Charlotte Flair has spoken about the difficult mindset she was in before suffering her major knee injury in December 2023.

Flair tore her ACL, MCL, and meniscus during the December 8 episode of SmackDown, an injury that required surgery and kept her out of action for over a year. Speaking on Bloomberg Talks, she admitted she was struggling mentally at the time.

“I 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 [of] how we talk to ourselves, that inner self-talk,” Flair said. “I feel like I was in a very negative space and not opening up about it and the anxiety of being a woman that’s approaching 40.”

Flair said the injury forced her to rethink how she viewed herself outside of wrestling.

“And 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 was as a professional wrestler,” she continued. “Like, that’s all I am. And that’s not all I am. And I do have a voice and maybe this is the start of something bigger for me.”

Since returning, Flair has been teaming with Alexa Bliss. The pair recently defeated Giulia and Kiana James on SmackDown to become the number one contenders for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships currently held by Nia Jax and Lash Legend.