Charlotte Flair suffered a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus in December 2023 and has been out of action ever since.
In a recent appearance on the “Forever Young” podcast, Flair discussed how she dealt with the news of her serious injury and her reaction when it occurred.
She said, “When it first happened, I thought my life was over. I was like, ‘oh my gosh, a perfect storm’. My husband had just come back to the company or was on his way back. I knew he was going to be debuting soon. From the moment I was taken out, I just have kept telling myself that I’m going to come back the best version of the Queen when I do come back, and you never like to be sidelined due to an injury. But then again, I’m not sure if I would have ever sidelined myself had it not been for the injury. So it’s been a challenge, but a challenge I know that’s going to make me in the long run because I’ve had the opportunity over these, I think it’s been like nine, eight months now to go back and see things that I would have done over. What can I do over? Look at the landscape of the division and try to figure out where I can add character layers when I come back. I think the biggest struggle for me mentally is I’ve never not been able to rely on my athleticism. So like where I might not be the best on the mic or a certain look, or I’ve always been so proud of like how physical I am and not having that feel a hundred percent has been an adjustment for me where like before I was like, Llke, I know the girls respected me for being tough and, you know, not being injured. When this happened, I was like, I can be injured. So it really, like, it’s been a mixed blessing. For me, it feels very vulnerable. But I know that in the long run, it’s going to be better for me.”
In a recent appearance on the “Hawkcast,” Big E discussed his time as WWE Champion and how he struggled to remain relevant during that period.
Big E revealed that he was advised to change but chose not to.
He said, “I always wanted to be a one of one and no one could put all the elements of what I do together. That was always my goal at least, whether I succeeded or failed, I just wanted to carve my own lane and that’s what I’m proud of, because so often, especially when I won the WWE Championship and I was on my singles run, I got a lot of feedback like, ‘You can’t do this, you can’t look like that, you can’t cut promos like this. You’re gonna really have to change.’ But no, I fought to be myself and that to me as a performer was something that’s important for me is to be able to trust my own instincts, to go out there and sink or swim on my own. I know I’m not always going to get it right. But just this belief that I wanna do things my way, because I can sleep at night. If I fail or if I sink doing it my way, I’m okay with that. But if I sink doing it your way, that, I’m not cool with that.”