Exclusive Interview with "The Queen" Charlotte Flair

28:37O'Shea:Now, I want to talk about, because I mentioned earlier, you're a two-time Royal Rumble winner. What was it like being in your first Rumble, one of the first ever women's rumbles. And what's going through your head when you know, like, I'm coming out on top of this? I didn't even know if I was going to be on WrestleMania that year. That was the year we went into COVID, right? Was that my first Rumble? Yeah. I didn't even know if I was going to be on WrestleMania that year. And then finding out later that week that I was going to win it, I just remember that promo after that Rumble, I was like, listen, ladies, this is still my vision.

29:18and I felt every I meant I meant and I felt every word of that promo

29:26O'Shea:we gotta let's see this is when we gotta go back and look at these because knowing that now it's a little bit more umph behind watching because all I said was yeah this is still my division and we're we're going to Wrestlemania it's like you're out of the rich on the show you come back I'm like oh I'm still employee of the month I'm out of here bro I run this place. It ain't even a question, as Ja Rule once said. I got something for you, Charlotte. You mentioned your dad, of course. But when was the moment, you as a young girl, when did you realize, wait a second, my dad's Ric Flair. You're like, college.

30:06It took a solid. College? Freshman year of college. because I really like, I know my dad was Ric Flair and things were like a little different, but I really was a homebody and I didn't grow up. I mean, I grew up playing sports. So that's a very different mindset than like, you know, wanting to be famous or beauty pageants or one i didn't know like i all i knew was team sports and i hung out with my teammates and we always had the parties at my house you know what i like so like junior senior year

30:49O'Shea:where's the party at till three it's like yeah we're going i did everything at home so and because Charlotte, yes, now Charlotte's a lot bigger, but like there, if you, if you go to Charlotte tomorrow and you ask 20 people, where are you from? They're not, maybe, actually, I guarantee you, none of them are going to say Charlotte. So it was small. So like everyone knew who my dad was. And also like Arne Anderson was there. Bobby Eaton was there. Ricky Steamboat was at the, There were other wrestlers in the territory. At one point, Dusty was there. So he wasn't that big of a deal because everyone was used to him.

31:30But when I went to Appalachian State my freshman year in the middle of nowhere, Boone, North Carolina, and I was like, yeah, my dad's Rick Flair.

31:41That's when I was like, oh, he's cool.

31:47He had rust at the moon tower.

31:51O'Shea:my dad was definitely the key to the door of a lot of frat parties i bet on the row at usc but the same thing like i didn't really get what it meant for him to be ice cube until i was like 18 i went on tour with him and this guy in the front row was like give your dad this he gave me a card he was like i was heavy you know into drugs into the gang life out here listening to your dad's music uh helped me become a doctor and i was like damn he probably just wrote this in the kitchen like you know it's like whatever song it was like you know but like people need him and i was like that's pretty cool you're all right yeah so i feel that around college freshman year college same thing it's just like it's our dad it's our dad you don't like i yell at him he yells at me, he might be like, damn it, I heard Flair.

32:43I'm like, sir, you are dad. You're dad.

32:47O'Shea:A question I know you have to always give, but I've kind of run out of ways to answer it on my end when they're like, so what's it like? What's it like being Ice Cube son? I don't know, man. I have no way to really answer that. What's he like at home? He likes to eat cereal at night, watch sports. There's nothing too crazy about it. How many times or also my other favorite, do you ever get hit with, hey, Charlotte, where's Rick? I don't know, man. In time out. That's where he's at. He's in time out. Hell, man. It's just dad. No, I get it. Like, he's just dad yeah like i mean but like you said he probably isn't eating cereal but he's definitely watching sports that he loves sports my dad if he ever wanted to be really could be a sports commentator men's and women's so i just had my birthday in my nami and my dad was texting he's like honey i'm headed back to tampa and i'm like so you're not gonna like hang out at the pool with me today?

