Charlotte Flair hopes to be in the WrestleMania 39 main event but understands that there are a lot of stories this year that are worthy of that spot.
The Queen spoke on this topic during a recent interview with Forbes, where she hyped up her showdown with Rhea Ripley at the Showcase of the Immortals, which will have her SmackDown women’s championship on the line. During the chat, Flair looks back at her history with Mami and why this meeting will be different from all the other ones. Highlights can be found below.
On this being her seventh WrestleMania and how she’s just as hungry as ever before:
You know what’s crazy is I am just as hungry as my first Mania. It’s just the feeling is different in terms of my first WrestleMania. I didn’t have the same level of confidence, but in terms of being hungry and wanting to set the bar and wanting to walk out with the best match, being the brightest star, stealing the show, like all of those things still have the same intensity going in. And almost more pressure because I’ve already set the bar and the expectation here. So the expectation of me every time I walk out has to be a different level.
How all of her past matches with Rhea Ripley have been different:
Oh, each opponent’s so different. Rhea and I already have a built-in story. We faced each other at NXTXT -1%. I beat her for the NXT title. We faced each other in a Triple Threat at WrestleMania Backlash after WrestleMania in Tampa, which was me, her, and Asuka. Then I faced her at Money in the Bank in Texas, then in a Triple Threat in Las Vegas at Summer Slam, me, her and Nikki ASH. So we aren’t strangers to each other, it’s just she’s three years better and I’m three years better. I feel like I taught her a lesson during all of these encounters and now she needs to come to me.
Why their match should headline this year’s WrestleMania:
Well, one, she won the Royal Rumble, so that’s guaranteed a main event spot at WrestleMania. Not solely relying on that, but I think you have two titans, two athletes who—regardless of their story or who have faced each other prior—are gonna put on a main event match solely on that, knowing that they’re capable of the storytelling. And possibly me retaining or crowning a new SmackDown Women’s Champion. I think when a main title is on the line, it’s always main event worthy. So, to me it’s important for that championship to feel that prestigious, to feel that important. But again, like you said, there are a lot of stories that are worthy. So we’re just gonna have to make sure between now and WrestleMania that we give the audience something to sink their teeth into, to feel that the stakes are that high.
Charlotte’s father, the Nature Boy Ric Flair, also agrees that the SmackDown Women’s Title match should headline WrestleMania 39. You can read his thoughts on it here.