Ashley Elizabeth Fliehr (born April 5, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Charlotte Flair, and is a record 14-time world champion.
Flair is a second-generation professional wrestler, being the daughter of Ric Flair. She made her first appearance in professional wrestling alongside her father in World Championship Wrestling in 1993. In 2012, she began training with WWE, and debuted in NXT the following year. In 2014, she was named Rookie of the Year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI), and was promoted to WWE's main roster in 2015. In 2016, PWI readers voted Flair Woman of the Year and Top Female Professional Wrestler.
Flair is a 14-time world champion, having held the WWE Divas Championship once, of which she was the final holder, the WWE (Raw) Women's Championship a record six times, of which she was the inaugural holder, and the SmackDown Women's Championship a record seven times, with the latter now known as the Women's World Championship. She has also held the NXT Women's Championship twice and the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship twice. Flair also won the Royal Rumble match in 2020 and 2025, becoming the first woman to win multiple Royal Rumble matches. In October 2016, she became the first woman (alongside Sasha Banks) to headline a WWE pay-per-view event. Her match with Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey at 2019's WrestleMania 35 was the first time that a women's match had headlined WWE's flagship event.
Ashley Elizabeth Fliehr was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 5, 1986, to Ric Flair and his then-wife Elizabeth Harrell. She has an older half-sister, Megan, and an older half-brother, David, while her younger brother Reid died on March 29, 2013. Fliehr attended Providence High School in Charlotte, where she won two North Carolina 4A state championships in volleyball, being the team captain and player of the year in 2004 and 2005.
She attended Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, playing volleyball in the 2005 and 2006 seasons before transferring to North Carolina State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in public relations in Spring 2008 while also being a certified personal trainer prior to becoming a wrestler.
Flair was at ringside for the December 6, 2004, episode of Raw in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, where Lita and Trish Stratus competed in the main event for the WWE Women's Championship. Almost 12 years later, on October 3, 2016, Flair herself and rival Sasha Banks would do the same, marking the third time a Women's Championship match main-evented Raw.
World Championship Wrestling (1993, 2000)
Flair made her first appearance in professional wrestling at the age of seven, appearing in a vignette with her father at the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) pay-per-view Starrcade '93: 10th Anniversary.
In 2000, at the age of 14, Flair again appeared alongside her father in WCW as part of his feud with Vince Russo and her half-brother David. On the May 15 episode of Monday Nitro, Flair appeared in a vignette in which Russo, David and Daffney invaded the Flair family home until being confronted by Flair, her mother Beth, and her brother Reid. At The Great American Bash on June 11, Flair was at ringside for a retirement match between Ric and David. After Russo attempted to interfere in the match on David's behalf, she and her brother Reid attacked him and handcuffed him, enabling their father to go on to defeat David. On the following evening's episode of Monday Nitro, David and Russo faced Ric in a handicap match with the Flair family once again at ringside. Flair attempted to interfere on her father's behalf, but was restrained by R&B Security, Russo's henchmen, allowing David and Russo to defeat Ric and partially shave his head.
Early years in NXT (2012–2014)
On May 17, 2012, she signed a developmental contract with WWE and trained under Lodi in North Carolina before joining NXT, the WWE developmental territory, in Tampa, Florida. Her trainers in NXT included Sara Del Rey. Fliehr adopted the ring name Charlotte and had her first televised singles match on the July 17, 2013, episode of NXT, where she defeated Bayley. In late 2013, Flair formed a tag team with Bayley, and the two defeated Aksana and Alicia Fox on the September 4 episode of NXT. On the October 10 episode of NXT, Bayley accompanied Charlotte to a match against Santana Garrett, which she won, but during the match The BFFs—Beautiful, Fierce Females (Sasha Banks and Summer Rae) came to the ring and attempted to convince Bayley to join them, much to Charlotte's annoyance.
On the November 13 episode of NXT, Flair attacked Bayley and joined the BFFs, establishing herself as a heel in the process. After a two-month absence due to a legit injury, Flair returned on the January 22, 2014, episode of NXT and began accompanying Rae and Banks to their matches. In February, Charlotte confronted and challenged NXT Women's Champion Paige during an interview with Renee Young. Following Rae's elevation to WWE's main roster, Flair and Banks feuded with Bayley, who formed an alliance with Natalya, who defeated Charlotte by disqualification after Banks interfered on the March 27 episode of NXT. On April 6 at WrestleMania XXX, she appeared alongside Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss in Triple H's entrance in his match against Daniel Bryan. The feud between Charlotte and Paige ended on the April 24 episode of NXT, when Flair and Banks defeated Emma and Paige, with Charlotte scoring the pinfall over Paige.
NXT Women's Champion (2014–2015)
The following month, Flair competed in an eight-woman tournament for the vacant NXT Women's Championship, defeating Emma in the first round, Alexa Bliss in the semi-finals and Natalya in the finals at TakeOver on May 29 to win the NXT Women's Championship for the first time in her career, her first championship in WWE. After a four-month absence from the show, Summer Rae returned on the June 6 episode of NXT, distracting Bayley and allowing Flair to defeat her, after which the BFFs attempted to attack Bayley, only to be chased away by Emma and the returning Paige. The altercation prompted a six-woman tag team match on the June 12 episode of NXT, which the BFFs lost after Bayley pinned Flair. On the July 3 episode of NXT, Flair got a measure of retribution over Bayley in a tag team match, where she and Sasha Banks defeated Bayley and Becky Lynch. After the match, Charlotte left Banks to get attacked by Bayley, with Banks officially disbanding the BFFs in a backstage segment later that night.
On the July 24 episode of NXT, Flair retained the women's championship against Summer Rae. Flair then went on to retain against Bayley at TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way on September 11, after which she stopped Banks from attacking Bayley afterwards, and after defeating Bayley in a rematch on October 2 episode of NXT, she raised Bayley's arm before they shared a hug and shook hands, turning Flair back into a fan favorite character. Following this, Flair and Bayley feuded with Banks and her partner Becky Lynch throughout the following several weeks. Flair made her first appearance on WWE's main roster on the Slammy Awards special episode of Raw on December 8, where she lost to Natalya in a non-title match. Charlotte retained the NXT Women's Championship against Banks at TakeOver: R Evolution on December 11, and in rematches that took place on the December 25 and the January 21, 2015, episodes of NXT, respectively. At TakeOver: Rival on February 11, Flair dropped the championship to Banks in a fatal four-way match that also involved Bayley and Becky Lynch, ending her reign at 258 days. She failed to regain the championship in a rematch against Banks that took place on the March 4 episode of NXT.
At TakeOver: Unstoppable on May 20, Charlotte teamed up with Bayley to defeat Emma and Dana Brooke. After defeating Emma and Brooke again on the July 8 episode of NXT, this time teaming with her rival Sasha Banks, Flair challenged Banks to an NXT Women's Championship match, which Banks accepted. They had their championship match the following week on the July 15 episode of NXT, in which Banks retained the championship, and afterwards the two shared a hug and Banks raised Flair's hand as a sign of respect.