Summary

Charlotte Flair said she believes she tore her ACL in December 2023 while performing in a poor mental state.

The injury kept her out for all of 2024 before she returned at the 2025 Women's Royal Rumble.

Flair said anxiety, negative self-talk, and pressure around age and expectations contributed to where she was mentally at the time.

She also described the injury as a turning point that pushed her to think beyond only being defined as a wrestler.

Charlotte Flair links her ACL recovery to broader conversations about mental strain in wrestling

Charlotte Flair tying her ACL setback to mental pressure reframes the injury as more than a physical event, and that consequence brings more focus to how emotional strain can affect in-ring performance.

By saying she wants to make these conversations less taboo, Flair also signals a leadership role that could extend beyond her current in-ring return and tag title pursuit.

For recent storyline context, see Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss becoming number one contenders on SmackDown.

Quotes

Quote from Charlotte Flair

"Definitely think when I hurt my knee, I tore my ACL. I don't think I was in the right state of mind, meaning whether it was imposter syndrome, that dialogue, that how we talk to ourselves, that inner self-talk. I feel like I was in a very negative space and not opening up about it and the anxiety of you know, being a woman that's approaching 40, what that looks like, the demands. I want to be able to say I'm a woman and what I want more of is time and all that pressure adding up. I feel like the reason I hurt my knee is because I wasn't all there, performing. For someone who has, I always looked at myself as the iron woman, and when my knee took me out, I was like, all I viewed myself as a professional wrestler. Like that's all I am, and that's not all I am. I do have a voice and maybe this is the start of something bigger for me. Like I love being Charlotte, but taking Charlotte to the next level and making these conversations more accessible or not taboo for people in any kind of industry, I think is so important."

Sources

As reported by Fightful.