Ric Flair And Michael Hayes On If They Used Steroids, Who Came Up With The Freebird Rule, More
On episode 22 of WOOOOO! Nation with Ric Flair, the two-time WWE Hall of Famer interviewed Michael P.S. Hayes of the Fabulous Freebirds. Flair and Hayes covered a number of topics including Hayes' first time seeing Flair in person, whether they ever used steroids, and the Freebird Rule.
According to Hayes, the first time he ever saw Flair in person was at the airport in Atlanta, Georgia. Hayes said that Flair was very much living the gimmick and, at that moment, Hayes knew that he wanted to achieve Flair's level of success in the professional wrestling business.
"The first time I ever saw Ric Flair was in the old Atlanta airport and I was a young teenager on my way to go wrestle in Germany. And, all of a sudden, he comes down the terminal and he's combing his blonde hair and he's strutting. I mean, he's doing the whole gimmick, the whole nine yards". Hayes added, "and he had a guy there toting his bags. It was real. That's what it was. And that's why it worked, by the way, because it was real."
During the interview, Flair claimed that he and Hayes never used steroids.
"FYI, Mike and I did not lose hair to the steroids. You can tell by looking at us, okay?"
Hayes expanded on Flair's point by indicating that steroids is one drug he never tried.
"That's one of the drugs I never did! And you know what? Nobody ever questions me on that either! Nobody [has] ever said, 'I wonder if he ever did steroids'."
As for the Freebird Rule, where any two members of a three-person team can defend tag team titles, Hayes admitted it was Ole Anderson's idea and not his own.
"I hate to say this, but it was Ole Anderson's idea to do the three-man team where any one of the guys could defend the title. That wasn't my idea. I've had a lot of great ideas over the years, but I only claim the ones that I have. That was actually Ole's idea."
When asked about the classic promo from the Freebirds debut at Georgia Championship Wrestling, Hayes stated that he cut that same promo several times before in different territories. He said that the beauty of the territory days was that material could be recycled, but seem all new to different audiences.
"Let me say this, and this is with no humility whatsoever, no matter what anybody else has ever done or will ever do, the Freebirds already did it."
During the show, Flair and Hayes also discussed Charlotte and the problems with today's product. Click here to check out the entire podcast.
Source: WOOOOO! Nation with Ric Flair