Charlotte

Ashley Elizabeth Fliehr (April 5, 1986) is an American professional wrestler and former personal trainer currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) performing on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Charlotte Flair. She is a one-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion with Asuka, a five-time Smackdown Women's Champion, a six-time WWE Raw Women's Champion, a two-time NXT Women's Champion and the final recognized WWE Divas Champion. She is the fourth ever women be a WWE Grand Slam Champion
She is the daughter of former professional wrestler Ric Flair and the sister of David Flair and Reid Flair. In 2014, she was named Rookie of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
==Early life==
Fliehr was born in Charlotte, North Carolina to Ric Flair and his then-wife Elizabeth. She has an older half-sister, Megan, and an older half-brother, David, while her younger brother Reid died in March 2013. Fliehr holds two NCHSAA 4 A-State championships for volleyball during her time at Providence High School, including being a team captain and player of the year from 2004–2005. She attended Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina before transferring to North Carolina State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in public relations in Spring 2008. Fliehr was a certified personal trainer prior to becoming a wrestler.
==Professional wrestling career==
===World Wrestling Entertainment ===
====Early appearances====
Before becoming a professional wrestler, Fleihr's exposure to the WWE occurred as early as 2006 at age 19, when she appeared at ringside during the January 16 episode of Monday Night RAW, held in Raleigh, North Carolina. Announced by her real name, she stood at ringside during her father Ric Flair's Tables Ladders and Chairs match against the reigning WWE Champion Edge.
====NXT (2012–2014)====
On May 17, 2012, Fliehr signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was assigned to their developmental territory WWE NXT. She adopted the ring name Charlotte, and had her first televised match on the July 17, 2013, episode of NXT, where she defeated Bayley.
In late 2013, Charlotte formed a tag team with Bayley, and the two defeated Aksana and Cameron on the September 4 episode of NXT. On the October 9 episode of NXT, Bayley accompanied Charlotte to a match against Santana Garrett, which she won, and during the match, the BFFs (Beautiful, Fierce Females)" (Summer Rae and Sasha Banks) came to the ring and attempted to convince Bayley to join them, to Charlotte's annoyance. However, on the November 13 episode of NXT, Charlotte attacked Bayley and joined the BFFs, establishing herself as a heel in the process.
After a two–month absence due to an injury, Charlotte returned, on the January 8, 2014, episode of NXT, and began accompanying Rae and Banks to their matches. In February, Charlotte confronted NXT Women's Champion Paige during an interview with Renee Young, announcing herself as her next challenger. Following Rae's elevation to WWE's main roster, Charlotte and Banks went on to feud with Bayley, who formed an alliance with Natalya. On the March 27 episode of NXT, Charlotte was defeated by Natalya by disqualification after Banks interfered. The feud between Charlotte and Paige ended on the April 24 episode of NXT, when Charlotte and Banks defeated Emma and Paige, with Charlotte scoring the pinfall over Paige.
In early May, Charlotte competed in the tournament for the vacant NXT Women's Championship, defeating Emma in the first round, Alexa Bliss in the semi–finals, and Natalya in the final at NXT TakeOver, to win the NXT Women's Championship for the first time. After a four–month absence from the show, Summer Rae returned on the June 5 episode of NXT, distracting Bayley and allowing Charlotte to defeat her. After the match, The BFFs attempted to attack Bayley, only to be chased away by Emma and the returning Paige. The altercation prompted a six-woman tag team match on the June 12 episode of NXT, which The BFFs lost after Bayley pinned Charlotte. On the July 3 episode of NXT, Charlotte got a measure of retribution over Bayley in a tag team match, where she and Banks defeated Bayley and Becky Lynch. After the match, Charlotte left Banks to get attacked by Bayley, with Banks officially disbanding the BFFs in a backstage segment later that night.
On the July 24 episode of NXT, Charlotte successfully defended her championship against Summer Rae. Charlotte then went on to defeat Bayley at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way to retain the championship. After the match, she stopped Banks from attacking Bayley afterwards, and after defeating Bayley in a rematch on October 2, she raised Bayley's arm before they shared a hug and shook hands. Following this, Charlotte and Bayley feuded with Banks and her partner Becky Lynch throughout the following several weeks. Charlotte made her first appearance on WWE's main roster on the Slammy Awards special episode of Raw on December 8, where she lost to Natalya in a non-title match. Charlotte retained her championship against Banks at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution on December 11, and in rematches that took place on the December 25 and the January 21, 2015 episodes of NXT, respectively. At NXT TakeOver: Rival, Charlotte lost the championship to Banks in a fatal four-way match that also involved Bayley and Becky Lynch, ending her reign at 258 days. She failed to regain the championship in a rematch against Banks that took place on the March 4 episode of NXT.
At NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable on May 20, Charlotte teamed up with Bayley to defeat Emma and Dana Brooke. After defeating Emma and Brooke again on the July 8 episode of NXT, this time teaming with her rival Sasha Banks, Charlotte challenged Banks to an NXT Women's Championship match, which Banks accepted. They had their championship match the following week on the July 15 episode of NXT, in which Banks retained the championship. Afterwards, the two shared a hug and Banks raised Charlotte's hand as a sign of respect.
====Championship reigns (2015–2017)====
Charlotte made her official debut on the main roster on the July 13, 2015 episode of Raw along with Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, after Stephanie McMahon called for a "revolution" in the WWE Divas division and while Charlotte and Lynch allied with Paige, who was feuding with Team Bella (Alicia Fox and Brie and Nikki Bella), Banks allied with Tamina and Naomi and a brawl between the three teams started. The trio of Charlotte, Lynch and Paige, which was originally dubbed the "Submission Sorority", was renamed to "Team PCB", after the first–name initials of each wrestler. In her pay-per-view debut, on July 19 at Battleground, Charlotte defeated Banks and Brie Bella in a triple–threat match. The three teams would ultimately face off at SummerSlam in a three team elimination match, which PCB won after Lynch pinned Brie Bella.
On the August 31 episode of Raw, Charlotte overcame fellow PCB members' records in the first ever "Divas Beat the Clock challenge", and was named the new number one contender to Nikki Bella's Divas Championship. Her title match with Nikki, initially advertised for Night of Champions, took place on the September 14 episode of Raw, so Charlotte could stop Bella from surpassing AJ Lee's record and becoming the new longest–reigning Divas Champion. Charlotte won the match by disqualification, but not the title, since Brie and Nikki switched places and Charlotte pinned Brie. On September 20, at Night of Champions, Charlotte received a rematch, where she defeated Nikki to win the Divas Championship for the first time. During Charlotte's celebration, the following night on Raw, Paige cut a worked shoot promo and turned on her partners, berating them and the Divas division. Throughout October, Paige appeared to have reconciled with Lynch and Charlotte, only to attack them and solidify her heel turn, the night after Charlotte successfully retained her championship against Nikki Bella at Hell in a Cell. Charlotte successfully defended her title against Paige, on three different occasions, at Survivor Series, on November 22, in a rematch, the following night on Raw, and at TLC, on December 13.
On the November 30 episode of Raw, Charlotte began displaying villainous traits, after defeating Becky Lynch by feigning a leg injury, followed by a distraction provided by her father. Throughout December, the relationship between Charlotte and Lynch continued to strain due to Charlotte's heel persona, and after losing to Lynch on the January 4, 2016 episode of Raw, Charlotte attacked her and solidified her heel turn. Charlotte successfully retained the Divas Championship against Lynch, with help from her father, three days later on SmackDown, and at the Royal Rumble on January 24. On the February 1 episode of Raw, after Charlotte lost to Brie Bella in a non–title match, the two competed again at Fastlane, on February 21, where Charlotte once again prevailed. She also retained the title against Natalya at Roadblock, on March 12. Reanimating her rivalry with Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, both women went on to compete in two matches to determine the number one contender for Charlotte's WWE Divas Championship at WrestleMania 32, with the first bout ending as a no contest, after a double pin occurred, and the second as well, after both Banks and Lynch were attacked by Charlotte. As a result, a triple threat match between Banks, Lynch and Charlotte for the Divas Championship was announced for WrestleMania. At the event, after it was announced during transmission that the Divas Championship would be withdrawn and it would be replaced with the new Women's Championship, with all three women competing for it in the triple threat match, in which she defeated Lynch and Banks, with help of her father, to become the inaugural champion in her WrestleMania in-ring début.
