Former WWE official claims she played a role in Rhea Ripley choosing Charlotte Flair as opponent

Rhea Ripley won the 2023 Women's Royal Rumble this past weekend and showed up on WWE RAW to challenge Charlotte Flair to a match at WrestleMania 39. Former SmackDown authority figure Sonya Deville has had something to say about it.

The Queen and The Eradicator share plenty of history with each other. The former won the 2020 Women's Royal Rumble and went on to challenge the latter in a match at WrestleMania 36. Rhea Ripley was the NXT Women's Champion at the time and she lost the title to her opponent at the Showcase of the Immortals.

Fast forward a year, the Australian star was the RAW Women's Champion and Charlotte had her sights set on the title. They squared off at Hell in a Cell 2021 where Rhea retained the title after losing via disqualification. A month later at Money In The Bank 2021, the 36-year-old star dethroned Ripley.

Sonya Deville was the SmackDown on-screen authority figure during their feud, and at times things got very heated between the three. The former Absolution star pointed this out on Twitter.

"Who’s gonna tell her …." - Sonya Deville tweeted.

---

Charlotte Flair took credit for an iconic WWE match

Charlotte Flair was part of the first-ever women's WrestleMania main event. She took on Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey. The Lass Kicker ultimately emerged victorious.

In a recent interview, the two-time NXT Women's Champion claimed that she made it all come together.

"You have this hot babyface, Becky Lynch, that the fans love. You've got this woman [Rousey] who paved the way and showed that women could main event pay-per-view in UFC. I definitely feel like I made it all come together. Yes, the narrative is fun to say that I was shoe-horned or however the inside circle wants to talk about me, but I know what my purpose was. Looking back now, I'm okay with that," said Charlotte. (h/t: Fightful)

Charlotte Flair is a record-breaking 14-time women's champion in WWE. She is the current SmackDown Women's Champion, a title she won on her return to action on the December 30 episode of WWE SmackDown.

This is her 7th reign as the SmackDown Women's Champion, adding to her 6 reigns as the RAW Women's Champion and a single reign as the WWE Divas Champion.