WWE Officials Expect Top Name To Become Pro Wrestling’s Next ‘Mainstream’ Star

WWE is no stranger to seeing its superstars move on to bigger and better things, and one of the company’s top female talents may continue that trend.

According to Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT, Charlotte Flair is viewed within WWE as the next star who will “crossover into the mainstream,” though she’s not expected to leave WWE just yet: “Flair is actually currently mulling over ‘a few TV roles that she has been offered,’ sources tell talkSPORT. While she has an interest in doing… [other] work, we’re told Flair’s ‘priority is wrestling for the time being’…A source told us many expect Flair to be the next WWE talent to crossover into the mainstream.”

McCarthy noted that a source told him, “Several agents have said they’d be shocked if she wasn’t the next WWE talent to cross over, but who knows. She legit loves wrestling’.”

Flair is one of the best pure wrestlers and all-around performers in all of WWE—male or female—and as a 12-time women’s champion, she has accomplished just about anything and everything she can in pro wrestling. The next logical step for Flair is, of course, her pursuit of non-WWE ventures in the world of entertainment, which is a step that numerous major WWE names in the past have taken, including The Rock, Batista, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and John Cena. More recently, it was reported that both Becky Lynch and Roman Reigns, arguably the two biggest full-time stars in WWE at the moment, were generating considerable interest in Hollywood, which comes as no surprise given their status as top stars in the world of sports entertainment.

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“The Queen” is, much like Lynch and Reigns, one of WWE’s most recognizable names, and it was recently reported that she too was becoming a hot commodity in Hollywood, with a potential major TV role awaiting her. Flair is currently out of action after undergoing successful surgery last week, and McCarthy says she is expected to be out of action through at least SummerSlam, but her return to the ring is still up in the air: “The length of time Flair is away from TV may well depend on her TV show or shows, but her original intention was to take a break until late in the year, possibly even until the build for Royal Rumble 2021.”

While there has been no definitive word as to what Flair’s TV project will be, Pro Wrestling Sheet’s Ryan Satin notes that it will be a “scripted show with a big network,” one that may very well serve as Flair’s big break and the avenue that steers her to a career outside of the squared circle:

At just 34 years old and in the prime of her pro wrestling career, Flair would likely remain a top star in WWE for the next five to 10 years, if not longer, if she chose to continue wrestling. It’s there that she has been the most pushed woman in company history and, along with Lynch, solidified herself as WWE’s highest-paid female star. Flair may, however, have higher earning potential outside of WWE in the world of entertainment. Though Flair has a safe spot atop WWE’s women’s division, pro wrestling still has a much more niche audience than most other forms of entertainment, so it’s likely that Flair’s star power potential is limited if she remains exclusive to WWE.

As we’ve recently seen with Cena, The Rock, Batista and others, it wasn’t until those stars decided to prioritize their acting careers that they become true household names in the mainstream, and it, of course, paid off for all of them. Cena’s Hollywood resume is growing quickly while Batista’s role as “Drax the Destroyer” in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise caused his acting career to take off. The Rock is easily the best example of a WWE star-turned-actor going on to have incredible success after WWE, and he never would have reached the heights his career did—he’s established himself as the world’s highest paid-actor and “Instagram’s highest-paid celebrity”—had he not left WWE when he did.

Given that Flair, despite having her fair share of detractors, already has a built-in fan base thanks to her time spent at the top of WWE, she is a natural fit to transition into a career in Hollywood, whether part-time or full-time.