5 reasons why Charlotte is already better than Ric Flair

Disclaimer: The following feature is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Sportskeeda

Ric Flair is considered by many to be the “Limousine-ridin’, Jet-flyin’, Kiss-stealin’, Wheelin’-dealin” greatest of all-time. However, despite being recognised by the WWE and Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) as a 16-time World Champion and regarded by many as an all-time great, I am not overly impressed by Ric Flair.

In actuality, I am more impressed by his daughter, Charlotte Flair, despite her only debuting in July 2013.

In this article, I offer 5 reasons why Charlotte is already better than Ric Flair.

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#5 Ric Flair was the over-rated alternative to Hogan

The likes of Dave Meltzer, Wade Keller and many of other members of wrestling’s “old man club” who monopolise a large portion of the wrestling media will tell you Ric Flair is the greatest of all-time until they are blue in the face.

However, I encourage all of you to use your own eyes and look back at Ric Flair’s body of work. The old man club all grew up as Ric Flair marks, idolising his “Limousine-ridin’, Jet-flyin’, Kiss-stealin’, Wheelin’-dealin” image.

They were fans of the character and often over-hyped his work in order to offer a contrarian insight, opposing the growing machine that was the WWF at the time, with the unstoppable Hulk Hogan at its forefront.

Also read: 5 reasons why Charlotte is the greatest women's superstar

Hulk Hogan was a ten times bigger star than Flair, but despite that fact, the wrestling media through the 80’s and 90’s would have you believe that the two were on the same level. In fact, much like Hogan, Flair’s magnetism and charisma distracted from and offset his limited ability in the ring.

However, Vince McMahon disagreed, opting not do Hogan vs Flair as the main event of WrestleMania 8. Something I will elaborate on with a further article later this week. Bret Hart once said:

“Self-promotion was an intricate key to any wrestler making it in the business.

Ric Flair convinced a legion of fans that he was the best in the business – and there’s nothing wrong with that. He even convinced himself.”

#4 Ric Flair is and was embarrassing

It’s quite amazing how over-pushed Ric Flair was given his antics outside of the ring. From his drunken antics to his stupid public comments to his many arrests and not forgetting his multiple divorces, Ric Flair has always been a PR nightmare unlike Charlotte, who is a massive PR asset for the WWE.

Despite being previously arrested, Charlotte has since gone on to become a huge asset to the company, representing the WWE on numerous media platforms, including the cover of Muscle and Fitness magazine.

It’s fair to say that Ric Flair wouldn’t have survived had he worked in the WWF/WWE through most of his career and wasn’t allowed to behave embarrassingly as he had been, due to the lack of discipline in WCW.

#3 Charlotte is a much better athlete

It’s extremely rare that Charlotte has a bad match. Charlotte has been at the forefront of changing the face of women’s wrestling, displaying a level of athleticism that few Superstars in history can match.

Again, those old men of wrestling will tell you Flair was the 60-minute man. However, it was often 60 boring minutes that made no sense. Flair would work a body part for 10-15 minutes at a time, such as a leg, then he’d suddenly grab a headlock and call a long series of running high spots!

He would then call a high spot and build up the heat again and kill another boring 10 minutes with rest-holds. Charlotte may not go 45-60 minutes, but she has had a series of 20-30 minute matches that blow Ric Flair away.

Charlotte wrestles at a pace that Ric Flair has never wrestled at, at any point in his career. In addition to displaying better athleticism, Charlotte looks fantastic. Unlike her father, whose flabby chest and overhanging gut would often distract you during his matches, Charlotte, on the contrary, is in perfect physical condition.

#2 Charlotte isn’t a one promo pony

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes Ric Flair could sell a match just with his promo. But, it was that same screaming promo every time. Be it as the heel you wanted to see beaten up or the babyface you wanted to see prevail.

Often it would depend on his opponent's momentum or the storyline, which would dictate if you were interested or not, more so than Ric Flair, who primarily just did the same thing every feud. Charlotte has it much tougher.

With less opponents and 52 weeks of live TV a week, Charlotte doesn’t have the benefits of any editing. She also has to overcome not only a lack of credible opponents but also the risk of over-exposure. Yet, she manages to remain the hottest heel in all of the WWE.

Charlotte has shown more range in the last two years than Ric Flair showed through his entire career.

#1 Ric Flair’s matches aren’t very good

While Flair did have good matches with the likes of Sting and Steamboat, the matches have not stood the test of time, and when paired with lesser opponents, his matches come across as slow, boring and un-coordinated.

Bret Hart once told the story:

“I remember Flair worked with Randy Savage who, like me, was led to believe the same crap about how great Flair was when they had a Saturday Night’s Main Event TV match in Hershey on September 1, 1992.

[Flair] somehow became WWF champion and Vince McMahon carefully constructed an elaborate storyline for this very important match.

I was standing right next to Vince watching the match live on a backstage monitor when Vince blew his stack as he watched Ric do absolutely nothing he told him to do.

Ric has never been able to do anything but his one routine match, which consists of cartoon high spots borrowed from Jackie Fargo and midget wrestlers, along with an assortment of tired old ripped off Buddy Rogers’ high spots.

My dad always called Flair a ‘routine man’ – because he did the exact same routine every night and was forever stuck with it.

An angry Vince met Flair as he came through the curtain and he furiously ordered both Flair and an exasperated Randy to march right back out and redo the entire match the way he’d told them to do it!

Even then, as I remember it, Flair was still unable to impress Vince. Personally, I would have been shamed with embarrassment to ever put the promotion, myself, or my opponent through such a farce!

I recall telling Randy that I thought Flair was, ‘Thirty minutes of non-stop non-psychology,’ and Randy shook his head and laughed along with me at how true it was. I can tell you first hand that Ric Flair was not a great worker at all.”

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