Tag: Ric Flair

Ric Flair details rejected pitch he had for Sting’s AEW retirement match

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Ric Flair wanted to betray Sting one final time before Sting ended his in-ring career.

During a Monday appearance on Busted Open Radio, Flair detailed an idea he had for Sting’s retirement match at AEW Revolution. He wanted the match to go exactly as it did except he would have turned heel and gotten laid out by Sting at the end. Flair believes the crowd would have loved it, and he thinks it would have given him a direction to go in as a heel in AEW after Revolution.

“I wanted those guys to have the same match, but at the end, you know, instead of leaving me laying there like that, just keep me on the outside the whole time. At the end, as Sting is standing there and those guys are gone, I jump on Sting — boom, boom, boom, one big move to me, puts the Scorpion on me, and we go off the way we started 31 years ago,” Flair said. “You know what I mean? It would have blown the roof off the joint. And it would have made me a heel so I had somewhere to go, because it’s just hard to get the people to get mad at me now.”

Revolution took place from Greensboro, North Carolina this March and ended with Sting capping off his career with a victory. Sting & Darby Allin defeated The Young Bucks to retain the AEW Tag Team titles and then vacated the belts after their win.

Flair was laid out by a double superkick from The Young Bucks during the Revolution match. He told Busted Open Radio that he thinks a lot of fans were disappointed that he didn’t turn against Sting.

“They looked at me like I had seven different things,” Flair said about pitching the idea. “I don’t think Tony [Khan] knew that I was on blood thinners. I’ve been doing all that sh*t for all these years. I’ve had that blood clot since 2012. Tony, if he asked me once, he asked me 10 times, he said, ‘Do not cut yourself, please.'”

While laughing, Flair indicated that he hasn’t heard back from AEW since Revolution.

Flair was in AEW as part of Sting’s retirement tour. Dave Meltzer confirmed last week that Flair’s time in AEW appears to be over with the promotion having no future creative plans for him.

On Busted Open Radio, Flair praised Revolution as a great show and said Will Ospreay vs. Konosuke Takeshita was one of the best matches he’s seen in a long time. He also had kind words for MJF, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega.

Ric Flair done with AEW as energy drink sponsorship winds down

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: AEW

After a brief run with AEW, Ric Flair appears to be done with the company as is the Wooooo! Energy deal that brought him in to begin with.

Fightful first reported the latest developments on Friday that the company has no future creative plans for Flair with Dave Meltzer confirming independently afterward.

In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Meltzer reported the following:

“Those who have pointed out no “Wooooo! Energy” graphics on the screen of late, that is a smart observation and unless something changes, it doesn’t look like you’ll be seeing that going forward. There was no explanation given, but unless something changes, it does look like that deal is over with.”

Flair first appeared on an October 2023 edition of Dynamite to reunite with Sting as Tony Khan’s “special gift” to the icon as part of the lead-in to his retirement run. At the same time, a multi-year sponsorship deal between Wooooo! Energy deal and AEW was announced and on a November episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Flair said he had signed a two-year deal.

It’s unclear if both sides decided to mutually end the deal early or if there were other circumstances that led to its demise.

Khan said in a later interview that the deal was paying for Flair’s appearances and that “he’s essentially paying (AEW).”

Flair was part of Sting’s final run to retirement which occurred in Greensboro, NC, at March’s Revolution. He was double superkicked by the Young Bucks during Sting & Darby Allin’s AEW Tag Team title defense over the Bucks that night which saw Sting and Allin retain.

The short run was not without controversy as Flair cut a suggestive promo on an episode of AEW Rampage last fall that was heavily edited when it made air. The blowback caused Flair to say he would “walk away” from AEW if he was embarrassing the company.

Flair has been in the news for other incidents and comments as of late which includes a well-publicized conflict in a restaurant and some comments against Eric Bischoff, Jim Herd and Vince Russo which he walked back.

The Rock’s Seven Bucks Productions is currently in the early stages of working on a biopic about Flair’s life.

Ric Flair issues apology to Eric Bischoff, Vince Russo & Jim Herd

Posted on by Ian Carey

Ric Flair has apologized for his comments about a “three-headed monster” having killed WCW.

On Monday, Flair posted to social media that Eric Bischoff, Vince Russo, and Jim Herd were responsible for the death of the company. Flair wrote that it was, “the people in charge that created dysfunction, animosity, and tried to divide and conquer by lying to everyone and involving themselves in the promotion which was the ultimate failure!”

On Wednesday morning, Flair issued an apology to Bischoff, Russo, and Herd.

