Charlotte Flair on aging: ‘I’m just getting good’
Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, and Randy Orton are all about to main event WrestleMania in their 40s. Charlotte Flair is out to prove women can do the same thing.
Flair, who celebrated her 40th birthday earlier this month, discussed age and the wrestling business in an interview with Sports Illustrated.
“Unfortunately,” she said, “men seem to get better and women seem to get older.”
“These years have gone by so fast,” she continued. “And then when I was younger, when I thought of 40, I thought of the Golden Girls. That’s really what I thought of. But now it’s like, not only did I have an opportunity in 2015 to be a part of the women’s evolution and redefine what it meant to be a female superstar—longer matches, no longer eye candy—now I’m here.”
Flair says she hopes women in wrestling get a chance to last as long as their male colleagues.
“I have another opportunity to help bridge the gap and redefine what success means for long-term female careers in professional wrestling,” she says. “I hope that I bridge that gap in a male-dominated world where before it was like everyone’s got to be 25, women are disposable. No, we’re not.”
As far as Flair is concerned, she’s only getting better with experience.
“The one thing about building my character Charlotte is I have fallen in love with the process,” she says. “So I feel like I’m at the best I’ve ever been. Like, oh, now I’m just getting good. Now I’m just understanding the audience. Now I’m just understanding the actual psychology of being in the moment and not letting nerves take over.”
Flair and her tag team partner Alexa Bliss will be taking part in a four-way tag team match at WrestleMania 42. Along with Bayley & Lyra Valkyria and the Bella Twins, they’ll be challenging the Irresistible Forces for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships.
