"It was real" - When 30-year-old WWE star went off-script to insult Charlotte Flair
During her early days in WWE, Charlotte Flair had a close friendship with Sasha Banks. However, their relationship reportedly changed after The Queen won the NXT Women's Championship for the first time in 2014.
According to Flair, Banks felt that she was the one who deserved to hold the title since she was more experienced than her then-best friend.
In December of that same year, the company planned a match between Banks and Flair for the NXT Women's Title at TakeOver: R Evolution. Despite their relationship being somewhat different, the two ladies were still friends in real life before the last episode of NXT before the event. Things, however, took a surprising turn on that episode when The Boss went off-script to insult The Queen during a segment.
"I knew where the segment was going in terms of setting us up for our match. I didn't realize that she was going to take one of my DO IT WITH FLAIR T-shirts and cut it so it would say, DO IT LIKE A BOSS. I also didn't know she was going to say negative things about my dad. At one point she even referred to him as a 'pathetic old man.' That's when I knew that the fire people saw from the Boss character had truly arrived—it was real," Flair disclosed in her autobiography "Second Nature: The Legacy of Ric Flair and the Rise of Charlotte."
The Queen explained in her book that Banks felt "passed over and underutilized." Although she understood why The Boss did what she did, Flair was unhappy that she did not talk to her about it first.
"I would've been fine with all those things. I just thought Sasha would've spoken to me about them first. The situation was disappointing, especially when I remember how we came up together. I never imagined that I'd become alienated from someone I had so admired professionally and someone I considered a friend. I thought we'd be working 'together' in every sense of the word, but I was wrong," Flair added.
The Queen defeated The Boss at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution to retain her NXT Women's Championship. Flair held the title for about two more months before losing it finally to her former best friend at NXT TakeOver: Rival in February 2015.
NXT TakeOver: R Evolution (Dec. 11, 2014)
Charlotte def. Sasha Banks to retain the NXT Women’s Championship. https://t.co/1qA3RHu6cs
Five incidents changed WWE Superstar Charlotte Flair's life. Check them out here.
WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair says Charlotte and Sasha Banks are the best female wrestlers he has ever seen
Despite their differences in real life, Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair had great chemistry inside the ring. The two ladies faced each other several times and had a historic rivalry in WWE.
During a recent episode of his To Be The Man podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair stated that his daughter and Banks are the best female wrestlers he has ever seen.
"I keep telling she's Ricky Steamboat and Ashley [Charlotte Flair] is me. That doesn't get any better when the two of them work, there's not a better female match ever anywhere anytime. I have no problem saying this, they are the two premier female wrestlers that I've ever seen in my entire life," he said.[From 1:26 to 1:48]
Sasha Banks & Charlotte Flair were THE STORY on Raw post draft 2016 with the PPV & TV Main Events.
The first women to outdraw the men by several hundred thousands. No one will match the star power and influence they had at the time in a feud. 🌟 https://t.co/7hBm8b2wLH
A WWE legend recently addressed Sasha Banks' future in wrestling. Check out his comments here.