Charlotte Flair is slated to defend the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship against Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania Goes Hollywood this April.
It will be a rematch from WrestleMania 36, where Flair defeated Ripley to win the NXT Women’s Championship.
While speaking with The Daytona Beach News-Journal at NASCAR’s Daytona 500 on Sunday, Charlotte addressed the pushback from fans she got after expressing her belief that their story is good enough to headline one of the nights of WrestleMania.
“First, let’s start with the main event (aspect). I always find it so odd when people say, ‘Why does Charlotte always want to main-event?’ Isn’t that what you want as a performer? If you’re a football team, you want to be at the Super Bowl, right? I don’t understand the criticism over that. Why wouldn’t you want to be a champion? With Rhea, we’re not starting from scratch. We have so much history. We have our first faceoff Friday. I’m not planning anything in my head creatively because I want to feel the energy. I want to feel what the audience thinks of how far she’s come, and where I’m at now. Will it be a different vibe? Are they going to want to see her beat me, or do they know she’s not ready? I have to feel it out there, depending on my mind, what direction to go. At the same time, I feel how Rhea feels will be much different. I beat her for the NXT title, I beat her for the Raw title. That’s something, in her heart: “I know I can beat Charlotte. I have to beat Charlotte.” I feel like she has something to prove to herself. … And we naturally have such great chemistry. I know she’s going to bring it, and she knows I’m going to bring it.”
The belief that Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns will defend against Cody Rhodes in the headliner of night two.
