It's hard to think of 14-time WWE Women's World Champion Charlotte Flair going by any other name at this point but "The Queen" once had other ideas as her WWE run was just getting started. Appearing on "Post Run High," the real-life Ashley Fliehr discussed the origin story of her wrestling moniker, revealing another alternative that was considered early on.
"I pitched a few names," Flair said. "I pitched Elizabeth Reid. I loved Miss Elizabeth and then my little brother's name was Reid." While that name would have been fitting as Elizabeth is also Flair's real middle name, along with a being a tribute to the late Elizabeth Hulette, the legendary valet for "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and the proposed surname in memory of the late Reid Flair, who died in 2013 at just 25 years old, Charlotte says she was very simply turned down by the powers that be. "They were like, 'No, your dad's from Charlotte. We're naming you Charlotte.'"
Asked about the importance of a stage name in wrestling, and why she couldn't just go by Ashley, Flair stated that would likely have been an option, had WWE not wanted to distance her, at first, from her father, Ric. "I could have gone by Ashley Flair," she said. "Probably, being Ric's kid, it was like, 'We're gonna give her a stage name, like, not to be Ashley Flair. When I first started, I wasn't Charlotte Flair. I was just Charlotte. They didn't attach my last name until, like, four or five years later."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Post Run High" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
