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Ric Flair says the most outlandish things part deuce:
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/...80288-sun.html
Going toe to toe with Ric Flair By TIM BAINES - Ottawa Sun RALEIGH, N.C. -- To be The Man, you've got to beat The Man ... or at least hang out with him for more than an hour right in the heart of Flair Country. The Dirtiest Player in the Game. Slick Ric. The Nature Boy. Naitch. The bleach-blond-haired legend slides into a seat beside me in the RBC Center. North Carolina. The state where he's gained so much notoriety. So many memories. Now 56, Flair is still stylin' and profilin'. He's still the limousine-ridin', jet-flyin', kiss-stealin', wheelin'-dealin' son-of-a-gun. Armani suits, sequined robes worth thousands of dollars. Struttin' down the aisle. But, for the moment, he's sitting back in his chair, offering a glimpse at what it's like to walk in his shoes. "To be Ric Flair, The Nature Boy, to be the character is hard to describe, hard to put into words," says Richard Morgan Fliehr. "It's been outrageous, a tremendous time. "For about 20 years of my life, Ric Flair was the same inside and outside of the ring. I lived that life. I loved that life. Every day. I couldn't get enough. "I think I'm wrestling's Jesse James. About half the stories you hear are probably true. "I had fun. There were no drugs, nothing illegal. I just wanted to be part of the party." Flair is humble, not like the character who is so at home with a microphone, with catchphrases like: "Ric Flair is just like space mountain, it might be the oldest ride in the park, but it still has the longest line." Outside of the RBC Center, Mike Clark stands beside his black stretch limo. He's been a driver for Flair. "He's larger than life. He's Ric Flair. Very flamboyant," says Clark. "Some superstars get so full of themselves, but Ric has never been anything but a gentleman." A gentleman who has changed his lifestyle. He's toned down the nightlife. He may no longer be The Man, but other wrestlers still put him on a pedestal. "I grew up watching Ric and even to this day I think he's the best there has ever been," says Flair's Evolution mate Triple H. Flair insists he's a changed man. Part Nature Boy. Part Ric Flair. "I was so full of myself, so full of the business," says Flair. "I didn't take time to slow down and look at some of the important things in life. I was so wrapped up in the moment. "Ultimately, I was selfish. I wasn't mature enough. In my eyes, family is the most important thing in life, but I don't think it was for me. I was out of control ... My only regrets are for the people I hurt. I was so wrapped up in my career, I sacrificed family and I wish I could have that back. But you can only say that so many times. At the end of the day, we're all close. "Part of it is I just got older. I couldn't stay out all night. To be that character is awesome, but I've got four beautiful kids -- (David, Reid, Ashley and Megan) and a 10-month-old granddaughter (Morgan Lee). I've always been pretty affectionate with kids and I love her to death." Flair was born in Memphis, Tenn. on Feb. 25, 1949, adopted through the Tennessee Children's Home Society, stolen from his birth parents and put into an adoption black market. Conflicting documents say he was born Fred Phillips, Fred Demaree or Fred Stewart. He was raised by the Fliehrs -- Dick, a gynecologist and Kay, a theatre writer. And he grew up a wrestling fan, admiring AWA stars like Verne Gagne, Bobo Brazil and The Crusher. He was Mad Dog Vachon's paperboy. The Nature Boy persona started emerging long before he put on the wrestling trunks. In his book, To Be The Man, he says he started having sex at the age of 14. A chance meeting with Ken Patera kickstarted his wrestling career. He began in the Minnesota area, but relocated to Charlotte, N.C. in 1974. And the legend began. He won his first NWA title in 1981. It wouldn't be the last he'd strap across his waist. He's a 16-time, yep, 16-time world champ. And he'd be a central figure in the Four Horsemen, along with Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson and Tully Blanchard ... then later with Barry Windham replacing Ole. The Four Horsemen are the greatest faction in wrestling lore. Four larger than life figures who lived large. "Night after night we drew a phenomenal amount of money," says Flair. "Every night in an arena, we'd get beat, but we could draw. And while Flair says he has no stroke in WWE's creative department, he wouldn't mind a Four Horsemen reunion of sorts. "It would have to be Kurt Angle, Hunter (Triple H), Shawn Michaels and myself.The four best talkers they have." And now he sits in Raleigh. Weighing and measuring his career, putting his life in perspective and talking about others who stake their claim among wrestling's giants. "Bret Hart never drew a dime," says Flair. "He's taken the opportunity to knock everyone. But how can you knock a business that's made you $7 million? Bret's got a cult following, but he's losing that. Losing that because he just goes on and on. It's funny (that he knocks me) because I'm the only guy that would put him over. "Hulk Hogan? The Hulk Hogan thing was great. He worked hard at being Hulk Hogan. I always said the difference between me and Hogan was I said yes and he said no. (Hogan wouldn't put anybody over). I'll concede the fact that Hogan was a bigger star than me. "But in terms of overall product, he'd wrestle a five-minute match and be back at the hotel by 9. I'd wrestle for an hour ... and I'd give it everything I had. 