionally, the women’s wrestling legend spoke about the evolving women’s landscape in WWE during her absence from the company, and how she has been dealing with the mental aspect of being out of action for so long while it’s happening.
“So it’s been a challenge, but a challenge I know that’s going to make me in the long run because I’ve had the opportunity over these, I think it’s been like nine, eight months now to go back and see things that I would have done over,” Flair said. “What can I do over? Look at the landscape of the division and try to figure out where I can add character layers when I come back. I think the biggest struggle for me mentally is I’ve never not been able to rely on my athleticism. So like where I might not be the best on the mic or a certain look, or I’ve always been so proud of like how physical I am and not having that feel a hundred percent has been an adjustment for me where like before I was like, Llke, I know the girls respected me for being tough and, you know, not being injured. When this happened, I was like, I can be injured. So it really, like, it’s been a mixed blessing. For me, it feels very vulnerable. But I know that in the long run, it’s going to be better for me.”
(H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.)