#WWEManila: Charlotte talks headlining WrestleMania with the Four Horsewomen, Women's Evolution

Proving her mettle against her rival Sasha Banks, the Legit Queen Charlotte defended her title at WWE Manila last September 9 in the first WWE house show since the company’s last excursion to the Philippines seven years ago.

The two, alongside Bayley and Becky Lynch, are credited for ushering in the WWE’s new era of women’s wrestling along with other female superstars.

The Queen Charlotte is here! #WWEManila pic.twitter.com/WarJD96iU7

— Rie Takumi (@rie_takumi) September 9, 2016

But Charlotte believes that the generation before them—among them the Bellas and Natalya—and the sheer demand for women’s wrestling built the foundation of the Four Horsewomen that the division is building upon post-WrestleMania.

At a media roundtable prior to the event at SM Mall of Asia Arena, Charlotte talks about her growing up as the daughter of a wrestling legend, coming up on the women’s division, and taking the Women’s Evolution to its logical conclusion- headlining WrestleMania.

Being wrestling royalty, can you talk about the influence your father had on you becoming who you are right now?

Well, thank you—wrestling royalty, wow. You know, actually, it was my little brother that encouraged me and I really didn’t know anything about wrestling until about four years ago. I grew up watching it but I never wanted to be a professional wrestler. It has its pros and cons and it makes me work that much harder.

At WrestleMania, filmmaker Max Landis took a very poignant photo of a young girl watching intently during your women’s championship match with Becky and Sasha, and I just wanna ask: what does it mean to you to be part of this movement that just empowers women, empowers girls across the WWE Universe?

I don’t think I think about it everyday. I know Sasha, Becky, and Bayley, and the rest of the girls don’t either. We just know that we wanna be treated as equals, like the boys, and to know that the fans are getting behind women’s wrestling and they want more for us, that’s what keeps us going everyday, knowing that we can be role models for little girls.

As someone who didn’t get in the business until the inception of NXT, how does it feel to be one of the women who were instrumental in reshaping the women’s division?

It’s crazy! I don’t even know another word for it. When we were in NXT, which was FCW, it’s not like we just started (and said) hey, we’re gonna change women’s wrestling or we’re gonna start a revolution. It was just a group of girls that wanted to work hard and collectively, we did it together.

And that’s not to say the girls on the main roster before us weren’t working just as hard, it just happened to be the right time and the fans were wanting it. You can’t just say it was the girls on NXT. Nattie, the Bella’s, and the other women prior had been working just as hard.

The women’s division has evolved through the years. What would you say it is now and how do you feel about being the standard bearer, being the women’s champion?

Well, I have a very athletic background, so to be able to contribute and say that not only am I Diva, but I am an athlete, I think that’s the biggest thing to take away that the women wrestlers are athletes, just not pretty faces.

Your rival, Sasha Banks, has said multiple times that it’s possible for women to headline WrestleMania one day. The rumors are your match will headline Clash of Champions. How soon can the women headline WrestleMania?

Hopefully, while I’m still around. No, I think a fatal four way will be awesome to headline WrestleMania. (I wanna face) the Four Horsewomen.

Can you tell us how challenging it is on a daily basis to try and balance the athletic and the entertainment side of wrestling?

Exactly what he (Cesaro) said. It’s my first time in the Philippines and yeah, you have to love (it). We’re only home one day, two days a week and other than that, if you’re not on tour, you’re doing live events in the States. Trying to squeeze in travel and the gym, and the show, and all of it, it’s a lot. But it’s worth it anyway.

What was it like growing up in the Flair family? Did your father discourage you from being a wrestler?

No. Everyone, I think, is looking for this crazy answer, but no. He was just dad. I might have gotten to go into a lot more wrestling shows than most kids, but I played sports growing up. I was a gymnast then I played high school volleyball and I didn’t realize I wanted to get into wrestling until I was about 25. It was the last four years.