'A LIAR' "Eric Bischoff? He was a liar. And that's why I beat him up. I was the one guy who punched him, but there was a line of 20 guys who wanted to do it." "Mick Foley? He can fall off a roof, but he can't wrestle. He can entertain doing something that's insanity, not wrestling. "The biggest problem I have with guys like Foley and Hart is they're their own biggest fans." There have been some slumps in Flair's career, too. Times when he wondered why he was still putting his limbs on the line. "I lost a huge amount of self-confidence and a lot of self-respect in about 1997," says Flair. "I never thought I'd come back to work after WCW closed down. "The company had been an embarrassment for two, almost three years. They let the inmates run the asylum and it was destined to fail. "They tried to retire me. They were saying, 'He's 39 and he's too old.' I got my hair cut and they wanted to put an earring on me." Then when he got hired by WWE, he had more doubts. "Wrestlemania in Toronto. I was operating at about 50%," he says. "The Undertaker carried me through the match. I was afraid I was going to fail. I had never woken up wondering whether somebody was a better wrestler than me." Flair is having fun again. He's confident in himself, confident that he's become a better person. And confident of his role. Confidence that probably coincided with the intervention of his buddy, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, the villainous Triple H, who invited him to join Evolution, with up-and-comers Randy Orton and Batista. He's stylin' and profilin' again. Once again knowing his role. "When we were coming in here on the flight the captain came on and said we had just flown over Atlanta, we were heading over Savannah, then going over Columbia. I turned to Shawn Michaels and said: 'Why can't the guy say we've just entered Flair Country?' " --- "Wooooooo! When there was such a thing as the NHL, Flair's voice boomed over the RBC Center's sound system each time the Hurricanes scored a goal. And for some Hurricanes fans, that may be the best reason to end the current NHL-NHLPA stalemate. --- Wooooooo! The chant grows with each knife edge chop Flair delivers in the ring. As a heel, he does everything he can to get the fans to hate him. But as he absorbs several body shots and does a face plant into the mat, the fans laugh. The Nature Boy is at it again. An entertainer. A crowd pleaser. An icon. "I've been to the nuthouse, I've had a heart attack on TV, I've been buried alive in the desert and I've played musical chairs," says Flair. "There's not much I haven't done. "I can still be very good at this, I just need to keep my head straight. Whether it's 30 years or tomorrow (that I quit), the fans know that, whether there are 200 or 20,000 watching, I've given them my best performance." And for that we're thankful, Naitch. UP CLOSE WITH THE NATURE BOY - Age: 56 - Drink: Red wine - Beer: Miller Lite - Favourite Movies: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Men of Honor, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Shane, Top Gun - Favourite Music: Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Guns N Roses, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Barry White, Bruce Springsteen - Hobby: Fishing - TV: Sports Centre - Fact: At a charity golf auction, Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish paid $27,000 for one of Ric Flair's robes and title belts - Admission: "I don't know how to turn a computer on." - Best feuds: Ricky Steamboat, Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk, Sting, Wahoo McDaniel ............ Anyways yeah, Flair is still kissing his buds asses and his buds are kissing his right on back. How the hell is this guy even close to humble and grounded? He's still full of it and imo a lying sack of crap. And the crap is turning white, with age. And the point of this thread is to hopefully agree that he is not the man. Indeed not. |
Im not reading that, but I still think Flair is the man. :)
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<font color=goldenrod>Ric Flair is the man.</font>
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"Bret Hart never drew a dime," says Flair. "
:lol: Ok buddy |
I think Flair's the man but I can't stand the stuff he says about Foley. He always seems to leave out the fact that Foley delivered some of the very best promos that I've ever seen whenever he talks about Foley.