Flair wrote:

“A Very Important Person In My Life Reminded Me Yesterday That Twitter Is The Weakest Form Of Communication. I Want To Take This Opportunity To Apologize To Jim Herd, @EBischoff, And @THEVinceRusso Because I Really Don’t Know. I Unfairly Judged You Without Knowing The Inner Workings And Behind The Scenes Of The Business On The Corporate End With People You Had To Report To And Work With. I Wish On A Personal Note That All 3 Of Us Could Have Worked Together And Had Better Relationships! For Vince Calling Me The GOAT, I Appreciate That & You Did Help My Son To Pursue His Dream In Wrestling. I Am Going To Do Eric Bischoff’s Podcast, But It Won’t Be To Bury Anybody. It’s To Discuss Our Differences! @TheRock Is Making A Movie On My Life, And I’m In A Great Place! I Hope This Can All Be Put Behind Us!”

Flair would later add the following:

“I’m Happy To See The Response To My Tweet. I Just Spoke To @EBischoff Personally And He’s At Peace, @THEVinceRusso Is At Peace, And Hopefully So Is Jim Herd. I Won’t Be Appearing On Eric’s Podcast Tomorrow As A Result Of Our Conversation, But I Wish Him The Best Of Luck & I’m Sure He’ll Knock It Out Of The Park!”

Bischoff addressed Flair’s initial comments during a live episode of his 83 Weeks podcast that streamed immediately following the airing of “Who Killed WCW?” episode two last night. He responded that while Flair might know more than anyone else about what goes on inside the ring, he doesn’t have experience on the business side of wrestling.

Bischoff said:

“I’m sure Ric has his opinions, and they’re real to Ric in his mind and he still feels strongly about it, obviously, but it doesn’t mean he’s right. It’s just his opinion. It would be like me saying well wait, I’ve produced over 5000 hours of prime-time television, I should be able to wrestle a 20-minute match, I should be able to critique Ric Flair’s matches.”

Flair and Russo had gone back and forth on X following Flair’s initial comments on Monday as well.

“Looks like The Nature Boy is Hitting that RUM CANDY Again!!!” Russo wrote. “Thanks for Giving me that Much Credit. For a Writer to take down a Multi-Million Dollar Company through Words on a Page? I guess I really was Special. Not my fault you weren’t in the Doc, Rick. Sorry, man. I hope you don’t think my excessive use of your son David, and the Rest of Your Family for that Matter—who were all GREAT BY THE WAY—wasn’t the Knife that drew the Company’s Last Blood. Yeah—I failed at Laying Low too.”

Flair responded to Russo:

“Wow, Glad You Got Back To Me @THEVinceRusso!!! Whatever Candy I’m Eating At Least I Can Afford To Eat Which I’m Not Sure You Can. I Would Give You $20k, @EBischoff $20k, And Jim Herd $20k A Piece Wired In Advance To Show Up In Tampa Or Atlanta. I’ll Rent The Venue In Tampa Or Atlanta, It Will Sell Out For Sure, So We Can Hash This Out. And I Guarantee That I Can Probably Sell This To A PPV Status Because I’m Ric Flair And You’re Not. Story Of My Life!”

Russo responded to Flair’s apology on Wednesday. He wrote: “Life is way too short to hold any Grievances, Ric. Honestly, at this Point I don’t have any animosity towards anybody and I am at Total Peace. I appreciate your words this morning more than you will ever know. God Bless You, Sir.”

Ric Flair blames ‘Three-Headed Monster’ for killing WCW

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Ric Flair took to social media on Monday to blame “A Three-Headed Monster” for killing WCW in the wake of Vice’s new docuseries on the subject.

In a post on X, Flair noted that he had tried to “lay low” regarding ‘Who Killed WCW?’ but that he blames former executive vice president Jim Herd, senior vice president Eric Bischoff, and head writer Vince Russo for tanking the wrestling promotion.

Flair wrote:

“I’ve Tried To Lay Low On This But Let’s Face It- Who Killed WCW? It’s A Three-Headed Monster! Jim Herd, @EBischoff, And @THEVinceRusso!!! There’s No Individual Wrestler Or Faction That Caused Anything To Kill WCW. It Was The People In Charge That Created Dysfunction, Animosity, And Tried To Divide And Conquer By Lying To Everyone And Involving Themselves In The Promotion Which Was The Ultimate Failure! God, I Could Give You A Thousand More Examples. I Am One To Live Through All Three Nightmares And To Be Saved By The @WWE! Thank You To The WWE For Bringing Someone Who Was Dead In The Water As A Result Of These Three People Back To Life!”

