Source: Talk Is Jericho
On episode 235 of Talk Is Jericho, Chris Jericho spoke with WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte. Charlotte talked about fans booing her and cheering her father. When did she realize her father was a big deal in the world of professional wrestling. The first time ‘The Nature Boy’ saw her wrestle, and how she got the ring name Charlotte.
She is aware of the fact that many WWE fans boo her and cheer her father. Charlotte went on to say that she is looking forward to the day that she can ditch Ric as her manager. She stated that she is putting a lot of effort into improving her mic skills.
“I know when I come out and they see me and they’re like, ‘boo!’ and they see him and they’re like ‘yay!’ That’s hard too because I don’t know if people ever think am I aware of that and I am 100% aware of it, so I’m looking forward to that moment when I get to turn on him, hopefully. But really, that’s how I feel! It’s a lot of pressure on me. I don’t take it as, like, ‘oh, I’m just getting the luxury of, hey, I have Ric Flair with me every night.’ I look at it as something that’s going to make me that much better in the future.” Charlotte added, “it’s a little insecurity of mine, but I was thinking, ‘are they putting me with my dad because I’m not that good on the mic?’ So I’m like, ‘dang it, I have to get better.’ Like, I don’t want my dad to take my time. Like, I was seriously thinking that. Like, I’ve got to get better at this and I work on it all the time.”
She did not know what her father really meant to the professional wrestling industry until she began training to become a professional wrestler herself.
“I never really realized what he meant to the wrestling world until I started wrestling because this was never, I hate to say it, but it was never a dream of mine growing up. Obviously, it was my brother’s, so to me, I was like, ‘yeah, my dad’s famous. That’s cool.’ It was hard sometimes in high school when I had really big volleyball games because the kids would taunt me.” Charlotte continued, “it was hard that way and him being gone, but he really was just dad. That’s it. Even when I went on tour with him towards the end of my junior and senior year, I never really grew up and realized how the industry worked or what he meant to it. I mean, I knew he was important.”
She now has a deeper understanding of her father as a person having followed in his famous footsteps.
“I looked at him the other day as we were driving down the road and I said, ‘I can understand now why you never wanted to quit and why you lost yourself after you retired in ’07 because it really does become your life. And that feeling that you get when you step on stage, there’s nothing else in the world like it. And the bond with the boys and the girls backstage, I get it now.’ And he’s Ric Flair here and he’s Ric Flair at home. I mean, he just never changes.”
Her father did not see her wrestle until she won the NXT Women’s Championship at NXT TakeOver in May 2014 and that Ric was not really involved in her professional wrestling training.
“My dad really did not, he did not, I don’t think, see me wrestle but once till he came to me and Nattie’s match at TakeOver when I won the NXT [Women’s Championship]. No, because, like, he always told me wrestling is something you have to learn on your own, so I learned the phrases like ‘heel’, ‘babyface’, and all those things on my own. He didn’t clue me in to anything.” Charlotte said, “so not until now do I even share. I learned it all through being in developmental like any other kid even though he has done it all.”
She originally wanted the ring name of ‘Miss Elizabeth’ and that she even pitched the name to WWE. Apparently, Charlotte wanted to use the name ‘Elizabeth’ in honor of her mother, who is named Elizabeth.
“I gave them 10 names. I gave them ‘Miss Elizabeth’, but not thinking of Miss Elizabeth.” Charlotte joked, “they probably were like, ‘oh my God! This idiot!’ But I wrote down ‘Elizabeth Reid’ because it was my mom’s and Reid’s name. And then I put short ‘Ella Reid’. I think I put ‘Charlotte’ down. Oh, I think I put maybe ‘Eliza’ down.”
She narrowed the field of potential ring names from 10 down to only two names.
“Honestly, I wrote down a bunch of names and it was between ‘Ella Reid’ and ‘Charlotte’ and I just don’t think they thought I was going to be good or go anywhere. I don’t know because here, like I said, I walked in [as] Ric Flair’s daughter who never wanted to be in the [professional wrestling] business before and here I am. [I] never worked [and] knew nothing. They probably thought, ‘well, this is funny. Lets name her Charlotte. No effort.’
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