During an appearance on the “Forever Young” podcast, “The Queen” Charlotte Flair opened up at length about mental struggles she has been going through while being forced to sit on the sidelines for all of 2024, as well as her initial reaction to the moment she suffered the injury last December on WWE SmackDown that resulted in the lengthy hiatus from the company.
“When it first happened, I thought my life was over,” Flair said of her initial reaction to the moment she suffered the injury. “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.”
She added, “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. 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.”
Check out the complete interview below. H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.
