In 2000, Flair made her first appearances in professional wrestling at the age of 14, appearing with her father in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as Ashley Flair during his feud with Vince Russo and her half-brother David. On the May 15 episode of Monday Nitro, Flair appeared in a vignette in which Russo, David and Daffney invaded the Flair family home until being confronted by Flair, her mother Beth, and her brother Reid. At The Great American Bash on June 11, Flair was at ringside for a retirement match between Ric and David. After Russo attempted to interfere in the match on David’s behalf, she and her brother Reid attacked him and handcuffed him, enabling their father to go on to defeat David. On the following evening’s episode of Monday Nitro, David and Russo faced Ric in a handicap match with the Flair family once again at ringside. Flair attempted to interfere on her father’s behalf, but was restrained by R&B Security, Russo’s henchmen, allowing David and Russo to defeat Ric and partially shave his head.

Fliehr was arrested on September 5, 2008 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina for assaulting a police officer after a fight involving her, her then-boyfriend, and her father. She pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was sentenced to 45 days in jail, which was suspended to supervised probation and a $200 fine.

From May 2010 until February 2013, Fliehr was married to Riki Johnson. In Second Nature, a joint biography of her and her father released in late 2017, she revealed that she allegedly left Johnson after having been the victim of multiple domestic assaults. In October 2018, Johnson filed a lawsuit against Fliehr, author Brian Shields, her father, and WWE for “defamatory statements” that were written in the book. From 2013 to October 2015, Fliehr was married to Thomas Latimer, better known by his ring name Bram. Fliehr has been in a relationship with fellow WWE wrestler Manuel Andrade Oropeza, better known by the ring name Andrade. The couple got engaged on January 1, 2020.

On May 17, 2012, she signed a developmental contract with WWE and trained under Lodi in North Carolina before joining NXT, the WWE developmental territory, in Tampa, Florida. Her trainers in NXT included Sara Del Rey. Fliehr adopted the ring name Charlotte and had her first televised singles match on the July 17, 2013 episode of NXT, where she defeated Bayley. In late 2013, Charlotte formed a tag team with Bayley, and the two defeated Aksana and Alicia Fox on the September 4 episode of NXT. On the October 10 episode of NXT, Bayley accompanied Charlotte to a match against Santana Garrett, which she won, but during the match The BFFs—Beautiful, Fierce Females (Sasha Banks and Summer Rae) came to the ring and attempted to convince Bayley to join them, much to Charlotte’s annoyance.

Fliehr was born in Charlotte, North Carolina to Ric Flair and his then-wife Elizabeth Harrell. She has an older half-sister, Megan, and an older half-brother, David, while her younger brother Reid died on March 29, 2013. Fliehr won two NCHSAA 4 A-State championships for volleyball during her time at Providence High School and was team captain and player of the year in 2004–2005. She attended Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, playing volleyball in the 2005 and 2006 seasons before transferring to North Carolina State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in public relations in Spring 2008 while also being a certified personal trainer prior to becoming a wrestler.

In early May, Charlotte competed in an eight-woman tournament for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship, defeating Emma in the first round, Alexa Bliss in the semi-finals and Natalya in the finals at NXT TakeOver on May 29, 2014, to win the NXT Women’s Championship for the first time in her career, her first championship win in the WWE. After a four-month absence from the show, Summer Rae returned on the June 6 episode of NXT, distracting Bayley and allowing Charlotte to defeat her, after which the BFFs attempted to attack Bayley, only to be chased away by Emma and the returning Paige. The altercation prompted a six-woman tag team match on the June 12 episode of NXT, which the BFFs lost after Bayley pinned Charlotte. On the July 3 episode of NXT, Charlotte got a measure of retribution over Bayley in a tag team match, where she and Sasha Banks defeated Bayley and Becky Lynch. After the match Charlotte left Banks to get attacked by Bayley, with Banks officially disbanding the BFFs in a backstage segment later that night.

Flair was ringside for the December 6, 2004 episode of Raw in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, where Lita and Trish Stratus competed in the main event for the WWE Women’s Championship. Almost 12 years later, on July 25, 2016, Flair herself and rival Sasha Banks would do the same, marking only the third time a Women’s Championship match main evented Raw.

After winning the Raw Women’s Championship 4 times, the SmackDown Women’s Championship 5 times, the NXT Championship 2 times and the WWE Divas Championship 1 time, she is the most decorated woman in WWE with 12 titles. Also, she became one of the two first women to headline a WWE pay-per-view event in October 2016 (alongside Sasha Banks) and one of three women to headline WrestleMania, WWE’s flagship annual event, in April 2019 (alongside Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey). During her feud with Banks, they also were the first women to compete in a Hell in a Cell match. Flair’s athletic skills have been praised several times.

