WWE: Backlash to Charlotte Flair’s Rumble win signals a bigger issue

When Charlotte Flair won the Royal Rumble last Sunday, the WWE Universe was quick to go into an uproar, which perhaps highlights a bigger issue at hand.

More than they’ve been in recent years, both Royal Rumbles felt like an open field of possible winners. It was anyone’s ball game with both Men’s and Women’s matches being filled with WWE Superstars who felt like believable WrestleMania main eventers.

This was especially the case with the Women’s Rumble, as most of the Men’s Rumble participants were already announced prior to the match. Only five women were announced for the Rumble prior to the match, paving the way for a sea of surprises. Among those surprises being Charlotte Flair winning the whole thing.

As soon as Flair eliminated the match’s final entrant (who just so happened to the public’s favorite to win, Shayna Baszler), fans across social media lost their collective minds.

Crowds booed and people complained online the moment The Queen was announced as the winner. Which, in theory, wouldn’t be so bad. After all, Flair is a heel and fans are expected to boo the heels, but the criticisms directed in the wake of her win were far too harsh and mean spirited to suggest anyone was playing into kayfabe. The reaction to her win felt like go away heat.

The outrage against Charlotte Flair winning the Rumble has been rooted mostly in fans believing that Charlotte Flair has gotten too many opportunities and that picking her to win was a safe, lazy choice.

I’m sorry, but if you’ve proven to be talented at your craft and continue to exceed expectations whenever you’re in the spotlight, shouldn’t you get a lot of opportunities?

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Flair isn’t any less of a safe pick than, say, Stone Cold Steve Austin was, who during the three Rumbles he won, never received as much backlash as Flair has gotten with her first win. Nor did he receive as much backlash for winning the WWE Championship six times in four years, as much as Flair has been criticized for winning 10 World Titles in just over five years.

Nor has anyone ever said that Stone Cold and The Rock worked together too many times. Meanwhile, a lot of fans seem venomously against the thought of another big match between Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, even though – like Rock and Austin – deliver in the ring every time and have proven to be perfect in-ring dance partners.

It could just be that fans have an issue with Charlotte, but this isn’t the only time this month that fans viewed women’s wrestling under a microscope more tightly than necessary. It was just last week that Big Swole vs. Diamante under the AEW banner received its own unwarranted backlash, as did an NXT segment between Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair.

Both cases indicated how fans and critics alike are quick to criticize and overanalyze the slightest of hiccup in a match. Or worse, create hiccups in their own head that simply do not exist. It’s almost as if certain fans (*cough* the sexist ones *cough*) are watching women’s matches intensively searching (perhaps even begging) to find something to bash and complain about.

What this tells me is that there still exists a harsh stigma against women’s wrestling after all these years. Women may not be viewed as “the bathroom break” anymore, but there’s a stigma that for some reason compels wrestling fans to view women’s wrestling under a tighter microscope than necessary, especially compared to men’s matches.

Such sexism may not even be entirely intentional on part of the sexists themselves. Of course, unintentional sexism is still sexism, but it may be a sexism that remains deeply imprinted in a fan’s mind from the days when WWE refused to value its women’s division. Back when WWE emphasized the beauty in its “Divas” rather their in-ring skill. When their matches were under three minutes or scrapped entirely in favor of Bra & Panties Matches, giving fans reasons to call it “the bathroom break.”

Let’s not forget that WWE’s company branded hashtag “Women’s Revolution” is still a relatively young movement that WWE only started to invest in during the summer of 2015. At the beginning of 2020, perhaps the idea of women’s wrestling being insignificant is still ingrained in some of our minds.

Becky Lynch only just recently on such a stigma herself, both on WWE Backstage and in a follow-up tweet. She explained how there’s a stigma to the phrase “women’s match” that hurts not only how fans view them, but also how management offers the women’s division opportunities on the average PPV or television card.

"The term “women” can limit openings because phrases like, “there’s already a women’s match on the show” is still in wrestling’s historical DNA."

To echo Lynch’s sentiment, a lot of us need to start rethinking how we view the phrase “women’s division.”

If you’re one of Charlotte Flair’s critics, think deep about what women’s wrestling as a whole means to you. The answer may surprise you. Then evaluate if you’re criticizing her because she’s Charlotte Flair, or because she’s a woman in the wrestling business.

Charlotte Flair truly is one of the best all around athletes of her generation. Beyond gender, Flair is flat out one of the very best wrestlers on the WWE roster and is a guaranteed future Hall of Fame spot. It’s just a shame that some people won’t give her the credit she deserves because of their own biases towards her.

I suggest that some of those same critics reading this truly analyze what those biases could be and perhaps think twice before criticizing Charlotte Flair so hastily.