After being confronted by Natalya during Charlotte's championship celebration the following night, Charlotte made her first successful title defense against her on the April 11 episode of Raw. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Charlotte was confronted by Natalya during an interview where Natalya revealed that Shane McMahon had booked them in a rematch for the Women's Championship at Payback and that her uncle Bret Hart would be in her corner. At the event, she defeated Natalya after match referee Charles Robinson, ended the match as Charlotte held Natalya in the Sharpshooter submission hold, Natalya's signature finishing move, even though she had not submitted making reference to the infamous "shoot screwjob" the Montreal Screwjob involving Bret. After the match, both Natalya and Hart applied their finishing maneuver the Sharpshooter on Charlotte and Ric Flair. The following month at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view, Charlotte once again retained her title against Natalya in a submission match in which Ric Flair was banned from ringside, however, she was helped by Dana Brooke while dressed as Flair to provide a distraction on her. The following night on Raw, Charlotte turned on her father by claiming he was no longer needed to which she proceeded to slap him, and aligned herself with Dana Brooke. They would then defeat Becky Lynch and Natalya at Money in the Bank.
Charlotte would reignite her feud with Sasha Banks, starting with the Draft when Charlotte, Brooke and Banks would be drafted to Raw. Her first PPV loss came at the hands of Banks and her mystery opponent Bayley at Battleground. She would lose the title to Banks on July 25 episode of Raw. Charlotte then regained the title on August 21 at SummerSlam, and retained it against Banks and Bayley at Clash of Champions, however she lost it again to Banks on the October 3 episode of Raw. At Hell in a Cell, Charlotte regained the title again from Banks in the first ever female Hell in a Cell match to become a three-time champion. The following night on Raw, Flair was revealed as captain of Team Raw for Survivor Series on November 20, where Team Raw defeated Team SmackDown with Flair and Bayley being the survivors for Team Raw. After the match, Flair attacked Bayley. The following night on Raw, Flair explained that she attacked Bayley because she no longer had to be Bayley's teammate. Banks then invoked her rematch clause, which Flair agreed only with the match taking place the following week's Raw in her hometown. The match initially resulted in a double count out, but was rescheduled as a Falls Count Anywhere match that Banks won, after which Ric Flair came out and celebrated with Banks. A 30-minute Iron Man match between the two was scheduled for Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, which resulted in a 2–2 draw, but Flair defeated Banks 3–2 in sudden death overtime and became a record four-time Raw Women's Champion, as well as ending their long-time feud since it was stipulated that Banks could not invoke her rematch clause.
The following night on Raw, Flair declared herself to be "the greatest female wrestler of all time", but was then interrupted by Bayley, beginning a feud between the two, resulting in Bayley becoming the number one contender for the Raw Women's Championship at the Royal Rumble on January 29, 2017, where Flair made her first successful title defense. On the February 13 episode of Raw, Flair lost the Raw Women's Championship in the main event match against Bayley and failed to regain the championship in a rematch at Fastlane on March 5, marking her first pay-per-view singles match loss after 16 singles victories. At WrestleMania 33, Flair competed in a fatal four-way elimination match along with Bayley, Banks and Nia Jax, in which Bayley would retain the title after she eliminated Charlotte.
==== SmackDown (2017–2019) ====
On April 11, Flair made her debut on SmackDown Live after she was traded to the SmackDown brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up. The following week on SmackDown Live, after defeating Naomi in a non-title match she was granted a match for the SmackDown Women's Championship, which ended in a no contest after an interference by Natalya, Carmella and Tamina. This match made Flair the first woman in WWE history to compete in the main events of Raw, SmackDown Live and a pay-per-view. On the May 2 episode of SmackDown Live, Flair began to transition into a fan favorite after she was attacked backstage by Carmella, Natalya and Tamina, later unsuccessfully competing against the former two alongside Naomi in a tag team match. Flair cemented her change of character on May 21 at Backlash, where she teamed with Naomi and Becky Lynch in a losing effort against Natalya, Tamina and Carmella. On June 18 at Money in the Bank, Flair competed in the inaugural women's Money in the Bank ladder match, which was won by Carmella, due to outside interference by James Ellsworth. On July 23 at Battleground, Flair competed in a five-way elimination match to determine the number one contender for the SmackDown Women's Championship, in which she was pinned by Natalya, who won the match as a result.