34:08He's like, no, the Women's National Championship basketball game is on. I got to make it back. And I'm like, I mean, I get that. Like, respect. No, like, he loves sports. So, he's just typical. And then we have a picture of you guys. This was at your birthday party, right? It was at my birthday, yeah. I mean... And then I got to see 50 Cent Play Raider. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, we saw the pictures that you posted up. looked like there was a good time, you, Jade, and Kiana. You know, you guys definitely go to the gym together. I think that's one thing that can be said without a question. Well, Jade's lifting both of us, so I don't know what Jada was talking about.

34:53O'Shea:Yeah, my mama called Kiana's secretary every time she's here. Oh, secretary. She's the sexiest. I wouldn't want my husband to have her secretary.

35:05so i read a story um that you were saying when you first went down to fcw they gave you paperwork to fill out and norman smiley gave you some paperwork and they asked you about your background blah blah blah and if you knew anybody in the business pops yeah and and then so what was the thought i remember i read that you were like you were kind of like not sure what to write there then you wrote that and then did Norman come back I don't know how to explain it and maybe you'll understand me but I just was like is it weird to put Ric Flair I felt like I was being humble by putting pops but then like now 10 years later I'm like and by the way Norman and I are like this now so but he was just like no one knew what to expect you have to understand wrestling obviously was so different than new takeover.

36:01Triple H had just taken over, and here Ric Flair's kid is coming in, who's never done the indies. They've never heard anything about her. She walks in, no tryout, and then here I am putting Pops on a piece of paper. It really wasn't meant to be like, yeah, Pop. I really was trying to be humble. I don't know. Norman was like, I don't know who Pops is. I mean now I'm his favorite I'm one of his favorite he has many wrestling daughters but yeah I just

36:37O'Shea:for him to grab the paper and be like I don't know who Pops is come on dog you know when you feel your whole face and body turn red when he sat that piece of paper and goes I don't know who Pops is I was like daggers I was like, oh, God. Your ears get hot. Yes, my ears were hot. Exactly. That's how embarrassed I was. It was terrible. So something we were talking about earlier, Shay, you were talking about people asking about your dad and blah, blah, blah. And, Charlotte, before we even started, you were saying something about it's weird for you as a woman. And maybe you could share that, what you had told us.

37:21Oh, I, it doesn't bother me anymore. But what really bothered me early in my career was like, why does she look like Ric Flair in a wig? And I'd be like, who am I supposed to look like?

37:36O'Shea:Right, exactly. Am I supposed to look like Dusty? Because I played sports. and and i'm and i'm proud of how far i've come and like becoming polished and you know branding and the looks whatever it is but like coming from sports i never thought about what i looked like or beauty or muscles or like things like that so when people were criticizing me for for looking like my dad i really like i kind of struggled with it a little bit no i did struggle with it but now no but i was just like who do you want me to look like yeah right i i never understood that and i think that goes back to what i was saying earlier you know it's just like for some reason people held you to this really weird standard right she couldn't just be an excellent wrestler, right?

38:37She couldn't just be really good at what she does. There was always had to be a reason, right? You know, it was because she was someone's daughter or, you know, so I can understand that. Like, like we said earlier, there have been times the crowd has not been as kind to you as a, as a performer that they should be based upon, I guess they feel that they can say these things.

39:25O 'Reilly Auto Parts

40:00app. Download today.

40:05I should have been a better performer to where I should have owned it more and I didn't. Because I should have never catered to wanting their approval when what really would have made me dominant has been like, y 'all wish you was me. I was born with a silver spoon. What you gonna do about it? Had I had that energy instead of being like, I'm sorry for being Rick's daughter, but I work really hard

40:31O'Shea:exactly I had that energy instead of the other energy the FU energy yeah and I really like wish I could have I mean I can't change it now but I really wish in those earlier years had I been like man what if I just come out there and been like yep I didn't have to do a damn thing actually I asked for the title I demand it like little things like that because Charlotte you know the wrestling fans we're on wrestling twitter a lot so we know this when people would you know the anti Charlotte Flair fans who like we told you I get into it with them all the time would be they would make it seem like wrestlers book the show themselves like well Charlotte is going to make herself win you guys claim to know wrestling you should know how this works she's not making herself winning these matches all the time.

