Ric Flair Responds To Fans Who See Charlotte's NXT Title Win As A Demotion

WWE has publicly stated that talent performing during the coronavirus pandemic is voluntary although many might feel pressured to perform. Many Superstars ended up pulling out of WrestleMania 36 but Charlotte wasn't one of them as she won the NXT Women's Championship.

Ric Flair discussed how he feels about his daughter performing during these times when he joined The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast.

"I had the utmost confidence that WWE would do this as safely as they possibly could and they did. Nobody will ever understand the scrutiny that everybody went through while they were there," said Flair.

"I wanted her to participate as I thought it was an opportunity that you don't want to miss. The company cares, genuinely, for the wellness of their athletes because when they have players go down or get hurt, it affects their overall health. Even if I hadn't wanted her to go or asked her not to go, she would have dial-toned me and said 'I'm going.'

"I ultimately supported it and I'm glad. Anybody using the world arguably [in regards to it being the best match], they had the best match."

Charlotte defeated Rhea Ripley to win her second NXT Women's Title and to become a 12-time WWE champion. Flair talked about his daughter's match with Ripley.

"What impressed me the most was the fact that she could hang with Charlotte. They were in the ring, I'm guessing 25 minutes, and they pushed. There were huge moves and they had a real championship match," stated Flair. "They beat each other up and it looked like that. There was no 'ha-ha' or anything meant to make anyone laugh. It had great intensity and my hat's off to Rhea Ripley."

Flair said it reminded him of when he and Sting had to go an hour in a match even though Sting had never done that before.

"You forget about all of the charisma that he brought and Rhea has tons of that. The fact that she could go toe-to-toe with my daughter ? who's in the best shape of any athlete, male or female, within the company ? it speaks volumes. That's the kinda stuff that makes you a champion ? being able to adjust and compete at any level. They're not that familiar with each other and they had a world-class match," stated Flair.

Some see Charlotte winning the NXT Championship as a demotion for her as she's used to being in the title picture for the Raw or SmackDown belts. Flair responded to that notion.

"It doesn't matter. What was good about that match was that it could have gone either way. It automatically put Rhea in the discussion as one of the better wrestlers. Rhea performed at a high level. But Ashley is there to lend maturity, to feed and to take all the things that Rhea could give her," said Flair. "They pulled it off and you can only imagine the reaction if there would have been a live crowd."

Flair then mentioned how WWE notes that all of the brands are considered equal now. So he questions how the NXT Championship makes her less than the RAW Champion.

"Who's the best wrestler? Who's the best performer? Who looks the best, talks the best and has the best presentation? But ultimately, it's who can perform the best? A lot of the time the match is over when she walks down the ramp and does that cartwheel before getting in the ring. You can't compare her to anybody," said Flair.

Through his 40-year career, Flair wrestled in front of every sized wrestling crowd possible. He was asked if he gave any advice to Charlotte about wrestling in an empty arena.

"Absolutely not. I didn't even know what day she was wrestling," admitted Flair. "I stayed as far away from her as possible and didn't even ask her anything. Because No. 1, I didn't want her to say, 'I can't tell you' which would have pissed me off [laughs].

"I'm really gonna give everybody their due as nobody knew what was going on, and I loved that. I predicted that someone would open their mouth and no one did. Dave Meltzer must have been pulling his hair out trying to get someone to talk [laughs]."

Flair and his wife Wendy operate RicFlairShop.com and The Nature Boy talked more about that.

"I'm part of it but she owns it and she runs it [laughs]," said Flair.

"The WOOOO Mat is real popular," jumped in Wendy. "Everybody loves those WOOOO Mats at the front door."

"It's a business for her and the most important thing is that she has fun with it. She looks at what's popular and she applies it to that," said Flair.

"With Ric's final approval," replied Wendy. "Don't think I did it all."

"Oh yeah, I didn't mean to imply that I don't look at it," stated Flair. "But I can't take credit for the work? I always wanna give her credit for things she has done for me, not only acting as my agent but also taking over this store and making it a successful entity."

Official Ric Flair merchandise can now be found at RicFlairShop.com. WOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Flair's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.