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Charlotte Flair Takes Off The Tights For ESPN ‘Body Issue,’ WWE Star Also Talks Father Ric’s Legacy

By Bernadette Giacomazzo
Published on: 07:52 PST, Jun 25, 2018

For Charlotte Flair, having the right last name didn’t exactly guarantee her a “free ride” into the WWE. Rather, in the new ESPN Body Issue, she claims that she had to work “harder” because of her famous last name.

“I don’t want people to think that’s why I am where I am in the industry,” she said, according to People Magazine. “I put in the time, and I want to be just as good as my dad was.”

Charlotte Flair is just one of the many celebrities who bared it all in the annual sports issue. Other celebrities who participated this year include New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley, Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, and U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe.

Flair is actually the first wrestler from the WWE to be featured in the famed annual issue.

In addition, she told the outlet that she not only wanted to carry on her father’s legacy, but wanted to carve out a legacy of her own.

But despite her father’s famous name, Flair wasn’t originally considered a good choice for the WWE.

Though she had the same athleticism that she has now, she didn’t have the “swag” and the “glam” that her character, Charlotte, has today.

“I didn’t look the part,” she said.

Like other women wrestlers in the WWE, Charlotte Flair is very easy on the eyes. Despite her good looks, however, she doesn’t want to be viewed as just a pretty face in the ring — a far cry from what the women wrestlers of yesteryear were hoping for.

Charlotte said that while she hopes little girls look up to her, and see themselves in the ring one day, she wants them to remember that it’s not her looks that got her into the WWE.

“I am all athlete…I want the audience to see me as the athlete I am,” she said.

More than anything, however, Charlotte Flair hopes that she’s considered an “attraction” for the company — that, like her male wrestling counterparts, she wants to be taken seriously for the work she puts in the ring.

“Right now the women are stealing the show and working harder than we ever have. We have had a lot of firsts, and I think we’re on the right path,” she said.

Charlotte Flair is one of sixteen athletes to be featured in the ESPN Body Issue, which will hit newsstands on June 29.

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