After an almost two–month hiatus due to her father's legitimate health condition, Flair returned on the September 19 episode SmackDown Live, thanking the WWE Universe for her family's support and later that night in the main event defeating Lynch, Naomi and Tamina in a fatal four-way match to become the number one contender to the SmackDown Women's Championship on October 8 at Hell in a Cell, where she defeated Natalya by disqualification and thus did not win the title. However, Flair defeated Natalya to win the championship in her hometown on the November 14 episode of SmackDown Live, becoming the first ever wrestler to win the Divas, NXT, Raw and SmackDown Women's titles. With the win, Flair replaced Natalya in the inter-brand champion vs. champion match against Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss on November 19 at Survivor Series which Flair won. At Clash of Champions, Flair retained her championship against Natalya in a lumberjack match. After that Flair entered a feud with Riott Squad teaming with Naomi and Lynch to face them in multiple 6 woman and standard tag matches. On February 6, Charlotte defeated Liv Morgan in singles action. The following week she defeated Sarah Logan. On February 20 episode of SmackDown Live the team of Charlotte Naomi and Becky Lynch faced The Riott Squad in 6 woman tag which was won by the Riott Squad as Ruby Riott pinned Lynch after a Riott Kick. Later on it was announced that Charlotte would defend her championship against Ruby Riott at WWE Fastlane. Charlotte maintained her title reign at WrestleMania 34, defeating Asuka. On the April 10 episode of SmackDown Live, Charlotte lost the Women's Championship to Carmella.
Four months later on August 19 at SummerSlam, Charlotte met Carmella in a triple threat title match involving Becky Lynch for Carmella's SmackDown Women's Championship. At this pay-per-view, Charlotte won the championship marking the beginning of her second title reign. On the August 28 episode of SmackDown Live, Charlotte won her first title defense, defeating the previous champion Carmella. However, Charlotte's second title reign was short-lived by the time she appeared for her title defense during at Hell In A Cell, where she was defeated by Becky Lynch. She had two consecutive title rematches during the house shows later in the month, both in which Charlotte did not succeed in winning back the championship. The following month on October 6 at Super Show-Down, Charlotte defeated Lynch in a title rematch, but did not win the championship due to her disqualification victory. During the October 9 episode of SmackDown Live, Charlotte and Becky Lynch met once more in a title rematch resulting in a double count-out finish. On October 16 during the 1000th episode of SmackDown Live, Charlotte and Lynch wrestled in a dark title match, once more ending in Lynch successfully retaining the title. The rivalry for the SmackDown Women's title continued into the first-ever all-women pay-per-view Evolution, where Charlotte met Lynch in a Last Woman Standing match for the SmackDown Women's Champion, concluding with Becky Lynch emerging the winner. The following month, Charlotte met Lynch during the November 3, November 4 and November 5 house shows held in the United Kingdom, all resulting in Lynch retaining the title. Returning stateside, Charlotte appeared on the November 13 episode of SmackDown Live, where she was chosen by Becky Lynch to replace her as defending SmackDown Women's Champion at Survivor Series, due to Lynch sustaining [legit] injuries including a concussion and a facial fracture from Lynch's invasion appearance the night before on Monday Night RAW. Charlotte therefore became Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey's opponent for Survivor Series. At the pay-per-view, Charlotte lost to Rousey by disqualification.
On March 26, 2019 Charlotte defeated Asuka to win the SmackDown Women's Championship for a third time.
She then went on to WrestleMania 35 to face Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey in a winner takes all match for both the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championship. The match was the first Women's match to main event a WrestleMania in which Becky won to become a double champion.
====Return to Raw (2019–2021)====
As part of the 2019 draft, Flair was drafted to the Raw brand. In November, Flair was revealed as captain of Team Raw for Survivor Series, where Team Raw lost to Team SmackDown, after Team Raw member Asuka spitting green mist in Flair's face, caused Flair to be eliminated. The following night on Raw, Flair lost to Asuka, with some assistance from her tag team partner, Kairi Sane. Flair then joined forces with Becky Lynch to face The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane) for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship in a TLC match at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, but the two were unsuccessful. The match saw Sane suffering a legitimate concussion mid-match. In a later interview, Flair addressed Sane's injury, stating: "Obviously Kairi was hurt, but in the match I'm just thinking: 'How do we keep people invested?'"
On January 26, 2020, at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Flair won the Royal Rumble match by lastly eliminating Shayna Baszler. Flair spent weeks teasing an announcement regarding her championship opponent at WrestleMania 36, leading to confrontations with NXT Women's Champion Rhea Ripley on Raw and NXT. At NXT TakeOver: Portland, after Ripley retained her championship against Bianca Belair, Flair attacked Ripley from behind and accepted Ripley's challenge to face her for the NXT Women's Championship at WrestleMania 36, and later attacked Belair. This marked the first time that the Rumble winner chose an NXT championship to challenge for at WrestleMania, which were previously ineligible, as well as marking the first time that an NXT championship would be defended at WrestleMania. At the event, Flair defeated Ripley to capture her second NXT Women's Championship, tying the record with Baszler, and marking her overall 12th women's title in WWE. At NXT TakeOver: In Your House, Flair lost the NXT Women's Championship to Io Shirai in a triple threat match also involving Rhea Ripley, ending her reign at 63 days and making her second reign as champion the shortest reign in the championships history.