Russo responded to Flair with his own social media post:

“Looks like The Nature Boy is Hitting that RUM CANDY Again!!! Thanks for Giving me that Much Credit. For a Writer to take down a Multi-Million Dollar Company through Words on a Page? I guess I really was Special. Not my fault you weren’t in the Doc, Rick. Sorry, man. I hope you don’t think my excessive use of your son David, and the Rest of Your Family for that Matter—who were all GREAT BY THE WAY—wasn’t the Knife that drew the Company’s Last Blood. Yeah—I failed at Laying Low too.”

Flair responded to Russo, then proposed a summit with the 91 year-old Herd, Bischoff, and Russo where he would pay each $20,000 to appear, selling tickets and perhaps producing the event for pay-per-view to “hash this out”:

“Wow, Glad You Got Back To Me @THEVinceRusso!!! Whatever Candy I’m Eating At Least I Can Afford To Eat Which I’m Not Sure You Can. I Would Give You $20k, @EBischoff $20k, And Jim Herd $20k A Piece Wired In Advance To Show Up In Tampa Or Atlanta. I’ll Rent The Venue In Tampa Or Atlanta, It Will Sell Out For Sure, So We Can Hash This Out. And I Guarantee That I Can Probably Sell This To A PPV Status Because I’m Ric Flair And You’re Not. Story Of My Life!”

DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: Why May 1984 was a huge month in wrestling

Posted on by Karl Stern

On a new DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I have a detailed look at the month of May 1984 in pro wrestling history.

It was one of the most significant months ever: Kerry Von Erich wins the NWA World title from Ric Flair in the largest show in Texas history followed by Flair regaining the title in Japan, Rick Martel becomes AWA World champion, Vince McMahon Sr. dies, Andy Kaufman dies, and much more.

If you are a fan of classic old school pro wrestling history, this is a great jumping on point.

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Wrestling Observer Live: Ric Flair tirade, Tony Khan wrestling, Rocky Romero talks NJPW Resurgence

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including Ric Flair’s restaurant incident, Tony Khan correctly says he should never wrestle, the NXT Combine gimmick, and more, plus Rocky Romero joins us to talk New Japan Resurgence! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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Ric Flair says he ‘was wrong for getting mad’ during restaurant incident

Posted on by Ian Carey

Ric Flair has addressed an incident that took place at a Gainseville Piesanos location over the weekend. 

Update:

On Wednesday, Flair was a guest on “The MJ Morning Show on Q105,” and stated he was wrong to lose his temper during the altercation. He also denied alcohol played a role in what happened. 

“It just escalated and I was wrong for getting mad, but I kind of felt like I was defending my position,” Flair said on the radio show (via TMZ).

Flair continued:

I was wrong for losing my temper. When I feel like I’m put in that area where I’m uncomfortable and all of a sudden everything just fell apart, I got upset.

I was wrong for getting upset. I probably just should have just walked out the door, but it caught me so off-guard because we were having a wonderful time. Then all of a sudden … someone in their kitchen said I did something wrong in the bathroom and there’s no one there except me and him.

Flair also stated he only drank Michelob Ultras and had “probably” two mixed drinks. He denies having been inebriated at the restaurant. It was also noted that Flair has already ordered Piesanos through Uber Eats since the incident took place. 

Original:

Ric Flair was involved in an incident with the staff of a Piesanos in Gainesville, Florida over the weekend. 

On Sunday, Flair posted to social media that he had been asked to leave the restaurant following an altercation with the kitchen manager in the bathroom.

Footage of Flair berating the restaurant’s manager leaked online yesterday but does not show the altercation between him and the kitchen manager. Flair says the kitchen manager approached him in the bathroom.

“I’m like, I don’t shake hands or take photos in bathrooms,” Flair said to the Gainesville Sun on Tuesday.

After this, Flair says the kitchen manager went into a restroom stall and was “texting away” minutes later. In Flair’s social media post about the incident on Sunday, he said he took issue with “The Kitchen Manager Taking Too Long In The Bathroom.”

“Any man that goes into a bathroom knows you can see into the stall,” Flair continued. “I said, ‘Get your a– off there, I need to use the restroom.’ “

Flair says another staff employee approached him after he left the washroom and called him a “creep” and a “peeping Tom.”

“I’m not going to tolerate that and you wouldn’t either,” Flair said. “… That’s a pretty offensive remark.”

Flair then spoke with the restaurant manager about the situation, which was captured on the footage that leaked yesterday. 

“I’ll be quite honest with you, I was pissed because I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s my word against the kitchen employee and it makes no sense,” Flair said. “I admit to everything I said. I have no problem with it because I was mad.”