41:29She's not makers of the champion. She's getting these opportunities because she is better than most. That's why. But where did we learn? But where did people forget, like, in order to have your favorite good guy, you have to have the bad guy you hate.

41:44O'Shea:This is what I've been bringing up on the show recently. It's 101. Yes. And we got all these smart wrestling fans who act like they know everything and don't even get the most. Smarter than everybody. Basic concept. WrestleMania 35, I had so many questions and interviews like, hey, how cool was it that you demanded a helicopter for your entrance? Wow. I was like, I mean, I love that people think that I had that kind of power. Yeah. But, I mean, actually, I should just roll with it. Yeah, I demanded a helicopter. 100%. Because they are going to believe that anyway. Anyway. So you might as well.

42:25Yeah. I laughed so hard last week. Bailey was like, are you coming in on a helicopter for our fatal four-way, Char?

42:41Hey, well, speaking of Bailey real quick, let's bring her up since I'm wearing this shirt. Lodestone! Talk to us about it. What was Lodestone like? We've heard from her. We've heard from wrestlers like Nikki Blackheart. But I know I saw pictures of you there. And I know that must have been wild for those women to have you show up. So tell us a little bit about Lodestone and the part you played. Yeah. So I saw Bailey put up something on Twitter about a girl signing up for a camp that she was putting on. And I immediately texted her and said, hey, if you want some help or want me to come to whatever you need, I'd love to be a part of it.

43:24And she ended up reaching out to me the week the camp was supposed to start and was like, I'd love you to be there the first day. Can you come here? And I was like, absolutely. Came and had coffee with the girls and then worked out with them. And Bailey really is just such a special person. and what she's doing with that group of girls and giving them the platform and the opportunity to learn and the effort that she put in getting main roster talent all the way up to John Cena at that school or at the camp that she hosted. It's incredible. And I was just so honored that she invited me to be a part of the little magic that she was creating.

44:07And I know it's going to continue and it's really cool. hey that

44:12O'Shea:that year one lodestone class has so much to brag about it's crazy Charlotte was first day you know for eight hours and they're like oh my god dude and you gotta realize out of that group man there's probably gonna be no less than four world champions that come out of that group I don't know the skill level of everyone. And they were from all over the world. That's also what was so cool about that. So you're going to have to assume, you know, there's a next generation of female superstars that, you know, are going to take something that you told them, and they're probably going to try to use it against you in a match.

44:57Oh, my goodness. I'll take it. I'll bring it. Bring it, baby. Love it.

45:03O'Shea:Go ahead. All right. But also, too, like testament to Bayley, all the people that she invited all wanted to show up just as much for the girls but they wanted to show up for what bailey was doing because they really believe in her and her passion and just everything that she brings to the table so just that as well yeah i mean we're big bailey fans here and we got to talk to her up in stanford at the 2k 26 release and we both told her like i don't know i understand to a part as much as an outsider can understand how wrestling works right but i also feel like i feel like bailey is criminally underrated yeah and i feel like they could use her in a better position i'd love to see more from her but she seems to be the type who loves to wrestle loves to help put people over maybe that's okay i i don't know i don't like i said yeah as much as an outsider can understand yeah but i you know i kind of feel like sometimes they give bailey the short end of the stick and we don't like that i mean as fans you know there are the the dominant people that you know you might not hear a lot of conversation about you know that they come in do what they do knock it out and you know their career might view be viewed in a different light but then there are people who are who love it and want to push it forward and we know pushing it forward in wrestling some l's come with that yeah yeah you know pushing the next generation forward.