At the TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs PPV event Charlotte would return to team with Asuka to capture the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship by defeating Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler. With the win Charlotte became the fourth ever women to be a Grand Slam Champion
==Other media==
Flair appeared in the January 2016 issue of Muscle & Fitness.
Flair made her video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K17.
==Personal life==
Flair was arrested on September 5, 2008 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina for assaulting a police officer after a fight involving Flair, her then-boyfriend, and her father. She pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was sentenced to 45 days in jail, which was suspended to supervised probation and a $200 fine.
She married Riki Johnson in May 2010. In 2013, Flair was married a second time to Thomas Latimer, a fellow wrestler better known by his ring name Bram. Their divorce was finalized on October 29, 2015, in the state of Florida. Fliehr has also been in a relationship with Manuel Andrade Oropeza, better known by the ring name Andrade. The couple got engaged on January 1, 2020. The relationship ended in late 2021.
Flair has multiple tattoos, including two hearts above her waistline, a heart on her left wrist, a quote from the Bible on the left side of her torso, that reads "guard your heart above all else, for it will determine the course of your life", a cross on the right side of her torso, and a quote on her right forearm, reading "a little patience...", from the Guns N' Roses song, Patience. The latter two are tributes to her brother, Reid Fliehr, who passed away in March 2013.
==In wrestling==
*Finishing moves
**Bow Down To The Queen / Natural Selection (Somersault cutter)
**Figure Eight (Bridging figure-four leglock) - adopted from her father
*Signature moves
**German suplex
**Queen's Boot
**Figure-four headscissors, sometimes transitioned into multiple push-up facebusters
**Charlotte's Web (Split-legged evasion transitioned into a bridging inverted roll-up)
**Knife edge chop
**Moonsault
**Corkscrew Moonsault
**Tilt-a-whirl gutbuster
**Spear
**Corner foot choke
**Facewash
*Managers
**Ric Flair
**Dana Brooke
*Tag teams and stables
**Beautiful Fierce Females (w/ Summer Rae & Sasha Banks)
**PCB (w/ Paige & Becky Lynch)
*Entrance themes
**"Have It My Way" (NXT)
**"Going Down" by Spider Rockets (NXT)
**"Recognition" by CFO$ (May 29, 2014 – Present)
==Championships and accomplishments==
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**PWI Feud of the Year (2016) vs. Sasha Banks
**PWI Rookie of the Year (2014)
**PWI ranked her #10 in the 2014 PWI Top 50 Females
**PWI ranked her #6 in the 2015 PWI Top 50 Females
**PWI ranked her #1 in the 2016 PWI Top 50 Females
**PWI ranked her #2 in the 2017 PWI Top 50 Females
**PWI ranked her #3 in the 2018 PWI Top 100 Females
**PWI ranked her #2 in the 2019 PWI Top 100 Females
**PWI ranked her #15 in the 2021 PWI Top 150 Females
**PWI ranked her #8 in the 2022 PWI Top 150 Females
**PWI ranked her #21 in the 2023 PWI Top 250 Females
*WWE NXT
**NXT Women's Championship (2 times)
**NXT Women's Championship Tournament (2014)
*World Wrestling Entertainment
**WWE Divas Championship (1 time)
**WWE Raw Women's Championship (6 times)
**WWE Smackdown Women's Championship (7 times)
**WWE Women's Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Asuka
**Fourth Grand Slam Champion
**Fifth Triple Crown Champion
==External links==
* WWE.com Profile
* Profile
* Profile
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Category:Second Generation Wrestlers
Category:American wrestlers
Category:1986 births
Category:2012 debuts
Category:Female wrestlers
Category:WWE NXT alumni
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment current roster
Category:North Carolina wrestlers
Category:NXT Women's Champions
Category:Living people
Category:WWE Divas Champions
Category:WWE Women's Champions
Category:Royal Rumble Winners
Category:WWE Women's Tag Team Champions
pt:Charlotte Flair