Ric Flair is going to do the best job he can in AEW, no matter what his role is.
WrestleZone spoke with Flair during his appearance at Las Vegas’ Planet 13, the world’s largest cannabis dispensary. Flair was promoting his Ric Flair Drip line of cannabis products. “The Nature Boy” said that the success of the brand continues to amaze him, and he’s happy that people are happy with the product.
“Phenomenal. Every time I think I see something big [and think it can get bigger], it gets bigger,” Flair said. “We partnered with them and had a great turnout at Planet 13 and people were buying the product left and right. Everybody’s happy, which is all that matters to me.”
It’s Showtime
Flair recently joined All Elite Wrestling, first appearing as a “surprise” for Sting, who is on his retirement tour. The dynamic is interesting because Flair and Sting are storied rivals. Flair noted how he didn’t publicly socialize with Sting then, but now they maintain a solid friendship.
“We’ve always been friends. We’ve been close friends, but he’s like Steamboat. I didn’t socialize with those guys; I just made money with them because I’m a little bit different as well. I do my thing. And those guys are considerably more conservative than I am. We have mutual respect, all of us, and the word respect means the world to me,” Flair said.
“Steve always says I made him, he made himself that night,” he explained, referencing their famed match at NWA Clash Of The Champions in 1988. “Who goes 45 minutes, but you’ve never done more than 10, you know what I mean? I thought it was 52 minutes, but Meltzer told me it was 45. I think he knocked a few seconds off.” [laughs]
Keeping the heat
Flair is expected to be at Sting‘s side throughout his retirement tour, which is scheduled to end at AEW Revolution in March. When asked what his expectations are for his role, Flair said those were questions he couldn’t answer. However, Flair said he is looking forward to giving his best, no matter what AEW asks of him.
“To be honest with you, I don’t know. I’m not obviously going to talk about the contract, but I just know I’m looking forward to working for [Tony Khan]. And the reception backstage for me was over the top, and that’s all you want,” Flair pointed out. “I don’t want to be a politician, I don’t want to do anything. I just want to do what they ask me to do and do the best job of it I can. And I hope they turn me loose.”
Flair clarified that he does not believe AEW will ask him to wrestle. If he remains in a managerial role, he believes he does need to get physical at some point, “feeding” for the opponent.
Ready for any kind of action
“I just feel very strongly and this is a point you can emphasize — I think if you are in a managerial role and you are put in a position of getting heat on somebody, which even after Steve retires and they keep me along, I would love to do that. But I think it’s very important if you’re going to help get the heat, then you gotta be able to get knocked down,” Flair stated. “There’s no better answer to the question than that.
“I don’t expect to wrestle. Could I? Yes, because I’ll learn from my mistakes. You always learn from past mistakes. But I don’t think that’ll ever happen, but I certainly want to be able to feed a guy if I’ve helped get heat on them because it’s only fair to the babyface, or the good guy rather, that he gets a shot at the guy. That’s how they prevail. They beat the villain and then they have to smack someone around that’s been associated with them,” he said. “I am cleared for that. And even if I wasn’t, I’m feeding. That’s the way it works.”
“I think I’m a guy that’s lucky enough to be along for the ride, and what happens, happens. As Pedro Morales said years ago, ‘I am ready for any kind of action.’ And by the way, I’ll have a blade on my finger, brother,” Flair added. “So you can pass that along. I don’t go to work without a blade. [laughs] I’ll take an aspirin so I really bleed.”
Check out our full interview with Ric Flair below:
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