46:34O'Shea:So it's a, yeah, it's a different, as a Bayley fan, because we know the person, it kind of quells us and pacifies us because we know like she's doing what she loves. I mean, I don't really But as a character, it's like, come on, dog. You know, I need some hardware around here. You know? So, yeah, it's weird. It's weird. It's tough being a four horse woman fan anywhere. Well, not really. I mean, as a four horse woman fan, I think wrestling has been fantastic over the last, like, Look at the arguments you got to put in as like a fan of either four. That's true. That's true. Well, you know, speaking of Bayley, got something big coming up.

47:12That's WrestleMania 42. You are going to be in the tag team championship match. You, with your partner Alexa Bliss, former champions, going up against Bayley and Lyra Valkyria, against the Bella Twins, and against the champions, Last Legend and Nia Jax. So tell us, Miss Charlotte Flair, What should we expect Out of this match In Wrestlemania This is the most stacked Fatal 4 way Wrestlemania has ever seen And what I think Is so special when you look at that graphic Is think of all the history in there All the like All the different stories That could eventually happen Or tell within that graphic Like everyone Has history Even when even with Lyra and Lash being the newbies of the group, it really is past, present, future.

48:08And going into Mania with Lash and Nia as champions, I think it's anyone's game. Like Lexi and I are a well-oiled machine. And you are friends now, right? You are friends now? I mean, we're convenient. I mean, we're best friends, okay? Yeah, okay. There it is. I just think with every team, I mean, really anyone could walk out champion on Saturday.

48:47O'Shea:That's what you want from me. I think, yeah. There's no one favorite to win. I think everyone has a special and specific edge to them. so it'll be interesting. So when Monday comes around though, the headlines are going to say, what about this match? It's going to say Charlotte and Alexa, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss are the two-time women's tag team champions. Absolutely. That is what it's going to say. Woo! The greatest tag team in wrestling history. Yeah, I said it daily. Woo! Clock it.

49:26I mean, between the two of us, there's how many titles? 25? Oh, my God. 26? I'm better at English words than math. I can't count that high, I don't think. It's all right.

49:35O'Shea:You ain't got that many fingers. You weren't supposed to. That's true. That's true. Well, yeah, we're getting the wrap-up, Charlotte. You know, we have obviously a ton more we can ask you. We got to get you back on NCW when it's not many a week and you can just kick it and chill. Because we can go two more hours with you. Yeah, man, we didn't get our bar fight. We need to do it in studio, though. So I'm not in like an all white half made up. Yeah. So if you're like a nice commercial. Yeah. You find yourself in Los Angeles. You're now family. We'll get, we'll let you know where the spare key is.

50:06You come in, let yourself in, put your feet on the couch. Love it. Well, good luck. Yes. Thank you guys. You know, I don't know if you knew this today. Cody Rhodes was on, uh, I think it was get up with Stephen A. Smith. He gave us top five WrestleMania performers of all time. And you were on that top five. So yeah, I got three text messages about that, about Cody saying that, and I sent him a text. That meant a lot to me. It really caught any time one of the top male performers in our industry and what Cody has done and what he means and being the face of WWE right now to say that about me. It's probably the biggest endorsement you can get.

50:50So it meant a lot. Well, you're also a face of WWE. don't forget that either. Wrestling has more than one royal family. You better believe it. I tell him that too. I'm looking at the queen right now. Thank you.

51:05O'Shea:Thank you, Charlotte. We really appreciate it. Thank you, guys. Yeah, we got to get you in and sit down. We'll clean the place up. We'll make it look nice for you. We got you. We'll take care of you. Sounds good. I appreciate it. I'm going to wear my Kobe shirt, though. This man already loved you, and now Oh, my God. You just gave him a heart attack. You see? My moon and my stars. Oh, my God. Yes, yes. I'll wear my Kobe tank top. Absolutely. Oh, it's going to be like, damn, I'm here. Charlotte Flair, everybody. Charlotte Flair, man. Yeah. Nothing like it. I mean, we could have gone on two hours.

