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droptoeholdyourhorses · 7 months

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A Look Back at Charlotte Flair's 14 World Title Reigns.

While watching Fastlane with a couple of friends, there was some concern in the group that Charlotte Flair would win the WWE Women's Championship. That's not a knock on Charlotte's talent, she's a tremendous wrestler. It was more a case of wanting to see IYO SKY retain as opposed to yet another Charlotte Flair title win. The group conversation then turned to the question have any of Charlotte's reigns been good? Well, let's take a look.

Reign #1 - WWE Divas Champion - September 20, 2015 to April 3, 2016

Defeats Nikki Bella at Night of Champions 2015 to win the title (WON rating ***1/4)

Retains vs. Nikki Bella at Hell in a Cell 2015 (WON rating ***1/4)

Retains vs. Paige at Survivor Series 2015

Double count out vs. Paige on Raw

Retains vs. Paige at TLC 2015

Retains vs. Becky Lynch on SmackDown

Retains vs. Becky Lynch at Royal Rumble 2016 (WON rating ***1/4)

Retains vs. Brie Bella at Fastlane 2016

Retains vs. Natalya at Roadblock 2016 (WON rating ***1/2)

Divas Championship retired at WrestleMania 32

Thoughts - It seems odd in hindsight that Charlotte has a reign with the Divas Championship but she was the final woman to hold the butterfly belt before its retirement. Charlotte was a good choice to end Nikki Bella's record 301-day reign. Main thing I remember from the Paige feud was Paige's comments about Charlotte's brother Reid. The Becky feud was good but the matches suffered from Ric Flair's interference. The Rumble match featured a moment where Ric forced a kiss onto Becky, which has since been edited off the network. Can't say I remember anything about the match with Brie. Charlotte usually has pretty good matches with Natalya.

Overall - Not the smoothest of initial title reigns but I would say there's more good than bad.

Reign #2 - WWE Women's Champion - April 3, 2016 to July 25, 2016

Defeats Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks at WrestleMania 32 (WON rating ****)

Loses to Natalya via DQ on Raw

Retains vs. Natalya at Payback 2016

Retains vs. Natalya in a Submission match at Extreme Rules 2016

Retains vs. Paige on Raw

Loses to Sasha Banks on Raw (WON rating ***3/4)

Thoughts - While the WrestleMania triple threat was solid, I personally would have preferred to see Becky or Sasha leave as the new champion. Can see why they gave it to Charlotte though. The line in the previous entry about Charlotte and Natalya usually having good matches? This feud was a case of forgettable to bad matches, with the Payback one in particular being damaged by a stupid Montreal Screwjob rehash. The title loss to Sasha on Raw feels like it should have happened at SummerSlam 2016.

Overall - A meh title reign, leaning more towards bad in my opinion.

Reign #3 - Raw Women's Champion - August 21, 2016 to October 3, 2016

Defeats Sasha Banks at SummerSlam 2016 (WON rating **3/4)

Retains vs. Sasha Banks and Bayley at Clash of Champions 2016 (WON rating ***1/4)

Loses to Sasha Banks on Raw (WON rating ****)

Thoughts - This marked the first of three instances in 2016 where Charlotte lost the title to Sasha on Raw, only to immediately win it back at the next PPV. In this case, there was initially some concern that Banks had suffered a back injury and that was the cause of switching the title back to Charlotte so soon. I have no memory of Bayley managing to get a title shot during this period and while the Raw match vs. Sasha appears to have been good, the lack of stipulation means that one doesn't stand out in my mind at all.

Overall - Bad but could (and would) be worse.

Reign #4 - Raw Women's Champion - October 30, 2016 to November 28, 2016

Defeats Sasha Banks in Hell in a Cell at Hell in a Cell 2016 (WON rating **3/4)

Double count out vs. Sasha Banks on Raw

Loses to Sasha Banks in a Falls Count Anywhere match on Raw (WON rating ****)

Thoughts - No reason Sasha shouldn't have retained the title at Hell in a Cell, especially with the PPV being in Boston. The match is historic as it marked the first time two women main evented a WWE PPV and I'd say it was better than the rating it got. The Falls Count Anywhere match is really good and might be my favourite match between Charlotte and Sasha.

Overall - Fun matches but an unnecessary reign.