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He's probably still bitter about dropping the title to him.
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I think flair takes every interview as a chance to constantly bash people, he's gonna end up getting the shit kicked out of him for pulling this crap time and time again.
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"I'll concede the fact that Hogan was a bigger star than me. "
Never thought I'd hear him say that. |
Flair is right about everything that he said, minus the things he's said about Bret and the thing about Bret and Foley being their own biggest fans.
Foley is a SHIT wrestler. Flair is totally right. I love Foley, but he couldn't WRESTLE his way out of a paper bag. I'm not saying he's not a great ENTERTAINER, cause he is. But.... |
I stopped reading after the guy said that Flair is humble, and other wrestlers let the fame go to their heads.
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New 4 Horsemen: Flair, HHH, HBK, Angle....could work
agree with everything he said except for Bret not being a draw WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
I lost all my respect for Flair awhile back so I didn't lose any here.
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Was Hart able to do that? No. |
Oh btw,
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! |
Flair doesnt get why Bret would dump on him..well I believe it was mostly due to your Owen referencing a while back, but the fact you can claim he doesnt draw and also state he has a small cult following kind of proves his poiint about you. His small cult fan base is pretty damn huge.
I agree with some of his other statements, but I think where he goes right off the cliff is when he has beef with somebody. He doesn't give them the credit in the areas that they deserve. Bret and HBK didn't get along but they were both man enough to admit to each others talents and shit. Foley I doubt has ever claimed to be anything other then a glorifed stuntman and entertainer. But in his style of pro wrestling, he does tell one heck of a story all the same in the ring, and cuts even better one's through his promos. He deserves his accolades as well. |
what the hell's that got to do with anything?
Hart was a draw. End of discussion. |
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Hart was a draw. End of discussion. |
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But I'd say without Bret throughout the period when Hogan and a few others left, would the wwf have survived? Bret along with Taker and then a bit later HBK had to carry quite a burden that was put on them through scandals and everything else. And while Flair was wrestling in front of 2,000 fans a night, Bret was main eventing programs in front of audiences vastly superior to any Flair has performed in front of at the time. Bret worldwide owns flair when it comes to fans. There is no denying this. |
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That does not mean that Bret didn't draw.
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I didn't read it. He's a sad old attention whore.
He'd rather get laughed at by people who think he's a senile old man then step out of the spotlight and get ignored. |
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HBK didn't draw as champion. Diesel didn't draw as champion. Hart didn't draw as champion. Get over it. I'm not denying Hart as a wrestler, but as someone who could bring in money? No. |
Bret Hart kept the WWF alive when Hogan and everyone left.
Of course he was a draw |
he just being a dick. Don't pay any attention to him. He knows Hart was a draw.
He does this eveytime Bret Hart is brought up with Flair. Don't know why. |
Well somebody had to draw man, otherwise then the wwf would have seriously gone down at some point, no?? And the guys on top drew well enough for that to be maintained.
As for Flair drawing, yeah, he drew in arenas that had seating capacities of 2,000 or so, maybe less. Wow, what a draw. Dont kid yourself, anyone worth a dime could draw in those conditions, with a credible name. Bret usurped Flair, did the best business of anyone else they had in their company..this is a fact. |
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Not that I'm bashing Bret. I am a Bret fan. |
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In the South and midwest Flair has more, but around the world it's Bret who has more fans. |
KoOS, you're an idiot. I'm a Bret hater... well hate's a big word, but the man was over. He drew.
