Ric Flair Talks Recent Bar Altercation Between Hulk Hogan And Obnoxious Fan
Ric Flair gets cheered in every venue, arena or stadium he walks into but he played a heel in his latest storyline with Hulk Hogan. Their feud culminated in a Team Flair vs. Team Hogan match at Crown Jewel and Flair talked about he, Hogan and other Legends pulling great ratings whenever they are on Raw.
"It goes back to what I've been saying forever ? when we went back to the [Raw Reunion] – the market bares time and space for the older guys and Legends. The company recognizes that and for me, I can't get enough. We got a good rating but I wish we had more TV time," Flair said when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast.
He then talked about the risk WWE runs by relying too much of the legends like himself, Hogan and Steve Austin. He joked that WWE is stuck with the Wooos! and they aren't going anywhere.
"It's a great feeling and rewarding to know that kids five-year olds know who we are. It's gone from their grandparents to parents to them. They know who you are, admire you and respect you. It's very rewarding," Flair said before talking about the heel role he played in the program with Hogan.
"I like that role. That's my favorite role. Vince always said that you can't make people mad, but it's wrestling, I can do anything I wanna do. That's a gift of being Ric Flair," Flair said while also crediting Triple H for helping him get over as a heel in WWE. "Everybody loves the good guy vs. bad guy. I don't care how wrestling has evolved ? everyone likes a good guy vs. bad guy."
Numerous WWE personnel had travel issues when flying back from Crown Jewel but not Flair. That's because he, Hogan and Jimmy Hart flew back together on a private plane so they didn't have those Saudi issues that nearly everyone else had.
Flair was asked about those issues and the conspiracies that have arisen since then.
"I didn't know what to think of it because I wasn't aware until I landed in Tampa. Then of course it was everywhere but we had no idea when flying back," stated Flair. 'We didn't have WiFi on the plane and our flight was re-routed because of a storm. We had to make two stops to refuel so what was a 13-hour flight turned into an 18-hour flight. Truthfully, I was glad to be home."
He added that he found the trip to be very easy and the people were very nice. He called it a typical first-class WWE promotion.
"As usual, and I hate to say this, but people come up with scenarios that want to paint the company bad. That's the nature of media these days. I do understand their frustration in being delayed because we were in Afghanistan at [Tribute for the] Troops in 2007 and we got delayed a day-and-a-half because of mechanical. I've seen Vince upset before but not nearly as upset as he was that day because we had to be back for Raw. We got back in The States eight hours before we were supposed to be at the arena," said Flair.
Flair, and more specifically Hogan, had a little incident at a bar with a fan before Crown Jewel. Flair recalled that episode and what Hogan said to the fan.
"There was this guy who came over and was very overbearing. I'd rather put him in his spot. I'm really good at telling off people that are making me uncomfortable. That's when I'm the best heel in the business ? when I'm in the bar," stated Flair. "Unfortunately, he didn't say anything to me walking out and I left Hulk down there. He was more interested, I think, in getting Hulk's attention than mine and Hulk just used my line [laughs].
"Nobody likes being told in the company of their friends that you've had the company of their wife [laughs] or enjoyed that moment that he probably hasn't in a year."
Flair's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In the full interview Flair discusses the status of his trademark issues with WWE, pro wrestlers controlling their brand, how he's holding up physically, Tully Blanchard's work in AEW with Shawn Spears, feuding with Hulk Hogan going into WWE Crown Jewel, Batista going into the WWE Hall of Fame, Roman Reigns' leukemia promo, Corey Graves' criticisms of Charlotte's WWE booking, comparisons between Andrade and Eddie Guerrero and more.
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here. Subscribe to Wrestling Inc. Audio on iTunes or Google Play. Listen to the show via Spotify here or through TuneIn here.