Reign #5 - Raw Women's Champion - December 18, 2016 to February 13, 2017

Defeats Sasha Banks in a 30 Minute Iron Woman match at Roadblock: End of the Line (WON rating ***)

Retains vs. Bayley at Royal Rumble 2017 (WON rating ***1/4)

Loses to Bayley on Raw (WON rating ****1/4)

Thoughts - The Charlotte/Sasha rivalry had already dragged out enough at this point without the need for a 30 Minute Iron Woman match. It failed to reach the same heights as Sasha's Iron Woman match with Bayley. It also didn't help Banks that after being 2-1 up after 28 minutes, and spending 118 seconds in the Figure Four, that she couldn't hold on for the last two seconds and caused the match to go into overtime. Charlotte did have good matches against Bayley here, with the Raw one given more time to shine. However, the timing seemed off as it felt like Bayley's crowning moment should have come at WrestleMania. Charlotte had been undefeated on PPV since her call up from NXT. Rather than wait for the biggest stage possible, Bayley wins the title on Raw, ends Charlotte's streak at Fastlane and both end up in a fatal four way at Mania instead.

Overall - A frustrating reign with questionable booking.

Reign #6 - SmackDown Women's Champion - November 14, 2017 to April 10, 2018

Defeats Natalya on SmackDown

Non-title win vs. Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss at Survivor Series 2017

Loses to Natalya via DQ on SmackDown

Retains vs. Natalya in a Lumberjack match at Clash of Champions 2017

Retains vs. Ruby Riott at Fastlane 2018

Retains vs. Asuka at WrestleMania 34 (WON rating ****)

Loses to Carmella cashing in Money in the Bank on SmackDown

Thoughts - Charlotte's move to SmackDown and face turn helped freshen her act in 2017. Natalya's reign as SmackDown Women's Champion was unexpected to begin with and felt it would be only a matter of time before she dropped the title to Charlotte. The title win also has the feel good moment of Ric Flair being able to congratulate Charlotte in person, with Ric having been in hospital a couple of months before hand with kidney failure. The rest of the feud with Natalya served its purpose but it never felt like the title would switch back. Similarly, the match with Ruby Riott had slowly been building since November but after Asuka won the Royal Rumble, Ruby's chances of a reign dramatically went down. Charlotte vs. Asuka from Mania was a fantastic match. While many would argue Asuka should have won, it felt like WWE booked themselves into a corner with Carmella having Money in the Bank still. Given Carmella was the first woman to hold the briefcase, it might have fallen a little flat had she failed her cash in. Then again, it wasn't like Carmella's subsequent reign was received much better. In an ideal world, Carmella would have cashed in after the Lumberjack match and Charlotte would have regained the title at the Rumble. Yes, a scenario where I actually would have approved of an extra Charlotte title reign. Oh dear.

Overall - Not the most memorable run but controversially, I'm gonna say this one was fine.

Reign #7 - SmackDown Women's Champion - August 19, 2018 to September 16, 2018

Defeats Carmella (champion) and Becky Lynch in a triple threat at SummerSlam 2018 (WON rating ***1/2)

Retains vs. Carmella on SmackDown

Loses to Becky Lynch at Hell in a Cell 2018 (WON rating ***3/4)

Thoughts - Becky Lynch was originally scheduled to face Carmella one on one at SummerSlam 2018 until Charlotte got added into the match. WWE thought that with Charlotte being a face as well, fans wouldn't have a problem with her winning the title and they certainly wouldn't boo Charlotte instead of Becky when Lynch attacked Flair post match out of frustration. WWE were wrong on both counts and while the Charlotte SummerSlam win did help get the wheels rolling for Becky's run as The Man, it still feels unnecessary.

Overall - Feels like it would have been better for Becky to win the title at SummerSlam and for Charlotte to chase, jealous of her friend's increasing popularity and the threat of Becky replacing Charlotte as WWE's top female.

Reign #8 - SmackDown Women's Champion - March 26, 2019 to April 7, 2019

Defeats Asuka on SmackDown

Loses to Becky Lynch in Winner Takes All match at WrestleMania 35 (also featured Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey) (WON rating ***)

Thoughts - It feels like WWE had a couple of viable options with the SmackDown Women's Championship heading into WrestleMania 35. Asuka could have defended against Charlotte at the PPV itself, wanting to avenge her loss at last year's Mania, while the main event could have just been Ronda vs. Becky one-on-one. Alternatively, the Rousey vs. Lynch vs. Flair triple threat could have just been for the Raw Women's Championship and Asuka could have had her own triple threat against Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose. Instead, WWE opted for Charlotte to hold the SmackDown title for 12 days to make the historic first ever women's WrestleMania main event even more historic.

Overall - Yeah, no. Didn't need this.

Reign #9 - SmackDown Women's Champion - May 19, 2019

Defeats Becky Lynch at Money in the Bank 2019 (WON rating **3/4)

Loses to Bayley cashing in Money in the Bank at Money in the Bank 2019

Thoughts - For full context, Becky had already successfully defended the Raw Women's Championship against Lacey Evans at MITB 2019 before immediately going into the SmackDown title match against Charlotte. In turn, Bayley immediately cashed in on Charlotte after Bayley herself had only won the briefcase earlier that night.

Overall - Literally just stat padding.

