Early Life
Ashley Elizabeth Fliehr was born on April 5, 1986, in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is the daughter of Ric Flair, who’s widely regarded as one of the most influential wrestlers of all time. Ashley’s first exposure to the wrestling business came when she made appearances alongside her father in WCW, but she wouldn’t start training herself until later in life.
NXT Career
On May 17, 2012, Ashley signed a developmental contract with WWE and was sent to train in NXT. She adopted the ring name Charlotte and made her televised debut on July 17, 2013. Charlotte found some immediate rivals in stars like Sasha Banks, Paige, and Bayley.
On May 29, 2014, Charlotte defeated Natalya to win the vacated NXT Women’s Championship. During this time, Charlotte was having trouble establishing herself as a heel or face and ended up drifting somewhere in between. However, establishing a friendship with Bayley helped Charlotte win the crowd over.
Charlotte lost the NXT Women’s Championship to Sasha Banks, but the two women found respect for each other through their battle.
The Women’s Revolution
On July 13, 2015, Stephanie McMahon introduced Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks to the WWE universe on an episode of Raw. McMahon called for a “revolution” within the Divas division and placed Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky at its forefront.
At Night of Champions 2015, Charlotte Flair defeated Nikki Bella to become Divas Champion. She would go on to feud with her former ally Paige, who had previously turned heel on Charlotte and Becky.
However, not long after Paige’s betrayal, Charlotte began to display some heelish tendencies herself. Charlotte turned heel by attacking Becky on January 4, 2016. Charlotte’s father, Ric Flair, began accompanying Charlotte to her matches and aided in her underhanded tactics.
Divas No More
At Wrestlemania 32, Charlotte was set to defend her Divas Championship against Becky and Sasha; however, WWE introduced a new title instead, the WWE Women’s Championship. Charlotte won the new title and became the inaugural champion.
With the infamous butterfly belt now defunct, WWE said goodbye to the term “Divas” in reference to the company’s women's division. Charlotte’s WWE Women’s Championship represented the start of a new era, and the Queen stood at the helm.
Charlotte feuded with a familiar rival, Sasha Banks, for the rest of 2016. She then dropped her title (now known as the WWE Raw Women’s Championship) to Bayley on February 13, 2017. She was traded to Smackdown later that year as part of the Superstar Shake-Up.
On November 14, 2017, Charlotte defeated Natalya to win the Smackdown Women’s Championship; Charlotte thus became the first wrestler to hold the NXT, Divas, Raw, and Smackdown Women’s Championships.
The Queen Takes Over
For the next several years, Charlotte has remained at the apex of WWE. Even when she’s been without a championship, Charlotte has always been seen as a top contender in the women’s division. She has the most championship reigns to her name out of any woman in WWE in addition to being the fifth Women’s Triple Crown Champion and fourth Women’s Grand Slam Champion.
