It would appear that the in-ring pro wrestling career of one of the greatest performers of all-time is officially over. Ric Flair recently revealed in an interview that he will never wrestle again but that doesn’t mean he is done in the pro wrestling business.
[adinserter block=”1″]The former WWE, NWA, and WCW world champion Ric Flair ended a media hiatus recently with a fascinating interview over at WrestleNewz.com. The Nature Boy talked about a variety of subjects but it is answer about whether he would don the tights again that has people talking today.
“I want to be in the ring, but it will never happen again. I said I’d never wrestle in WWE… and then there’s the Jerry Lawler incident.”
Flair goes into greater detail about his decision and the impact that Lawler’s heart attack had on him and whether it changed his perception of his in-ring career.
“Yeah, it really did. I like Jerry very much. What happened to Jerry was terrible, and thank God he’s OK. But I wish people wouldn’t gauge me by what happened to him. Everybody’s an individual. But I think it kind of put a decision on my future in the ring, you know what I mean? And that’s fine, because I went back to the ring in TNA, and that will never happen again.”
If Flair is truly serious about his retirement from in-ring competition that would make his match vs. Sting on the September 15 Impact Wrestling episode his last match. While it was nothing I would call embarrassing, it is almost sad that this will be the last we ever see of one of the greatest of all-time inside the ring. At least he got to go out against one of his legendary rivals.
This doesn’t mean that Flair is retiring from pro wrestling. Flair has eyes for a big return to the WWE. Flair was asked what he could bring to the table right now as a non-wrestler.
“Oh I’ll rock the world when I get back on TV. You know that. You don’t even have to ask the question! Everyone knows I’ll rock the world. I’m very excited to get back in there soon.”
Flair also talked about bringing charisma back to the WWE. He makes a great point here about charisma lacking today.
“I think that wrestling is in a good spot. I’d just say that it’s very hard right now to replace Steve Austin, The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Triple H. The Undertaker’s not working right now, and a lot of guys are off the roster right now. You just can’t make that kind of stuff overnight. It takes years to build that kind of notoriety, and they’re being very patient and working hard. You know, Vince is a genius. He’ll make it work, but it will take time.”
[adinserter block=”2″]All signs point to Flair eventually returning to the WWE. Unfortunately it would appear that Flair’s return is being held up by what I think is a ridiculous lawsuit between TNA Wrestling and the WWE. The WWE have a freeze on signing TNA talent right now (which may be lifted once negotiations with Jeff Hardy begin). Flair is a casualty of the mess as he is off limits right now until the lawsuit gets settled.
Check out the entire interview over at WrestleNewz.com. It’s a great read!
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If Naitch is officially retired this time, he'll probably become the new RAW GM as I bet WWE had planned before this whole TNA lawsuit thing appeared. Either that, or he'll manage someone.