B'ah. Why argue with someone like you anyways... |
To be fair, though, there's a difference between being over and drawing.
Honestly, aside from Andre The Giant, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, and Steve Austin, I don't think there has been another true draw in the industry in the last 30 years. No one that people would go out of their way to pay money to go and see. That's how I've always defined a draw. People would plop down their money just to watch a 550-pound Frenchman who was supposedly invincible. They'd do the same just to watch Flair get that smug look knocked off his face. People paid good money for Hulkamania simply because it was so huge. People paid to see Steve Austin because you never knew what would happen. As far as I know, the fans of early-to-mid-'90s WWF wouldn't have bought tickets just to see a Bret Hart match. Yes, they'd pop huge for him when his music hit, and yes they'd chant his name and buy his merchandise, but Bret Hart himself didn't draw the fans into the arena. Flair did. Hogan did. Andre did. Austin did. Bret didn't. |
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HBK, Diesel, and Bret Hart did not draw as champions as as well as the guys who preceded them (Hogan, Savage, Warrior, etc) or who came after (Austin, Rock, etc..). You can blame this on the business being cyclical or whatever. But they didn't. Of course, at the same time this was going on, WCW was losing upwards of $6 million a year and doing things like having a midget blow-up Sting's yacht and RoboCop headline a PPV. Hart is a draw. Foley is a huge draw. That whole time period was an embarassment for wrestling ann blaming any one person for the state of the business as a whole is totally out of hand. As for the article, Flair is just your average bitter old athlete. His bias makes it impossible to take him seriously. As was mentioned, he never gives credit to Foley for his charisma, but somehow manages to tell us that cutting the exact same 20 minute promo over and over makes Triple H one of the four best 'talkers' in the WWE. Of course, if he'd heard someone actually use the term 'cut a promo' he'd have bitch-slapped them for using an insider term. |
Guess you never seen some of the crowds at Wembley stadium then...
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Also, like I said, the business as a whole was so bad that it's hard to determine just who was drawing. Remember, the WCW had Ric Flair and Hogan at one point and were still losing money in buckets. |
Flair is a draw in North Carolina, as Lawler is/was in Tennesse. Only Hogan, Austin, Rock and perhaps Andre were 'elite' draws. Everyone else were simply successful in their own ways and regions. If however, we're going to take Flair's word that he's a huge draw, then you can't consider Bret in any form.
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Loopydate, I respect your view on what you feel a true draw is. But take a look at the 4 names you gave there. Hogan wrestled in front of massive crowds, as did Andre and Austin. Flair was so called drawing in front of crowds that TNA would be proud to attain. Now yes that may mean those particular fans were going to see Flair, but all the same, in arenas like that I think Bret would do the same thing easily, not to mention many others.
I doubt Flair would draw much larger crowds for the sole purpose of seeing him, as you were pointing out with your example. |
Bret was/is a HUGE draw in Canada.. not so sure about the rest of the world
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I don't know. Not going to even try here. Eveyone listens to CyNick anyway. He'll post a good one.
But can't tell you how many times I've read from newsletters, how many times I've heard from the wrestlers themselves, (including promtoers) and how many times I've seen strong numbers when Bret was Champion. And loopy, you didn't even list Samartino, Backlund, Rock or even HHH and they were proven draws |
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:love: |
Saying that the period of Bret Hart's supremacy was an embarrassment? That's ludicrous, Hart had good matches with EVERYONE from 1992-1997. Hart wrestled a good match with ADAM FUCKING BOMB!!!!.
Admittingly, Hart and Nash didn't draw like they could of(and like Nash eventually did in WCW) because of the style of bookin and storylines. People had to be going to see Hart, Nash, Michaels, and Taker from 1994-1996 because there was nobody else worth a damn to main event(except Owen Hart and(maybe) Razor Ramon). |
omg comparing who has more fans and people actually believe they can back an argument like that up on "facts". Yeah lets get the fans world wide to stand outside their homes and count them all shall we. :roll: Fans for flair on the left and on the right for bret please.
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