Do you think women's wrestling is equal to men's wrestling now since your triple threat against Sasha and Becky was considered the best match?

We’re considered superstars now, so I would say yes. 100 percent.

What’s your relationship like with Uncle Arn and the rest of the Horsemen?

He’s my Uncle Arn. Since I’d known Uncle Arn my whole life, I remember when I did my first loop when I was still in NXT, and that’s when you go on live events but you’re not necessarily on Raw or Smackdown. He was very cold, and I was like, is he mad at me? But he really wanted to make sure that he didn’t show favoritism and I feel as if no matter what I do, it’s never necessarily good enough? There’s never a perfect match, but I like that because I’ve known him my whole life and I’m able to say he’s my Uncle Arn, I don’t want him to be easy on me or anything like that.

It’s the same with my dad. Sometimes I get mad at him, like, dad, you have to give me some kind of feedback other than oh, that’s so good! ‘Cause he’s so positive, and then he’ll be like, yeah, don’t throw any more clotheslines, they’re terrible. See, there you go! I need that criticism.

After your match with Sasha at SummerSlam, you had a very passionate speech on Raw. What particular bit of criticism did you want to silence after that match?

I was the better woman. To be the woman, you gotta be the woman. 

There has been times where your personal life has figured in a storyline, like when you hurt your father—

He’s in time out.

How do you process that with your family?

Well, that particular night, he got very emotional in the ring. But to everyone at home watching, he looked like he was crying but I was so close to him. They were happy tears, they were like, you’re so evil, you’re doing it! It was happy tears. But no, my dad was home a lot when I was growing up, when he was already in his late 40’s, early 50’s. He was already past the peak of his career, so me saying dad, you were never at home, my dad went to every volleyball game, was there for my college sports.

I had to pull from a different place, but his tears were more like, yes! You’re so rotten.

How involved are you in crafting the storylines?

For me, I just have been able to adapt to whatever they’ve given me and make it work ‘cause at the end of the day, it’s entertainment, and I think that’s the beauty of what we do because so many people who watch are like, is it real? (Do) the Miz and Daniel Bryan really feel that way about each other or did Charlotte really disown her dad? But my dad would still call me and be like, you’re never gonna believe, all these fans at the signings I’m doing, they’re like, “Are you okay Ric? She was really mean to you!”

That’s when you know you’re doing something right, if you can truly be invested in the characters and I think that… it’s not necessarily just the wrestling that’s important, it’s the entertainment and the character and if you can believe that I really think I’m the queen, that’s the best part about it.

What are the specific influences that Sara Amato has on the women at the performance center and on your development as a superstar?

I was fortunate enough to have Sara when she first came in. I credit all of my, most of my learnings to her, but when NXT, or when Triple H hired her, I think that was a huge—I’m trying to think of the word—that they were actually gonna give the women a chance, that they were gonna give their women their own female trainer and Sara is someone who already trained all over the world and perfected her craft. She’s a testament to all the girls on the main roster because she started with me and Sasha, then Bayley came in and Becky came in, and now she has the entire NXT roster.

Look where we are. That’s how much of an impact she’s made on the company.

Do you think it’s time for there to be a women’s tag team belt?

I think we need more girls for tag titles. I think that’d be great. But right now, I don’t think there’s enough girls, to be honest. It’s not that I don’t want them, but there’s what, four on Raw, four on Smackdown—no, I’m just kidding. But once more girls come up, I think tag titles are much needed. 

How would you deal with someone who wrestles like Asuka?

Hard hit back. No, I actually was on tour with her in Hawaii and Japan and I thought I was gonna have the opportunity to wrestle her but I didn’t get to so I’m looking forward to her going to the main roster because being able to wrestle someone with a different style and for me, because I’m NXT homegrown, I haven’t had the opportunity to wrestle that many people with different styles. I’ve only wrestled the WWE way or the girls in WWE. I’m actually really looking forward to her coming to the main roster and kicking her butt. — AT, GMA News