WWE: Why is Charlotte Flair so divisive?

Charlotte Flair is a big name in professional wrestling and one that elicits a lot of reactions from fans.

Charlotte Flair is one of the most successful wrestlers in WWE. She has a record 14 championships (or 17 depending on how they are counted according to Cagematch data), holding the NXT Women’s Championship, WWE Divas Championship, WWE (RAW) Women’s Championship, SmackDown Women’s Championship, and Women’s Tag Team Championship.

Some of her accomplishments include holding the WWE Women’s Championship six times and the SmackDown Women’s Championship seven times, respectively. She is also the fourth women’s Grand Slam champion and fifth women’s Triple Crown champion.

In addition to all of the titles, she was in the most successful women’s faction in wrestling, the Four Horsewomen. They created change in NXT and brought women’s wrestling to the forefront. All four women found success on the main roster, with Flair arguably being the most successful.

So why is Charlotte Flair so decisive?

That’s a loaded question and will likely bring up an array of answers depending on who you ask. Some people think that she has been given more title opportunities and thus wins because of nepotism. Her father is obviously one of the industry’s most influential wrestlers, particularly in WWE. Some assume that because of who her father is, Flair has been given spots based solely on her last name and not on her own merit.

Flair is often in the title picture. Last year when she returned, she immediately went for the SmackDown women’s champion, Ronda Rousey. She challenged Rousey for her title and beat her in less than a minute. While some fans were happy to see that Rousey was no longer champion, they were annoyed that not only was Flair champion once again, she got a title shot upon her return.

Due to her frequent relationship to either the title or the title picture, some fans feel like this has kept other women from reaching similar success to the Horsewomen. Before Bianca Belair’s historic title reign, most women were not able to get anywhere close to the level of those four women. Instead of elevating their competition, they were always kept a level or two down.

Another woman that has suffered due to Flair’s proximity to the title is Asuka. Once she moved to the main roster, she could never get out from under Flair’s shadow. Flair ended Asuka’s historic NXT streak.  While she has been champion several times, they never lasted long, nor saw the same type of booking that Flair and others experienced. At one point, she was WWE Women’s Champion and held the tag titles with Flair simultaneously. During their brief tag title run, Asuka’s singles reign was an afterthought. Asuka is once again the champion, however, she is likely going to face Flair once again at SummerSlam.

It’s important to remember that Flair is not in charge of booking. She isn’t the one putting herself in the title picture or winning titles. She is only in charge of what she does in the ring. She has made herself someone who is reliable and someone that creative and the higher-ups can count on. This often makes for frustrating circumstances for fans, especially when it feels like Flair is the default to win titles.

When there is a successful woman in a male-dominated field, there is backlash and questions about why the woman is where she is and why she is given certain opportunities. When you’re the daughter of one of the most successful wrestlers ever, people will unfairly make assumptions.

Charlotte Flair will likely surpass her father’s record championship reigns. She will go into the WWE Hall of Fame, perhaps both solo and as a member of the Four Horsewomen. When her career is said and done, wrestling fans will continue to debate why Flair got the number of titles she did, how much of an influence her last name was on her career, and what she truly brought to the industry, particularly women’s wrestling.

No matter what you think of her, everything she does is with Flair.