WWE: Let’s Appreciate Charlotte Flair’s PPV Brilliance In 2018

Like so many other great WWE superstars, Charlotte Flair always steps up when the spotlight is on her. But in 2018, she hit a new level of consistent greatness on Pay Per View, and it’s important to appreciate her quietly excellent year.

The women of WWE pushed the envelope in 2018, competing in several first-time ever matches that “outsold” their male counterparts. Whether it was the Elimination Chamber, Money in the Bank, or TLC, the women dominated this year, even producing the main roster’s best Pay Per View in Evolution.

Charlotte Flair is one of WWE’s most polarizing superstars, which has everything to do with the number of times she wins championships and little to do with any perceived lack of ability. While Charlotte isn’t the absolute best woman in WWE – despite what Vince McMahon may want us to believe – there’s an argument that she’s the most consistent in big matches.

As WWE’s biggest mainstream star of this era, John Cena earned a reputation for being “Big Match John”, and perhaps Charlotte has earned a similar nickname. Prior to Fastlane 2017, Charlotte had an undefeated PPV streak, but she’s displayed her finest work on PPV in 2018 despite not holding the championship since September at Hell in a Cell.

This year, Charlotte has produced high quality matches with Ruby Riott at Fastlane, Asuka at WrestleMania 34, seven other women at Money in the Bank in a ladder match, Carmella and Becky Lynch at SummerSlam, Becky at Hell in a Cell, Becky again at Evolution, Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series, and then Asuka and Becky to close the year at TLC.

That’s a grand total of eight good-to-great PPV matches on the year for Charlotte, which would put her up against anyone – yes, even Seth Rollins – when it comes to the greatest haul of PPV matches in 2018.

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The Last Woman Standing match at Evolution between Becky and Charlotte was very likely the best main roster match of the year, and the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match and WrestleMania title match against Asuka were also legitimate Match of the Year candidates. Any of Charlotte’s matches with Becky qualified as must-see, with the final two PPV clashes featuring both superstars standing the test of time as historic instant classics.

Charlotte may be maligned by a segment of the WWE Universe that resents her on-screen success, but that doesn’t change the fact that her matches deliver. Furthermore, only a handful of wrestlers, including those who ended up suffering injuries this year like Kevin Owens, have put their bodies on the line like Charlotte, who only ended up missing one PPV (Extreme Rules) in her absence. We’ve seen Charlotte spear wrestlers through barricades and stages, take leg drops off of ladders, absorb nasty kendo stick shots, make high-risk moonsaults to the outside, and somersault herself onto tables from the top rope.

As a former collegiate athlete, Charlotte’s mission has always been to show WWE fans that women’s wrestlers are elite athletes first. And there are few things more inspiring or bad-ass than watching Charlotte launch herself onto tables or fight through unimaginable pain to put the finishing touches on a Match of the Year candidate.

In a year where Becky Lynch has reached the summit of WWE as “The Man” and Shayna Baszler has entrenched herself as one of WWE’s scariest heels, Charlotte has also helped redefine the game as a fearless athlete. When she gets the opportunity to square off with the best of the best in a stipulation match, the end result is breath-taking.

And as impressive as her seven main roster championships are, nothing speaks to her impact on wrestling more than matches like the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs main event at TLC. It was a main event that needed no extra hype from WWE’s machine, simply because Becky, Asuka, and Charlotte didn’t need the shouting. Their excellent performances all year long spoke for themselves, and the fans got exactly what they expected – an elite, hard-hitting match.

So here’s to reminding ourselves that despite the blowback that comes whenever Charlotte wins, it is her actual body of work when that bell rings that establishes her as one of the best. Any of those eight marquee PPV matches stands as the evidence of her ability.