Ric Flair Still Thinks Cody Rhodes Is The Right Challenger For WWE WrestleMania

Despite the superb ratings and reaction for Sami Zayn, Ric Flair believes WWE is doing the right build for WrestleMania 39. Flair praised the work of Zayn and Roman Reigns in the main event of Elimination Chamber on the latest episode of "To Be The Man," and could sense a Hall Of Famer's fingerprints in that match.

"That's a Michael Hayes special written all over it, in my estimation," Flair said, adding that he was unaware of Zayn's athleticism. Even though both told an intriguing tale in the ring, he thinks Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes is the money match for WrestleMania 39 in April, stating that a triple threat between the two and Zayn wouldn't feel as significant.

"If you beat the third guy, then what are you doing? I think Cody deserves it, but Roman has done such an outstanding job that if they leave it on Roman, more power to him," Flair said to co-host Conrad Thompson. "Sometimes you don't want to take the momentum off something that's working so well, so people could be deceived by that, too."

Flair makes it clear that he'd like to see Rhodes get the title due to his ties to his late father Dusty, and doesn't think it would hurt Reigns in any way to drop the belt. He also thinks the less the two interact with one another before WrestleMania, the better.

"Let's go back to [Muhammad] Ali and [Joe] Frazier, right? They saw each other at the weigh-in and then they fought," he said. "Unless it's really, really good, it becomes repetitive. There's only so many ways to keep them from going at it."