Charlotte Flair’s journey to the Queen of the Ring finals ended on the June 19 episode of SmackDown. The 14-time Women’s Champion was scheduled to face Liv Morgan in a semifinal match, but a backstage attack left her dealing with a badly injured knee before the match even started.
Before the match, Flair spoke with Cathy Kelley backstage and pointed out that she hasn’t held a singles championship in several years and said she plans to win Queen of the Ring before chasing her 15th world title at SummerSlam.
But things quickly took a turn for the worse.
As Flair made her way toward the ring, she ran into Jade Cargill, who was with B-Fab and Michin. Cargill talked about her upcoming Women’s United States Championship match against Tiffany Stratton and promised to take the title. Flair said she had no interest in that rivalry and was focused on her own goals.
After Flair walked away, Cargill, B-Fab, and Michin attacked her from behind. They specifically targeted Flair’s surgically repaired knee, with Cargill repeatedly stomping on the injured leg.
Following the attack, Nick Aldis and Alexa Bliss checked on Flair and questioned whether she should still compete. Despite the damage, Flair refused to back out.
Liv Morgan capitalizes on Charlotte Flair’s injury to enter the Queen of the Ring final
As soon as the match started, Liv Morgan went right after Flair’s injured knee. She chop-blocked her, slammed the leg into the ring apron, and later drove it into the steel steps. Throughout the match, Morgan kept attacking the already injured knee.
But even after that, Flair kept fighting back. She hit a diving crossbody, landed a superkick, connected with a spider suplex, and nearly won with a diving Natural Selection. At one point, she even locked Morgan in the Figure Eight and looked close to advancing to the finals.
But Morgan wouldn’t give up.
Morgan continued targeting the injured knee every chance she got. As the match went on, Flair struggled to climb the ropes and occasionally collapsed while attempting bigger moves.
Medical staff, along with Alexa Bliss and Nick Aldis, checked on her outside the ring, but Flair refused to quit. She got back into the match. Morgan delivered Oblivion but Flair still refused to stay down.
The match finally ended when Morgan locked in a half-crab submission. With her knee already heavily damaged and no way to escape, Flair had no choice but to tap out.
The win sent Morgan to the Queen of the Ring finals against Iyo Sky.
At this point, it’s unclear whether Flair suffered a legitimate injury or if the attack was purely part of WWE’s storyline.
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