Tag: Flairs

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Potential Creative Plans for Charlotte Flair

With Charlotte Flair’s return imminent, details about potential creative plans for her have leaked.

Per WrestleVotes (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), WWE is believed to be reimagining a “darker, more intense” version of the Queen persona that Flair used for several years.

In addition to her character, Flair could also add “kind of like a little Seth Rollins-esque flair in her attire” as part of the persona.

This would seem to suggest Flair is returning as a heel, which is a bit strange because typically a big star who returns after an extended absence would initially be used as a babyface.

Of course, Rollins’ attire suggests someone who should be a heel and he’s been a babyface for a while now.

Assuming Flair returns to the SmackDown brand, positioning her as a heel would set her up for potential feuds with Bianca Belair, Bayley, Jade Cargill (who is currently injured) and Tiffany Stratton as soon as she makes her turn that has been teased for months.

Returning as a babyface would really only leave Nia Jax as a top-level opponent for Flair to feud with on the Blue Brand.

Flair has been out of action since tearing the ACL, MCL and meniscus in her knee due to a top-rope spot that went wrong with Asuka on the SmackDown that aired on Dec. 8, 2023.

Whatever the creative plan ends up being for Flair, having one of the top stars in the women’s division back leading up to the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania season is a huge boon for WWE.

Kevin Owens Expected to Stay with WWE

Having recently received a massive push that included a championship match with Cody Rhodes at Saturday Night’s Main Event, Kevin Owens is likely to remain with WWE amid rumors about his contract.

Per Sean Ross Sapp on the Fightful Select podcast (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), it’s “safe to assume” Owens has signed a new deal with WWE.

Owens said in May that his contract had nine months remaining, meaning he could have become a free agent around February. There has been speculation for a while now that he’s already signed a new deal—or was at least close to signing—that no one in WWE has seemed nervous about AEW potentially luring him over.

Based on the current booking for Owens, it would seem to suggest he’s either re-upped with WWE or is going to do so very soon. He is advertised for the upcoming holiday tour as the “true WWE champion” after stealing the winged eagle title from Rhodes after his post-match attack on the American Nightmare at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Per Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Carrier), Raw will be three hours every week when it debuts on the streaming service on Jan. 6.

The only reason Raw has been two hours for the past two months is because WWE had to sign a short-term extension with USA since its original contract was due to expire in October, two months before moving to Netflix.

As part of the short-term agreement, USA only paid WWE a rate for two hours of Raw rather the three hours the show has been since 2012.

The loss of television time as understandably caused some frustration behind the scenes.

According to Sapp (h/t Carrier), some of the talent has “voiced some frustrations about not being able to get on TV” because there just isn’t enough time to service all of the wrestlers on the Raw roster.

Netflix could potentially allow WWE to get more people involved because the streamer isn’t limited by time constraints, so there are theoretically some episodes that could last 3.5 hours if required.

There is some potential risk of burning out the audience, especially since WWE announced that SmackDown will also be a three-hour show each week beginning Jan. 3.

But there’s so much talent across both Raw and SmackDown rosters, not to mention all of the young stars who could be called up from NXT at any moment, that Triple H and the creative team should have no trouble filling six hours of television across two shows each week.

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