Reign #10 - SmackDown Women's Champion - October 6, 2019 to October 11, 2019

Defeats Bayley at Hell in a Cell 2019 (WON rating **1/4)

Loses to Bayley on SmackDown

Thoughts - Bayley has the record for longest reigning SmackDown Women's Champion with her second run lasting 380 days. If not for this five day interruption by Charlotte, that record would actually be 525 days.

Overall - Some may argue this at least helped set up Bayley's heel turn but she had already turned on Becky Lynch a month prior to the title loss. Feels like more stat padding just so WWE could have a title change on their 2019 draft episode.

Reign #11 - Raw Women's Champion - July 18. 2021 to July 19, 2021

Defeats Rhea Ripley at Money in the Bank 2021 (WON rating ****1/4)

Loses to Rhea Ripley via DQ on Raw

Loses to Nikki A.S.H. cashing in Money in the Bank on the same Raw

Thoughts - Rhea Ripley, having finished her time in NXT, was a breathe of fresh air in the Raw Women's Championship picture come 2021. Charlotte Flair was not. It didn't help that Charlotte had already gotten title shots vs. Rhea at Backlash and Hell in a Cell prior to their Money in the Bank match. In storyline, Ripley won a triple threat at Backlash pinning Asuka, and Charlotte won the HIAC match via DQ. Charlotte and Rhea have great chemistry together but this was a disappointing result, not helped by Flair literally dropping the title to Nikki A.S.H. the very next night.

Overall - Charlotte's sixth Women's Championship reign lasted a respectable 147 days. Reigns #7 to #11 lasted a combined 46 days or an average of 9.2 days per reign.

Reign #12 - Raw Women's Champion - August 21, 2021 to October 22, 2021

Defeats Nikki A.S.H. (champion) and Rhea Ripley in a triple threat at SummerSlam 2021 (WON rating ***3/4)

Defeats Nia Jax on Raw

Defeats Alexa Bliss at Extreme Rules 2021 (WON rating **1/2)

Defeats Doudrop on Raw

Loses to Bianca Belair via DQ on Raw

Swaps titles with SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch after Becky is drafted to Raw and Charlotte is drafted to SmackDown

Thoughts - I really do not remember this reign at all. I remember wondering what was the point of Nikki cashing in at Money in the Bank if Charlotte was just going to regain the title a month later. I remember the feud with Alexa Bliss featuring unnecessary Lilly-related nonsense.

Overall - Eh, it seems a harmless enough reign, all be it forgettable.

Reign #13 - SmackDown Women's Champion - October 22, 2021 to May 8, 2022

Swapped titles with SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch after Becky was drafted to Raw and Charlotte was drafted to SmackDown

Non-title loss vs. Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch at Survivor Series 2021 (WON rating ****1/4)

Defeats Toni Storm on SmackDown

Defeats Naomi on SmackDown (WON rating ****)

Defeats Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 38 (WON rating **)

Loses to Ronda Rousey in an I Quit match at WrestleMania Backlash 2022 (WON rating ****1/4)

Thoughts - Becky vs. Charlotte at Survivor Series 2021 was great, even if the title swap segment between the two was a little awkward. Charlotte vs. Toni was good but could have done with a better build than the two pieing each other in the face. Charlotte vs. Naomi was awesome and wouldn't have been out of place at that year's WrestleMania. The actual Mania match vs. Rousey could have gone better but Charlotte and Ronda certainly made up for that at Backlash.

Overall - Dare I say, Charlotte's best reign overall. Some great matches and actual time with the title. No complaints here.

Reign #14 - SmackDown Women's Champion - December 30, 2022 to April 1, 2023

Defeats Ronda Rousey on SmackDown

Defeats Sonya Deville on SmackDown

Loses to Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 39 (WON rating ****3/4)

Thoughts - It doesn't help Charlotte Flair's case when the first thing she does following a seven-month absence is immediately win the SmackDown Women's Championship in her first match back. I have no memory of the two matches with Sonya Deville, slightly concerning given they only took place earlier this year. At least this reign went out on a high note.

Overall - Fine, I guess? I have even less memory of this reign than her last Raw Women's Championship one.

Conclusion - Three good title reigns, seven bad/unnecessary title reigns, and four that sort of just fall in the middle. Obviously this is all just a matter of opinion. I think Charlotte is still in the conversation for one of the best female wrestlers alive today. I would just say that if only 21% of all her title reigns left me thinking "yeah, Charlotte should be champ", maybe she's had enough gold in her career. It is not a challenge to WWE to give her nine more excellent runs so the good outweighs the meh and the ugh. Although I wouldn't put it past them to try.

#charlotte flair #wwe #world wrestling entertainment #for some reason wwe don't count the nxt title reigns #unless talking about charlotte as a grand slam champion in which case they do #either way how is the divas championship considered a world title

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