Even though she wasn’t on camera, Charlotte Flair was backstage at AAA TripleMania XXIX to see her future husband Andrade El Idolo take on Kenny Omega for the AAA Mega Championship. On top of that, her father, Ric Flair, was there to accompany El Idolo to the ring.
Charlotte Flair was the latest guest on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette to discuss various subjects. When the TripleMania event was brought up, Flair went in-depth on how that all came about and revealed she asked off for this event months ahead of time:
“Just seeing Manny [Andrade El Idolo], so he was like, ‘Mami, Triplemania is my WrestleMania’ and to see him go back to Mexico and like be proud of himself and feel confident in himself and be the superstar that he is and especially in his home country, I was just like, ‘I’m not missing this for the world.’” Charlotte Flair said. “So I actually took off two-and-a-half months ago from live events, and if you know me, I haven’t asked off from a live event in like five years — actually I’ve never asked off from a live event. So I took off and I was like, ‘No, I wouldn’t miss it for the world’ and then, [with] my dad being gone, I asked him on Wednesday, I was like, ‘Hey, what are you doing this weekend?’ He’s like, ‘Nothing hunny, why?’ I’m like, ‘You wanna go to Mexico?’ He was like, ‘For what? Cancun? Don’t you have to work?’ I’m like, ‘No dad, I’m not going to the beach.’ I’m like, ‘It’s Manny versus Kenny.’ He’s like, ‘Really!? Yeah, I’d love to watch it with you.’ I’m like, ‘No dad, will you walk Manny to the ring?’ He was like, ‘You want me to walk Manny to the ring?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes.’ He’s like, ‘Oh my God, yes hunny, please,’ like so excited.
“He’s like, ‘What color [is] Manny wearing? I’ll get matching suits.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know dad! Can we just get you there first?’ But when Manny asked me back in March, he felt deflated from not being on TV and what was happening. ‘What should I do?’ He’s like, ‘Tell me’ and I’m like, ‘I can’t tell you what to do and I can’t beg you to stay even though our life is together on the road because you’ll resent me. You need to go spread your wings and do what you do and if you wanna come back, I’m always gonna be here, I’m always gonna support you’ and it was the best thing for him and my dad said ‘yes’ to coming to Mexico. He wasn’t able to get his white suit made in time but let me tell you a little story though. So my dad met me in Pittsburgh to fly to Mexico but all of his flights were delayed to get from Atlanta to Pittsburgh so he rented a jet just to get to Pittsburgh. That’s how much it meant to be by Manny in AAA and it was just — it was so amazing.”
Charlotte Flair also addressed the online criticism she received from the WWE Universe as people made assumptions that she skipped out on a WWE Live event as she was being advertised for even though she requested off months in advance:
“I actually thought people would be more like, ‘Wow, that’s how much her relationship means to her.’” Charlotte Flair said. “I was actually like, people are like thinking that I’m ruining my career? Part of my career is who I am in my real life. Part of my career is Manny [Andrade El Idolo] helping me and pushing me and supporting me and all these different experiences in my life. That makes me grow as a performer. I don’t know if you guys have seen but I’ve grown in front of y’all over the years.
“So I just — I was really surprised and like, people aren’t surprised at all [about] my dad. He’s gonna be chopping and Figure-Four’ing anywhere but, just to see — my dad genuinely was like, you can see how proud he was to be out there with Manny. That’s how much Manny means to him and I think my dad also knows Manny’s gonna be the man who takes care of me when he’s gone and it’s like a passing of a torch.” (H/T: Post Wrestling)
How important of a moment was it for Ric Flair to accompany Andrade El Idolo at TripleMania? Would you like to see this partnership in All Elite Wrestling? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