51:40They know who we are. They know we could have gone on forever. Right. You know, it's. Yeah, but that was really dope to get to chop it up with her a little bit. There's so much history there with her. But I meant what I said, man. These fans, sometimes they get on her and like, what do you want? Yeah. Because she's really good and now you're mad about it? Right. Like, what's she supposed to do? Not be an excellent professional wrestler? Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

52:04O'Shea:And, you know, there was a big chunk of the interview where it wasn't necessarily wrestling-based. But, you know, I've been dying to talk to one of these second, third-generation stars and really get their perspective on a life that I can't really share with a lot of people. And so it's exciting to be able to kind of like, all right, so how did you handle that? All right, so how did you move through that? And I got a daughter who will go through the same thing. And so there's a little thing that people don't know about me. A few do. But I have a notebook that I've been writing in since my daughter was four.

52:45Okay.

52:45O'Shea:and when she's like 13, 15, I'm going to finally give it to her. And it's just stuff that I learned on the way that like when this happens, this usually means this, this, this. Like, you know, just like almost like a manual to what she's going to have to deal with in life. Do you also put in there just like funny things that happen between the two of you? Like just as a complete network? Yeah, like everything is dated and like, you know, stuff like that. And it'll be like my gift to her. and damn like maneuvering through what it's like to be a second generation was something my dad couldn't tell me yeah so like being her dad i gotta let you know like this is gonna be yeah so it's to have the opportunity to to speak with somebody about those similar things the only conversation i had with kobe was about the same thing and yeah it was just cool to get her perspective on things and laugh that we, you know, it's the same, it's the same layout and there's nothing you can do but accept it and use it.

53:49O'Shea:Yeah. Use it to, in her situation, being a heel, those type things, like, that's juicy. It's why I call myself the heel that you love to hate because I decided to just be like, you know what? I'm going to be the jerk you think I am. That's for you. At all. But yeah, I just wanted to, you know, appreciate everybody's time for letting me get those off. Yeah, you know, And like I told Charlotte, that was part of when we started this podcast. We understood that you had this unique perspective that a lot of people don't. I won't say the actor now because I'll save that for another day. But one day I was hanging out with an older actor and he told me randomly I met so-and-so for the first time the other day.

54:29And I was like, wait, what do you mean? These are two prominent actors. And he's like, we may have been at the same party at some point, but we never actually met. And then he's like, I met him at one of those shops on Rodeo. And I was like, what was that like? He goes, well, it was interesting. He goes, because he's one of the few people on earth who understand what my day-to-day is like. And I understand what his day-to-day is like. So a lot of people don't have that perspective. And I was like, yeah. So that made sense for us to want to do that. Because you guys, you know, you're saying Nepo Baby's up a billion.

55:02Up a billion. People in the wrestling world who have the same stories. you guys have different lives than the rest. I mean, it is. It's true. And it's not a knock on any of you. So to hear your perspectives, because it's not all sweet. It ain't always all sweet. It's like, yeah, maybe you don't have to worry about the rats and the roaches like everybody, but you still got problems. You still have issues growing up as a kid. So, yeah, it's cool to be able to get that kind of conversation between you and that person the way you did with Charlotte today. I found pretty cool.

55:37O'Shea:Yeah, and you know, I wanted to have Randy on. Another thing before the comments start going crazy. Dominic Mysterio was not going to talk to us about Ray Mysterio in the way that I needed Charlotte to. Yeah, we figured that out before the interview started. Like literally about a minute before I said something to him about his mom. He goes, I don't know. I left that Hall of Fame. I'm like, oh, I'm going to take all my notes here and rip things up. so this was like really the first opportunity to speak with somebody who like lexus king yeah yeah yeah but even so his was had to be cut short unfortunately you know and her dad is still doing it while her career starts and ron breaker as well yeah yeah so it's like charlotte was with everything that she's already done it just was great to get number one a lady perspective too Yeah, right.

