One of the most controversial match results from this year’s WrestleMania was Charlotte Flair defeating Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women’s Championship. Fans had issues with several different aspects of the angle, some thinking the addition of the Flair to the NXT women’s division was unnecessary, some taking issue with the treatment of Bianca Belair and Io Shirai as side characters in the feud, and some just being tired of Flair title reigns and not enjoying her presence on multiple WWE brands per week. Someone who is a fan of Flair’s title reign, however, is Triple H, and he explained why in a recent interview with talkSPORT.
HHH thinks that much of the criticism of Flair can be chalked up to her famous dad:
For me, I’ve been thrilled with this whole thing and I think this speaks to Charlotte as a performer. And I know sometimes she’s bashed because of her dad and her name and everything else. No matter what she does sometimes, it’s criticized. But to me, it just speaks to her as a performer that she would want to do this. That she would work across all the brands if she could, that she would want to carry that torch when it was put in front of her and to do this.
He also said losing her title to Flair will be good for Ripley in the long term:
The long term on this is to build up other talent and as spectacular as a moment as Rhea Ripley had and then going into WrestleMania, I wish they could have had that in the stadium. I wish they could have had that in front of fans… For Rhea to have that moment and to have it with Charlotte in that stadium would have been a making moment for her.
For me, that loss almost helps her as a character get to where she needs to be for the longterm arc of who she is. You know, the burnout factor in stuff is quick and intense with short attention spans and everything else, so, to me, this is phenomenal.
Triple H went on to promote the NXT Women’s Championship match this Sunday by saying that fans will see Ripley and Shirai step up to the “unbeatable” aura that Flair has as a champion.
