Ric Flair believes events sell themselves now as much as the wrestlers do, and he wants to see talent be able to open up a bit more.
The Nature Boy recently appeared on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast ahead of his final match ever at Starrcast V. During the interview, Ric Flair touched on wrestlers not being allowed to cut loose in the current era, especially when it comes to promos. This, he believes, has led to events selling themselves just as much as the stars.
“You can tell a mile away whether the kids feel it or not. It’s a lot of pressure to read something that you don’t naturally feel in your heart. That’s a big difference. I mean, you could tell the guys that they really take off because they’re taking what they’ve been handed to memorize and then they put some emotion into it, But that’s just talking generically today. That doesn’t sell tickets. When The Rock comes back and wrestles Roman, that’ll sell tickets. When Steve Austin came back, that sold tickets. It’s just a different timeframe.
“The talent is great, make no mistake, there’s some great wrestlers, Orton, my daughter, Sasha Banks, Styles, like there’s a list of great, probably 10 between the two companies. But the events sell themselves now as much as the wrestlers do. I don’t think they turn them loose enough. I know that they want to make sure they get the right advertisers. Everybody has to be happy. It’s a whole different world, but I still love it. I just feel like the guys that are really great like Randy and my daughter are held back because they (WWE) don’t want them to go that far. They don’t want anybody to become The Rock again that’s going to walk off. They don’t want somebody like Steve that could say, ‘I don’t want to do it.’ Back in the day, Hulk could say yes or no. He had that kind of power. I don’t know if that’s healthy, but Vince won’t let that happen again.”
Ric Flair’s last match will take place at Nashville Municipal Auditorium on July 31. His opponent is expected to be announced this Thursday at a press conference.
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Ric Flair and Tyson 2.0 Chairman Chad Bronstein recently spoke with WrestleZone about the partnership between Flair and Mike Tyson’s cannabis brand. Bronstein spoke about why Flair and Tyson make a great pairing, saying that it’s an authentic relationship that resonates with
“The authenticity of Ric and Mike is why multi-state operators are willing to work with them, and then when they come to the dispensary, which we’ve done a lot of tours and Ric’s about to go on one, it’s a lot of fun for the retailer when Ric and Mike show up, and the level of audience that comes. It’s pretty big, so I think that’s what one of the selling points is that a five-year-old knows who they are, and your great-grandfather or grandmother knows who Mike Tyson and Ric Flair are. I think that’s why they resonate, as Ric was saying,” Bronstein noted, “the consistency of who they are, the relevance they continue to create, that’s why operators want to work with them.”
Check out the full interview, including Flair talking about what it means to compete under the Jim Crockett Promotions banner again, at this link.
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