Driving from town to town, living in hotels, sometimes not going home during the week because you have an appearance - you really have to be dedicated to do this job.

Charlotte Flair is continuing her father's legacy but paving her own, and she's opening the door for women all over the world to be superstars in a male dominated industry.

I think I definitely work out of my father's shadow, but it was hard in the beginning. But I would never change my last name, and I couldn't be more proud to carry on his legacy.

The biggest moment in our business is when you walk through that curtain, and if you don't believe in yourself, the fans won't believe in you or invest in you, and they see that.

I never felt comfortable in my own skin, and I feel like I missed out on a lot of high school experiences because I was so worried about where I fit in because I was so confused.

My character, Charlotte, is very confident, and I try to be more like my character in real life. Not that I'm not confident, but I've really found my personal growth through work.

When the fans were watching my dad, you could never tell if this was real or is this fake, and that's what made him so special. Every ounce of energy went to being The Nature Boy.

I've always been a big fan of the Body Issue. Growing up as an athlete and having a very athletic body, I was always able to relate to them and look up to the athletes who posed for it.

I wasn't used to people critiquing how I looked. And then always hearing, 'God she looks like Ric Flair.' Yes, he's my dad. Who am I supposed to look like? I took it so serious and to heart.

If you look at the Rock's crossover, Stone Cold, my dad too, in his era, I want to do that. I want to mean that much to the industry. That's just a matter of working harder every single day.

When I won the NXT women's title from Natalya at Full Sail, becoming the second-ever woman's champion for NXT, that's when I knew, 'Okay, I'm doing the right thing,' and that I could do this.

To know how far I've come as a person and an entertainer and a businesswoman, I just hope I represent independence and intelligence and athleticism - everything that a woman should want to be.

That is a message I hope to send and that I know all the other women hope to send: that no matter what your job is or what you want to achieve in life, anything you set your mind to, you can do.

I look at myself in NXT, and then I look at how far I've come on the main roster. I just think in my mind if I keep working as hard as I do and keep giving it my all that I will continue to get better.

Professionally, I'm a perfectionist, and to allow people to see that maybe I wasn't always perfect or put together - that my actual personal life was very messy at times... it was scary to let people know that.

You don't want to get complacent and just accept things - just because we've had those moments and we have come so far, you don't want to ever take that for granted, because the moment you do, it can all go away.

When I started wrestling and then turned into the Evil Queen, I created this character who I needed in my personal life. This woman who is strong, intelligent, confident, empowering. That's what I needed in my personal life.

I was always around wrestling. I went to shows, but I never pictured myself where I am today. My brothers, David and Reid, were more into wrestling. When they wrestled, it was hard on my brothers because they were always compared to my dad.

When I debuted on the main roster, people just hated me. They were booing me. Social media got to me a bit. They were like, 'She's just there because she's Ric Flair's daughter.' I was like, 'Why doesn't anybody like me?' It really got to me.

I spent the whole time I've been in WWE trying to build this character who is unbreakable, who is not vulnerable, and who is not relatable. For me to let down my guard and let people in, I had to make that decision, and once I did, I had to own it.

With injuries, every match varies. The black eyes are accidents. The broken noses are accidents. But the bumps from when we land on the mat, they're hard. I think it looks easier, or the fans don't really understand what's happening, but it does take a toll.

Even little adjustments in promos or being a heel, different mannerisms in the ring, every week there's something I can do better. The only time I get flustered is when I try to do too many things at once. It's better to do one thing each week and work on that.

I wish I was more like my character. In character, I am the queen. I am strong. I am confident, sometimes cocky. I'm hard to beat. Out of character, I am a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a best friend and just the girl next door that likes Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

My dad was just so charismatic and witty. One day, I hope people say that I was just as good as my dad on the mic in my own way. I will never be saying 'Space Mountain' or 'limousine riding,' but I hope people say I can control an audience, that I was as captivating as him.

Growing up with a famous father, and one who mastered his craft, it's one of those things where, do you really want to be in the same profession? I can't imagine the pressure on, say, Michael Jordan's kids. But for me, I think it's molded me into the character that I am today.

The most important thing is for women not to tear other women down. Everyone in our division is helping each other, and that's a message we send behind the scenes: that we are a unit and working to make the best product and highlight women as strong and independent superstars.

Obviously, having my dad's last name, I think that's more the chip on my shoulder because it has been a mixed blessing. I always will have the Flair stigma, and I think that's where I deserve to be there or this, or I'm not just his daughter. I think that's the chip on my shoulder.

I do want to carry on my dad's legacy, but I also want to carve out my own path. I have to work harder, I think, just because I do have that last name. I don't want people to think that's why I am where I am in this industry. I put in the time, and I want to be just as good as my dad was.

No one ever has a chance to get to know the real me because I do play a bad guy, and sometimes it's hard to soak in the comments or the negativity because that's the response you want to elicit. I am a normal person, but that's part of the job. I'm playing a character, and that's my role.

I think what people don't realize is the transition from NXT to the main roster is a big jump. It's getting a whole new audience familiar with a certain character. If you debut too many women at one time, it's hard for the audience to get to know, understand, and see the rise of that character.

The most challenging thing that female wrestlers face is time. Getting those segments on Raw, getting one, two, three, four segments on SmackDown, main-eventing a pay-per-view, being considered a face of the division... And I have said it since day one: I want to be an attraction for the company.

Sitting front row with my little brother, my older brother, and my dad's wife at the time - seeing 80,000 people at the Citrus Bowl emotionally pouring their hearts out watching my dad retire - I didn't even grasp what he meant to the industry. I didn't even fully grasp it until I started wrestling myself.

The hard part for me was not the wrestling - it was showing emotion, telling a story, and being able to connect with fans. Coming out as Ric Flair's daughter and being called athletically gifted, it's hard to say, 'Hey, like me! You can relate to me!' It wasn't working, so I completely switched my character.

I don't know if me and my dad have necessarily touched on this because we talk about Reid but not a lot. But me wrestling, I think, ultimately saved my dad's career and not only saved my life but definitely put a whole other chapter that no one saw coming because it could've been rock bottom after my brother passed away.

Negative comments in terms of body image are the hardest thing the women probably struggle with. But I think the best thing that we can do as WWE superstars is taking that negativity and using it in a positive way, because there are so many young kids on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to not send the message of hate on to.

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