WWE Is Trying to Get Charlotte Flair as Over as Becky Lynch

Survivor Series 2018 was filled with shocking, memorable moments, but arguably none were more shocking than Charlotte Flair’s brutal attack on WWE Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey to close out their match last Sunday.

After clobbering each other mercilessly for almost 15 minutes straight, Charlotte Flair vs Ronda Rousey would end in a Disqualification once Flair whipped Rousey with a kendo stick across her abdomen. As if that wasn’t enough, Flair – with a crazed look in her eyes – decimated the former UFC Champion with chairs galore. More notably, The Queen draped a chair across Rousey’s neck, and stomped down on her trachea.

The latter Pillmanizer spot made fans assume that Charlotte Flair had just turned heel. Considering the Pillmanizer spot has kayfabe injured many a wrestler, it’s an understandable assumption to make.

However, to the contrary, Flair continued to play a babyface on the following WWE SmackDown, partaking in two matches with the show’s resident heel duo, The IIconics. Even as a face, Flair continued to display the ruthless aggression from last Sunday.

So, if that wasn’t a heel turn, what was it? Why such a drastic character shift for the 7-time Women’s Champion? Simple: WWE are trying to get Charlotte as over as Becky Lynch, and they’re trying to do so before WrestleMania 35.

Prior to Survivor Series, there were rampant rumors insinuating that WWE’s grand plan for this upcoming Mania was for Flair and Rousey to go toe-to-toe in the main event as the first women’s headliner.

Coming out of her feud with Lynch, Flair lost quite a bit of her luster. Fans started to gravitate more towards Becky Lynch, and in refusing to turn on a heel Lynch, they booed The Woo so much that those aforementioned rumors started to suggest that new plans for Lynch vs Rousey were being penciled in as the new Mania headliner.

New rumors are suggesting that perhaps all three women could be main eventing WrestleMania 35 in a Triple Threat match, and the Flair/Rousey post-match was orchestrated to help Flair look strong going into the supershow.

The question still remains that if the idea is for Charlotte Flair to look strong, why make her into this pseudo-heel/tweener? Again, it’s for a simple reason: because it worked so well for Becky Lynch.

As often as fans reject babyfaces, one thing that audiences will never get enough of is a supreme butt-kicker. In her supposed heel turn, Lynch became the ultimate Lass-Kicker. Always up for a fight, and whenever a fight presented itself, Lynch would come out on top in dominant fashion. Fans ate it up. In the process, it made Lynch into arguably the most beloved character on WWE TV.

Being a badass fighter worked in stride for not only Lynch, but superstars like Stone Cold Steve Austin. Even a polarizing figure like Roman Reigns got unanimous cheers whenever he went on a rampage against a dozen guys at once.

WWE must be thinking that if it worked for all those guys, it should work for Charlotte Flair.

So far, it absolutely is working for Charlotte. The crowd roared in unison seeing her pound on Ronda Rousey last Sunday, and they did the same this past Tuesday on SmackDown when she went to town on Billie Kay and Peyton Royce. Flair’s already regained the steam she lost in her feud with Lynch, and then some.

Only time will tell if WWE can keep this ball rolling in time for WrestleMania, whether Flair enters for a Triple Threat or a one-on-one.