During his one-day meltdown
about being dropped from WWE’s licensing deal with the Roots of Fight clothing brand, Ric Flair told us he’d booked an interview with Yahoo Sports. That interview happened today (April 22), as The Nature Boy was a guest on The Ariel Helwani Show.Almost anything Flair’s involved in remains a wild ride, and that was true of Helwani’s talk with the 77-year-old legend this afternoon. Naitch’s relationship with WWE is always worth checking in on, as the Roots of Flight incident
just reminded us. Apparently it was rocky before that again, though.
The two-time WWE Hall of Famer says he wasn’t invited to WrestleMania 42 because last year he threatened Ludwig Kaiser, who at the time was in a relationship with Tiffany Stratton (Ric mistakenly refers to Kaiser as Stratton’s husband, but the pair were never married and have split; he also thought the 35-year-old German who currently plays El Grande Americano was a 24-year-old Englishman who was no longer with WWE). Flair’s daughter Charlotte [real name Ashley] was then in a WrestleMania 41 feud with Stratton that featured a messy SmackDown promo segment where Tiffy threw in some unscripted, unexpected personal jabs at the Queen.
Here’s Naitch:
“I didn’t get invited to WrestleMania this year. I threatened to beat up Tiffany Stratton’s husband last year, and I wasn’t allowed to go. A 24-year-old kid being threatened by a 76-year-old man, and I can’t go to WrestleMania. Are you kidding me?
“That English kid, he’s gonna go as far in wrestling as a gnat. He’ll be a fly on the wall in a year…
“They had that thing where Tiffany made a smart remark about Ashley’s divorces — which we both know she’s not smart enough to have written. Somebody gave her the script. And then he implied that, I’m just going based on social media, once again, which is a lot, that he was implying that he wouldn’t mind a one-off with Ashley.
“And I went, ‘Okay, I need your number’. I got it, which I can get anybody’s number I want any minute of any day. And I called him. I said, ‘Hey, when I see you, I’m gonna beat the shit out of you.’
“So he went like a little bitch, told Hunter, and I wasn’t allowed to go. He’s going to really go far in the business. A 76-year-old tells a 24-year-old kid that he’s going to kick his ass and where is he now? Is he even on the roster? Little punk.”
Informed by Helwani that Kaiser is active in Mexico working for WWE’s Lucha Libre AAA brand, Flair replied, “I’m sure he is. I hope he stays.”
He also said that while he’s happy Kevin Nash and Sean “X-Pac” Waltman got to induct Dennis Rodman into the WWE Hall of Fame last Friday night, Rodman had wanted him to do it:
“Dennis Rodman called me and said, ‘Will you induct me into the Hall of Fame?’ I sent it to the power that be, ‘Dennis wants.’ I never got a call back.”
On the subject of the Hall of Fame, Helwani asked Flair what he thought of the “Thank you, Vince” chants that occurred at the Ceremony when currently-disgraced former Chairman Vince McMahon’s name was mentioned:
“They should. They should all be thanking Vince. Everybody. Everybody in the world that likes wrestling should be thanking Vince McMahon.”
Ric spoke favorably about the man accused by his former employee and girlfriend Janel Grant of abuse, manipulation, and rape in her federal sex trafficking civil suit, but says they haven’t spoken. But McMahon isn’t the only person Flair thinks wrestling should be thanking. Regarding not being invited to this year’s Hall of Fame Ceremony, Naitch said:
“There should be a red carpet for me, a red carpet to the front row. And that’s how I feel about it. With my contributions in this business and the work that I put in, hours and hours of trying to make wrestling something that it is today, and I gotta have problems with politics. Give me a break.
“I’m not mad at anybody. I understand it’s politics now. It’s too much politics and not enough wrestling.”
He doesn’t think he’s in “bad graces” with any WWE talent (except Kaiser, I suppose) or Triple H, but says there’s a “lack of respect” for him in the company today that he’s not sure of the reason for.
But maybe WWE will have new owners soon? While putting over his current boss, AEW’s Tony Khan, the Nature Boy is holding out hope TK and his dad Shad will one day successfully buy WWE:
“Tony Khan is one of the greatest people I’ve ever met in my life. And you know what, I wouldn’t be surprised — because he has the money to do it — if he doesn’t buy WWE one day,” Flair said. “The Khan family’s got more money than God, you know that, right? That $9 billion price on the WWE is nothing to Shad Khan.
“But more than that, Tony’s provided an opportunity for guys who would never get a chance to work anywhere else, because the WWE is a very difficult, very selective organization. And Tony has offered all of these opportunities. And he pays the guys good. All he cares about is making a product and making sure that people are happy. He’s a very personable guy.”
It’s quite an interview, and you don’t have to read it in Title Case! But it seems that torch has been passed. Anyway… watch it below, and weigh in on it the comments below that!
