WWE Removes Ric Flair From TV Intro, Flair Merchandise Nixed, WWE Story Time Pulled
WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair has been removed from the opening video package that airs before WWE TV programming. The intro video kicks off with one of Flair's signature "Wooo's" but that line was not in the video that opened tonight's RAW episode.
Furthermore, WWE has removed all of Flair's merchandise from WWE Shop some time in the last few days. We know that WWE Shop had several Flair items as of last week. A search for Flair's name as of this writing brings up 0 items. This is interesting as WWE Shop began taking pre-orders for the $999 limited edition Flair Legacy replica belt back on September 10. There were only 500 Flair Legacy belts created, but the page has been deleted on the WWE Shop website.
These latest moves come after WWE removed the first episode of their animated Story Time series from Peacock and the WWE Network. The episode was removed last Friday, the day after Vice's Dark Side of the Ring series aired their episode on the infamous WWE "Plane Ride from Hell" that happened in May 2002, which included several allegations against Flair, that he has denied. The Story Time episode featured Flair talking about when he flew to Hawaii in 1986, and allegedly had 6 flight attendants trying to get him to strip down to his robe. Flair said he doesn't "wear anything under my robe" and commented on how the head flight attendance had a large chest.
It's believed these changes are due to fallout from DSOTR's "Plane Ride from Hell" episode.
For those who missed it, Flair released a statement on the allegations on Monday night, which you can see here, and then released a follow-up statement, seen here.
It was reported last week how Flair's Car Shield commercials were being paused due to the "Dark Side" fallout. The ad agency responsible for the ads even issued a statement on pausing the campaign. However, I had one of the commercials play during this week's RAW, the one with LA Knight. That could've been due to watching USA Network on Hulu Plus, but last week's statement indicated that the entire campaign was being paused.
It was also reported on Monday how Flair has apparently lost a New York Comic Con booking due to the "Dark Side" fallout. You can click here for that report.
Stay tuned for more.