It's been close to a month since Charlotte Flair left the ring with a major injury that was later reported to be a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus. Thankfully, after a recent surgery, she's on the mend. While an in-ring return for WrestleMania 40 is out of the question, the wrestler is active on social media and broke character to share some words with fans, as well as her co-workers at SmackDown. Even more surprising? It was a heartfelt post.
As she's sidelined indefinitely from upcoming WWE events, Charlotte Flair shared a message on X and Instagram both for her fans and the people she works with on SmackDown. In a lengthy post signed with her real name "Ashley," signaling she's speaking out of character, "The Queen" talked about being vulnerable, scared, and grateful for all the support she's received in the time since her injury:
As a longtime wrestling fan, I love seeing this message from The Queen. It's a far cry from the backstage stories about the wrestler in 2021, in which Flair was labeled "difficult" after a backstage tussle with Becky Lynch. While the WWE later played that up by having Lynch question her comments, it's hard as a fan to distinguish how much of that situation was water under the bridge or remained as she continued her career in the present.
It would seem that Flair still has her supporters in the WWE, as Asuka and Natalya were a few coworkers who shared support on social media. There's bound to be compassion from other colleagues as well, knowing that Charlotte was likely factored into the plans for WrestleMania 40 as one of the top stars of the women's division. Of course, the company is no stranger to pivoting and will likely still find ways to highlight the women of WWE without her in the mix.
Based on her tweet, Charlotte Flair is eyeing a recovery period and potential return around nine months from now. Assuming there are no setbacks and she's ring-ready by the end of her rehabilitation, we could see her return to WWE sometime around Survivor Series 2024. If that's not a possibility, it's possible the company could hold her to Royal Rumble 2025, which is quite a time to wait.
Wrestling fans are currently focused on the recent returns of CM Punk and wondering if The Rock will appear at WrestleMania. This isn't to say that Charlotte Flair won't be missed while she's gone, but there's plenty to distract audiences while she takes the time to recover. Here's hoping for the best in her recovery and that she'll be back to doing what she does best when she's ready.
SmackDown airs on Fox on Fridays at 8:00 p.m. ET. Tune in to see what's going on as we start off on the road to WrestleMania 40 and all the wild surprises that may happen along the way.
