When Ric Flair speaks he usually gets emotional when discussing his daughter, current Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair. If you saw the Flair’s ESPN 30 for 30 documentary that aired in November, you know how close the two are, and that she is living the wrestling dreams of her deceased brother, Reid.
During an interview with Daily Star, Ric spoke about how Charlotte is already one of the best ever.
“She (Charlotte) already is the greatest, by far. I don’t know who to compare her to. That’s just my opinion and I’m biased but I’m also a guy that’s qualified to make that remark so let’s say she’s not my daughter and I was the father of another girl I would say to the other girl you better push if you want to be like her. And I have tremendous respect. I think Sasha Banks is off the hook in terms of ability. What separates Ashley is her size and her athletic ability. Sasha Banks is every bit of a performer that Ashley is, make no mistake. As are a couple of the other girls – Natalya is fantastic. They’re all good. There’s a fine line between good and great and I just look at her and I’ve known them all.”
Charlotte has only been wrestling for about five years, but she is already commonly viewed as one of the very best all-around women’s wrestlers in the world. If Asuka weren’t around, there probably wouldn’t be much of an argument against Charlotte as the greatest. But you certainly can’t begrudge Ric for being extremely proud of what his daughter has already accomplished.
Ric also wants Charlotte to go back to being a heel, which is the role she was very effectively playing before moving to Smackdown in April.
“I wish they would use her on the other side. I like her when she’s bad. She’s really good at enhancing other people’s work. As a heel she’s really good at that, that’s art in itself.”
Ric is right about that. Charlotte much more natural as a heel, and there is more she can be able to accomplish playing the bad guy. In the long term, Charlotte will likely end up working as a heel for the majority of her career, but for right now she’s the face of the Smackdown women’s division.
