Ric Flair sets the record straight.
Flair recently spoke with Chris Van Vliet about his Last Match event in Nashville. During the conversation, Van Vliet asked if that was definitively his last match. Flair said he felt like he wanted to wrestle again, adding that his final match motivated him to get in great shape.
The statement garnered plenty of attention, and now Flair has spoken out and clarified the original statement. Flair told PWInsider.com that his comments were taken out of context, and he has no intentions of wrestling again.
“No, that was completely taken out of context. No, I have no desire to wrestle again,” Flair stated. “I said I could, because I feel great. And if I did, I could be better because I would learn from the mistakes I made getting ready last time, which was not hydrating. I weighed 218 and I didn’t drink any water that day, a combination of nerves and everything else.
“We really had worked out what you would have thought, Mike, as a decent match, not great by any means. But when I mentioned that I didn’t feel good, everybody thought I was having a heart attack and that was a blatant error on my part,” Flair explained, “But no, I feel great. I’m so damn… I’m probably the only guy in the business that doesn’t have a knee replacement or hip replacement or anything. I feel great.”
The Original Statement
For context, Flair’s original statement to Van Vliet was:
CVV: How does he feel like that night went?
Flair: “Everything went great, including the 9,000 people we packed in there. Which was more than WCW or WWE had in the building in forever. And then I just walked down the ramp and I just, a combination of being nervous and everything, started out fine. Then I don’t know why, I got lightheaded for a second. I made the mistake of saying to one of the guys that I don’t feel good. Well, they all thought I was talking about my heart or something like that. That’s the worst thing I did. And then I got lightheaded, I was in and out during the match.”
CVV: Was there a point where he thought he might not finish the match?
Flair: “Oh yeah, I was fighting like hell to get through it. But it was fighting here [points to his head], it was nothing I felt. I wasn’t hurting anywhere. I just felt bad because the guys were all worried about my health and we had constructed such a great match. If it had come off the way we’d practiced forever, it would have been a masterpiece. But I walked back in the locker room, [The Undertaker] made me drink three Gatorades. Then I went to Kid Rock’s [bar in Nashville] and drank all night long. [laughs] It couldn’t have affected me that bad, I went to [the bar].”
CVV: What was missing from the match?
Flair: “[They were] going to slam me off the top rope, suplex me. Stuff on the floor, everyone just panicked. All with concern for [my health], they didn’t forget their parts, [they just thought] ‘let’s get through this’. That’s why I had to fake that heart attack. ‘Slow down, I’m OK!’ I never should have said anything, right? So we got a little bit more of it back in, but my son-in-law had to put the brass knucks on my hand, he’s going, ‘Wake up, sir!’ [laughs] That was it.”
CVV: Is that for sure your last match?
Flair: “I want to wrestle again right now. Isn’t it crazy? I feel like because, Ricky Morton, the guy that I should have chosen for my last match would have been great Ricky Morton is still wrestling. You know what the best thing for me about it was, is I forced myself to really get in shape. I’ve heard this from guys over the years. When they were older, I was in my prime. The older guys would say, ‘Man, I’m tired of working out.’ “There gets a time when you just get bored working out. You don’t have a goal. I mean, they gave me a goal and I just attacked it. I didn’t stop drinking or anything but I was training literally training three hours a day, five days a week in the ring, or I was doing the sled, the ropes. Yeah, I got my bench press up for two and a quarter. I mean, so from being dead to all that was pretty cool.”
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