Flair says he tipped $1000 on a tab of around $200 to two bartenders. In the video, he can be heard offering a server a $1000 tip if they told the restaurant manager he could “kiss my ass.”

Piesanos co-owner Jerry Roberts also spoke with the Sun on Tuesday. He said that no matter how much Flair tipped the staff or spent in the restaurant, they could not tolerate how he was treating others.

“It was really a matter of principle on how our team was treated and no matter how much money someone’s willing to spend, if they’re not going to treat our team with respect, we just felt like that was the right thing to do,” Roberts said.

“The video that has now been leaked by somebody else speaks for itself,” he added.

Flair said that he is considering legal action against the restaurant, or perhaps purchasing it outright.

“I have the money to buy the restaurant,” he said. “It’ll be called Ric Flair’s Italian Bistro.”

Footage of Ric Flair restaurant incident emerges

Posted on by Ian Carey

Footage of an incident between Ric Flair and the staff of a pizza restaurant has surfaced. 

Flair was asked to leave a Piesanos location in Gainesville, Florida over the weekend after taking issue with an employee who Flair believes was “taking too long in the bathroom.” 

Flair later posted to social media on Sunday writing, “Anyone Who Wants To Enjoy A Relaxing Time In Gainesville At A Nice Restaurant To Never Visit This Place! WOOOOO!”

The restaurant’s co-owner Jerry Roberts told the Gainesville Sun that he reviewed footage of the incident and is pleased with how his staff handled the situation. 

On Tuesday, footage of Flair at what appears to be the same Piesanos location was published on TikTok by an anonymous account that has never posted before. In the video, someone who appears to be a restaurant employee accuses Flair of having accosted the restaurant’s kitchen manager. Flair can be heard insulting the person, referring to them at one point as “Nicholas Dickhead.” 

Wrestling Observer Radio: Ric Flair, Flair vs. Kerry memories, RAW report, ratings, mailbag

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including Ric Flair’s wild week of stories, his presumed heart attack in his final match, the match with Kerry Von Erich 40 years ago today, RAW from Monday night with the King and Queen of the Ring tournament matches, ratings, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!

Timestamps:

Start: Ric Flair says he suffered a heart attack during last match, Flair asked to leave restaurant following an incident with the kitchen manager, 40th anniversary of Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich NWA World title change

18:42: Lineups for this week

24:57: Dark Side of the Ring on Black Saturday

30:25: Ratings

32:00: WWE Raw recap

56:38: Mailbag

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Wrestling Observer Live: WrestleMania Vegas, Ric Flair heart attack, Gulak and Rousey, more

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including Ric Flair alleging a heart attack in his last match, WrestleMania in Vegas, Ronda Rousey and Drew Gulak and Hunter vs. the media, WWE Speed, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!

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Ric Flair asked to leave restaurant following incident with kitchen manager

Posted on by Ian Carey

Ric Flair is not happy with how his recent trip to a stone-fired pizza restaurant went. 

Flair posted to social media over the weekend that he was asked to leave a Piesanos location in Gainesville, Florida after taking issue with “The kitchen manager taking too long in the bathroom.”

Flair wrote:

I Spent $1500 At @piesanosstonefiredpizza To Be Disrespected More Than I Ever Have In My Entire Life. After Taking 20 Pictures With Customers And Staff, I Was Asked To Leave Because Of An Issue I Had With The Kitchen Manager Taking Too Long In The Bathroom. I Would Highly Recommend That Anyone Who Wants To Enjoy A Relaxing Time In Gainesville At A Nice Restaurant To Never Visit This Place! WOOOOO!

Piesanos co-owner Jerry Roberts spoke to the Gainesville Sun and said he is proud of how the restaurant staff responded to the incident. However, he declined to mention what specifically led to Flair being asked to leave.

“We have reviewed video of the incident that took place recently at our restaurant. It is clear, our team worked in a professional manner to ensure the safety of guests and staff. We have thanked our team for their professionalism. We are proud of how they responded to this situation using and displaying our team values,” Roberts said. 

Flair posted a photo from the restaurant on Sunday, captioned with:

In Gainesville At Graduation! The Family That Continues To Grow! Congratulations Paris And Summer! WOOOOO!

Earlier today, clips from Flair’s recent appearance on the Jaxxon Podcast made headlines as he revealed doctors have told him he had a heart attack at some point within the last two years. Flair believes he suffered it during his last match in 2022. 

Today is also the anniversary of Flair dropping the NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Kerry Von Erich at Texas Stadium.