56:29O'Shea:The lady's perspective about all of that was great. Would love to talk to Randy about it, Rock, Roman, you know. Jimmy and Jay. There's so many. Yeah, like to just have a sit down. Cody, got to know how they pushed through it. Because, you know, the wrestling life, a lot like the rap life, you're on tour. You're on tour. And when I was born, my dad's second career started, you know, movies. So now he's doing movies and touring. so yeah where did you find where did you find out who the man was what he means to other people and how did you move through it it's very interesting to me man very interesting and I hope you guys find it interesting too you know now that we are talking to y 'all our day ones if you will so I know a lot of people are probably going to sit there where's the Wrestlemania talk well we decided we're going to kind of save that yeah cause we got something to do cause we got on Friday we will be hosting ESPN 2's pre-show coverage of Wrestlemania 42 where we will have a few guests I'm not sure if we're privy enough if we're allowed to say the guests now but we do have a few guests we can tell you one thing they're WWE superstars they are we do they are and you know no because that would give it away just know that we will have some guests we'll be on ESPN2 we'll put out on Twitter and Instagram the exact time and everything but yeah we're going to save all those Wrestlemania thoughts for man I just just now hit me We're going to Vegas and we're going to be there in front of ESPN cameras chopping it up about WrestleMania, man.

58:02Congratulations, my dude.

58:03O'Shea:I am in sunglasses and a WNBA baseball jersey. I got to be feeling good about myself. And as I pointed out to Charlotte, I'm wearing the Lodestone Wrestling Academy. Shout out to Bailey and all the people that took part on this. Man, what a great idea. What a great idea. Absolutely, man. Second time on the channel. Yeah. Second time on The Dose. That'll be Thursday. Yeah, that'll be, you know, this will air on Thursday on The Dose. And by the way, I know you guys probably just heard the pod right now and we're watching it on YouTube, but. We would really appreciate it if you would just happen to change the channel to go see No Contest when it airs on ESPN2.

58:41Yes, on Thursday. So check your local listings. I think last week I messed up. I saw 2 and I thought it was 11 here and 2 Eastern, but no, it was literally 2 o 'clock. So, yeah, just check your local listings. tune in, watch No Contest Wrestling on ESPN2 and make sure our numbers get up so we can keep doing it. Or just turn the TV on

59:01O'Shea:and walk away. You don't have to see it again. I put two TVs on and then left to get lunch. I might go to my neighbor's house, turn a TV on. Yeah, I'm going to hit everybody in my apartment. Never met them in my life. But anyway, tell them where to find us besides ESPN2. So besides ESPN2 on Thursday, you want to see us on socials, you know what to do. Go to Twitter slash X at There's No Contest. Instagram, No Contest Wrestling Podcast. TikTok, No Contest Wrestling Pod. You can also hear us on ESPN platform, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, can't forget about Friday.

59:37You can watch us on Friday, too.

59:38O'Shea:On ESPN, too? Yeah, man, live from... Not live. Viva! Las Vegas. Las Vegas. We will be in Vegas, man. Yeah, man, we're going to be there. We're going to be taking in the sights and the sounds of Vegas. Sure. Two nights of WrestleMania. you know and I think the great thing as we all know Wrestlemania is the end of some stories and the beginning of others so I know a lot of people are in their feelings right now about celebrities being involved in this that and the third I swear the fact is you gotta understand whether we like it or not celebrities have always been a part of Wrestlemania from the very first one until this one you might not like the involvement but when it's all said and done and the matches get on that's what we need to as fans concentrate on that in-ring action.

1:00:23And we're going to get two nights of hopefully some great matches. Monday, you know, the entire wrestling world will be shook up. Can't wait to see. Thank you very much. I like you, Clarence.

1:00:35O'Shea:Gotta get them celebrities out of wrestling. Who the hell care about a celebrity involved in wrestling? Can't stand it. Burn them all, I say. Well, until Friday, we will be in lovely Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm TJ Jefferson. I am O.J. Jackson Jr. Make sure you have a good day, but not too good. Who the hell you think you are? Right? Hmm. Bye, Ms. Parker. Bye, Ms. Parker. Bye,

1:01:13Ms. Parker.

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