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Charlotte Flair suffered a torn ACL, a torn meniscus, and a torn MCL on the December 8 Tribute to the Troops special episode of WWE SmackDown. It was reported that she would be sidelined for about nine to ten months.
The injury could not have come at a worse time, as WrestleMania 40 is just around the corner, and it is a given that the company had plans to utilize Charlotte Flair's star power at the event. The Queen was booked in a marquee match this year against Rhea Ripley.
The two stole the show in what is deemed the best match of WrestleMania 39 Night One. Unfortunately, Flair won't be part of the annual extravaganza in 2024. Booker T weighed in on the unfortunate turn of events on the latest edition of The Hall of Fame podcast, attributing it as simply an unfortunate incident that could happen to just about anybody:
"It was a bad spill," Booker T said. "It was gnarly, man ... It was just a bad break. Bad timing just because WrestleMania is right around the corner; it pretty much just blows you right out of the water as far as that goes. It's bad timing, but that's part of the business. People need to understand that it's not ballet. Stuff like that happens. It happens all the time." [H/T: Wrestling Inc]
She competed at Survivor Series: WarGames in the titular contest. WWE could have gone many ways with The Queen, including a first-time-ever clash with former AEW star Jade Cargill, as it was teased on television.
Charlotte Flair was supposed to go after WWE Women's Tag Team Title prior to injury
Charlotte Flair was evidently slowly building towards a tag team run alongside Shotzi. The latter also joined The Queen in the aforementioned WarGames match.
The 31-year-old revealed on WWE Deutschland that they were to contend for the Women's Tag Team Championship. When asked if she wanted to win the titles with either Charlotte Flair or Bianca Belair, Shotzi responded with:
"Absolutely. I mean I look up to them so much. I was watching their stuff before I got to WWE and I've always strived to be like Charlotte [Flair] like they work so hard. Yeah definitely, Charlotte [Flair] and I were talking about possibly going for the tag titles. Like, we got matching gear made, you know. We really wanted it, we wanted it for sure," said Shotzi.
Flair's former WrestleMania dance partner Asuka picked up a victory over her in the 14-time Women's Champion's last match of 2023. WWE confirmed that she will be gone for almost an entire year.