“40 years ago today was the Kerry Von Erich NWA title win over Ric Flair at Texas Stadium. This was the culmination of an 18 year chase dating back to Fritz failing to beat Kiniski, Dory Jr., Race and Terry Funk. One of my favorite wrestling memories live. The day was brutally hot,” our own Dave Meltzer wrote on X. 

Ric Flair believes he suffered heart attack during last match

Posted on by Ian Carey

Ric Flair believes he suffered a heart attack during his last match. 

During an appearance on The Jaxxon Podcast last month, Flair said that doctors informed him in late 2023 that he’d had a heart attack sometime within the last two years. Flair believes it occurred at Ric Flair’s Last Match on July 31, 2022.

Flair said:

I went to get what’s called a calcium scan, which I’d never had before, because a couple of guys died in our business of heart issues so it kind of scared me.

They give you the nuclear stress test, shoot you with the dye, put you on the treadmill, everything. It’s two days of three hours of tests. This is six months ago. The guy takes me in, and if you look at your heart like a round pie, there’s a piece of my heart right here this big, it’s black, it’s gone. The guy said, ‘You’ve had a heart attack in the last two years.’ 

He said, ‘Have you passed out in the last two years?’ And during my last match, I passed out three times. And I thought it was because I was dehydrated. So I went in the locker room with Kid Rock and Taker, I just drank two bottles of gatorade and went back out to Kid Rock’s place all night long. But I had a heart attack.

A couple of weeks after the match, Flair mentioned on his podcast that he had passed out twice during the match and again noted that he believed this was due to dehydration. He also mentioned The Undertaker insisted he drink Gatorade rather than beer when he got back to the locker room. 

“I swear to god twice during the match, I went completely black,” Flair said in August 2022. “My hand started trembling, yeah, but it was all dehydration. I had two doctors in there right away with me and everything. The Undertaker came running in and said – I had six beers there – he took them out of my hand and said, ‘You’re drinking two Gatorades first,’ I said, ‘Gatorade?’ So, I drank two and that was all it was.”

Earlier this year, it was reported that The Rock’s Seven Bucks Productions is developing a film on Flair’s life. However, Flair recently publicly criticized another Seven Bucks project, the upcoming Who Killed WCW? docuseries produced by Seven Bucks and Vice TV. Flair is upset at not having been interviewed for the series and posted to X, “As Usual More Bullshit, No Interview With Ric Flair Who Was WCW, And Who Made Everyone There For 20 Years. Run By The The Same People Who Killed The Company. How Embarrassing!! A Documentary About WCW Without Me!”

Ric Flair project in development by The Rock’s Seven Bucks Productions

Posted on by Josh Nason

The story of Ric Flair may be heading to the big screen in the years ahead.

The Wrap reported Wednesday that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions is developing a project on the incomparable life of Flair. Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia will produce along with Kevin Misher of Misher Films.

The team previously teamed up on 2019’s “Fighting With My Family” — a film based on the life and family of AEW’s Saraya, then Paige in WWE.

Flair was not named as being directly involved and as of this writing, he has yet to publicly comment on it.

Johnson gave the following statement to The Wrap about the project which had no timeline included:

“As a kid who grew up in professional wrestling, I idolized, ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair. He was a hero to me. And once I broke into the wrestling business and began to spill my own sweat and blood – my reverence for Ric turned to respect. Because I realized just how rare and impossible it is to disrupt the wrestling business, culture and truly change the game – and that’s exactly what Ric Flair did. This project is personal, and we can’t wait to tell his unbelievable story. As always, thank you for the house, Ric.”

As part of a multi-year deal with an affiliated energy drink, Flair has made infrequent appearances in AEW alongside his friend and former rival, Sting, as he approaches his retirement match in less than two weeks. Flair wrestled his final match in July 2022.

While Flair has been the focus of several documentaries, this will be the first time he will be depicted in a feature film if that is what the project turns out to be.

A depiction of Flair did famously appear in last year’s “The Iron Claw” film in a performance that was panned by wrestling fans. WWE’s Grayson Waller played Flair on episodes of Johnson’s now-canceled “Young Rock” TV series on NBC.

DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: March 1984

Posted on by Karl Stern

On a new DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I present the 100th installment in my long-form history of pro wrestling series.

This week, join me in looking back at March 1984 which had the fallout from the shocking death of David Von Erich in February, Ric Flair and Harley Race pulling off a secret NWA World title change on the other side of the world, Jumbo Tsuruta touring America as AWA World champion, and Hulk Hogan settling into his initial run as WWF World Champion.

Join me to look back on a very exciting time in the history of pro wrestling.

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