At Hell in a Cell on October 30, Flair regained the title from Banks in the first ever women’s Hell in a Cell match to become a three-time women’s champion. This was also the first time a women’s match was the last match on a WWE pay-per-view. The following night on Raw, Flair was revealed as captain of Team Raw for Survivor Series on November 20, where Team Raw defeated Team SmackDown with Flair and Bayley being the survivors for Team Raw. On the November 28 episode of Raw, Flair competed against Banks in a falls count anywhere match, where Banks defeated Flair for the title, after which Ric Flair came out and celebrated with Banks. A 30-minute iron man match between the two was scheduled for Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, which resulted in a 2–2 draw, but Flair defeated Banks 3–2 in sudden death overtime, becoming a record four-time Raw Women’s Champion as well as ending their six months feud since it was stipulated that Banks could not invoke her rematch clause after that. Shortly after, Flair started a feud with Bayley who managed to defeat her in two non-title matches since her main roster debut in August. This led to a title match between the two that took place at the Royal Rumble on January 29, 2017, where Flair successfully retained the title over Bayley.

On April 11, 2017, Flair was moved to SmackDown brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up. The following week on SmackDown Live, she defeated SmackDown Women’s Champion Naomi in a non-title match, to earn a title opportunity, which ended in a no-contest after The Welcoming Committee (Natalya, Carmella and Tamina) attacked both contestants. This match made Flair the first woman in WWE history to ever compete in the main events of Raw, SmackDown and a WWE pay-per-view. In May, Flair aligned with Becky Lynch and Naomi against The Welcoming Committee, turning face in the process. At Backlash, The Welcoming Committee defeated Flair, Naomi and Lynch in a six-woman tag team match when the latter submitted to Natalya’s sharpshooter. Shortly afterwards, Flair competed at Money in the Bank, as part of the first ever women’s money in the bank ladder match, which was won by Carmella. On July 23, at Battleground, Flair competed in a five-way elimination match to determine the number one contender for the championship but was the last woman eliminated eventual winner Natalya.

Flair appeared in the January 2016 issue of Muscle & Fitness. Flair ranked 29th out of 50 in the 2017 Sports Illustrated fittest woman athletes of the year. In June 2018, Flair appeared in the ESPN Body 10 magazine.

In 2017, Flair portrayed Heather Rockrear in Psych: The Movie.

Flair released Second Nature: The Legacy of Ric Flair and the Rise of Charlotte, co-written with her father and Brian Shields, author of the WWE Encyclopedia. on September 19, 2017.

Towards the end of 2017, Flair once again aligned with Becky Lynch and Naomi to feud with debuting The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan), after the three attacked them shortly after their debut. At Fastlane on March 11, 2018, Flair defeated Ruby Riott to retain the SmackDown Women’s Championship and was subsequently challenged by Royal Rumble winner Asuka. Flair won the ensuing title match at WrestleMania 34 by making Asuka submit, ending the challenger’s undefeated streak at 914 days in the process. Two days after later, on the April 10 episode of SmackDown, The IIconics (Peyton Royce and Billie Kay) attacked Flair during a promo. Carmella used the opportunity to cash in her Money in the Bank contract and won the championship. Flair failed to regain the title in a rematch on May 6 at Backlash. In June, Flair competed in her second Money in the Bank ladder match, which was ultimately won by Alexa Bliss. After the event, Flair took time off to undergo a surgery due to a ruptured breast implant.

On January 27, 2019, at the Royal Rumble, Flair competed in the women’s Royal Rumble match, lasting 50:01 minutes; she eliminated five women and was the final woman eliminated by the winner, Becky Lynch. As a result, Lynch earned a title match against Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 35. However, in February, Vince McMahon (kayfabe) suspended Lynch for 60 days and replaced her with Flair. In March, Lynch was reinstated. At Fastlane, she defeated Flair via disqualification, after Rousey attacked Lynch to give her the win, making the title match at WrestleMania a triple threat match. Just a few days before WrestleMania, on the March 26 episode of SmackDown, Flair defeated Asuka to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship for a third time, becoming the only woman in WWE history to have won eight women’s championships. At the event, in what was the first time that women main evented a WrestleMania event, Flair lost her championship in a Winner takes all for both her SmackDown and Ronda Rousey’s Raw Women’s Championships when Lynch pinned Rousey to win both titles.

On January 26, 2020, at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Flair won the Royal Rumble match by lastly eliminating Shayna Baszler. Flair spent weeks teasing an announcement regarding her championship opponent at WrestleMania 36, leading to confrontations with NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley on Raw and NXT. At NXT TakeOver: Portland, after Ripley retained her championship against Bianca Belair, Flair attacked Ripley from behind and accepted Ripley’s challenge to face her for the NXT Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 36, and later attacked Belair. This marked the first time that the Rumble winner chose an NXT championship to challenge for at WrestleMania, which were previously ineligible, as well as marking the first time that an NXT championship would be defended at WrestleMania. At the event, Flair defeated Ripley to capture her second NXT Women’s Championship, tying the record with Baszler, and marking her overall 12th women’s title in WWE. At NXT TakeOver: In Your House, Flair lost the NXT Women’s Championship to Io Shirai in a triple threat match also involving Rhea Ripley, ending her reign at 63 days and making her second reign as champion the shortest reign in the championships history. Afterwards, Flair announced that she would be taking time off to undergo another surgery on her breast implants.