Ric Flair Confident Ahead Of His In-Ring Return: I Didn’t Think Twice, It’s Something I Want To Do

Ric Flair explains why he’s returning to the ring.

During a recent interview with WrestleZone, Ric Flair spoke in detail about his in-ring return at STARRCAST in July. “Ric Flair’s Last Match” is being advertised for the event in Nashville and he spoke about ending his in-ring career on his terms, his current health and his confidence going into the match.

“You know, I’ve never been happy with the way I left [his in-ring career]. When I left, after WWE, it was great, but then I had to wrestle a couple more times (Flair wrestled 16 matches for TNA Wrestling and a Hulk Hogan tour of Australia) because I was paying lawyers and paying alimony, and that’s basically the nuts and bolts of it. A lot of both, but I wasn’t happy with that at all, I wasn’t happy with myself,” Flair stated.

“Then I saw Vince at WrestleMania [38], I saw Steve [Austin] out there and it actually really inspired me. I had been thinking about it, and even though I’ve had my share of issues, I don’t have any aches or pains, if that makes sense. It’s insanity — I broke my back in a plane crash, the doctor told me I’d be totally arthritic at the age of 40, and now I’m 73. I cracked the C5 and C6 in my neck and I shrunk my triceps a little bit, but my neck’s good. Everybody knows about four years ago I had a five percent chance to live, and I lived through that. I had four heart operations in seven weeks and I made it through that, so then I started working out when I came down here to Tampa with Rob, who is John Cena’s personal trainer,” Flair explained. “I said maybe I’ve got one more in me, and my son-in-law, Conrad [Thompson] has his Starrcast [events] around the same time the WWE has [SummerSlam], he said, ‘What do you think about having one more match?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’

“I didn’t even have to think twice about it, but before I said yes, I went over and wrestled a guy named Jay Lethal, just because I had to [test myself] and get it over with, kinda like the first time I went on a plane after I broke my back in the airplane crash. A lot of it is [mental, as he points to his head],” Flair noted, “so I let him slam me a couple times because the only fear I really had was that [my pacemaker] could come unplugged. The doctor said I have so much scar tissue around it, but I’m good to go. Obviously, I have to work on my timing and my reflexes and all of that, but the fear factor is over. It’s something I want to do and I feel like I’ll be better, and give a better accounting of myself than I did 15 years ago, 12 years ago. I’m confident of it.”

Flair said that he talked to his cardiologist about his plans to wrestle and got the go-ahead, adding that he’s focused on getting his timing and speed down during training.

“You can only ask so many people, I had four different heart doctors, three different internists… when you get as sick as I got, you run the complications that ultimately nobody wants to take responsibility for. But I met a doctor down at Auburn University, I respect him and I like him, he understands how I tick and he said the worst that could happen is it comes unplugged and you plug it back in. But I feel great, knock on wood, the only other thing that could possibly cause any issues is I’ve had equilibrium issues a couple of times from headshots,” Flair pointed out, “but I haven’t had that in a long time either, so I’m anticipating that I just really have to go to work on my quickness through drills and the wrestling part, it’s easy.

Flair noted that he will wear a shirt during the Starrcast match for cosmetic reasons, but said that he’s probably in better shape now than he was during his WrestleMania 24 match with Shawn Michaels.

The Roast Of Ric Flair will also headline STARRCAST V, and the weekend will also feature the reunion of the Four Horsemen. One of the competitors in Flair’s match was rumored to be Ricky Steamboat, but Steamboat recently said that he turned the opportunity down.

Stay tuned for our full interview with Ric Flair and Tyson 2.0 Chairman Chad Bronstein, who talk about Flair’s partnership with Mike Tyson’s premium cannabis brand, Ric Flair Drip, Flair’s in-ring return, a movie role he passed on and more.

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