Athlete

My dad was able to wrestle so many great Japanese wrestlers.

To know how far I've come as a person and an entertainer and a businesswoman, I just hope I represent independence and intelligence and athleticism - everything that a woman should want to be.

No one ever has a chance to get to know the real me because I do play a bad guy, and sometimes it's hard to soak in the comments or the negativity because that's the response you want to elicit. I am a normal person, but that's part of the job. I'm playing a character, and that's my role.

The most important thing is for women not to tear other women down. Everyone in our division is helping each other, and that's a message we send behind the scenes: that we are a unit and working to make the best product and highlight women as strong and independent superstars.

The biggest moment in our business is when you walk through that curtain, and if you don't believe in yourself, the fans won't believe in you or invest in you, and they see that.

I walked out very nervous, my first WrestleMania, and I had my dad beside me.

My dad was just so charismatic and witty. One day, I hope people say that I was just as good as my dad on the mic in my own way. I will never be saying 'Space Mountain' or 'limousine riding,' but I hope people say I can control an audience, that I was as captivating as him.

I never pictured myself as an entertainer or a superstar or a model or anything like that.

When I debuted on the main roster, people just hated me. They were booing me. Social media got to me a bit. They were like, 'She's just there because she's Ric Flair's daughter.' I was like, 'Why doesn't anybody like me?' It really got to me.

With injuries, every match varies. The black eyes are accidents. The broken noses are accidents. But the bumps from when we land on the mat, they're hard. I think it looks easier, or the fans don't really understand what's happening, but it does take a toll.

We don't have an off-season. Every other sport has an off-season. It just goes to show how tough we are.

I guess because I never pictured myself wrestling, I find myself wanting to push every limit possible in this industry.

That's my message: I'm not alone, and neither is anyone else.

I didn't even think about good guy, bad guy when I started. I was that unfamiliar with the business.

I look at myself in NXT, and then I look at how far I've come on the main roster. I just think in my mind if I keep working as hard as I do and keep giving it my all that I will continue to get better.

I started very late in the game, and it hasn't changed my path to success.

Most of Charlotte's character is really who she is. A lot of who Ashley is is Charlotte and the same with my dad. It's not like I'm the Joker.

They used to say a woman would never main-event a pay-per-view. I'm pretty sure I heard that from my dad.

I think with the Mae Young Classic, bringing in 30 women from all over the world shows what an impact women have in the company.

I was always around wrestling. I went to shows, but I never pictured myself where I am today. My brothers, David and Reid, were more into wrestling. When they wrestled, it was hard on my brothers because they were always compared to my dad.