‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair: A 1-on-1 interview
By Ted Gruber
We sat down with the Nature Boy himself to dish on the current state of the WWE, his daughter’s dominance and life after wrestling.
Even after being in the wrestling business for a very long time, Ric Flair continues to be a center of talk in the community. After being involved in a short storyline with his daughter Charlotte, Flair has started a new podcast with plenty of support behind it.
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Flair took out time to talk with FanSided about his new podcast, Evolution, his daughter, the brand split and much more.
After a couple of months off from the podcasting world you have returned to the Internet with a new show and a new network. What can fans expect from the new Ric Flair show?
I think this network is really behind the new podcast. Working with my co-host Conrad, he has really put the work into this and I think he is a genius. I don’t think CBS really got behind it and promoted it properly. They are nice people don’t get me wrong, but they don’t do that for a living. They are a television network and podcasting isn’t their forte. They wanted me to go find my own sponsors. Again, I enjoyed working with them but they were so much of a turnover in the chain of command, you never knew who to deal with.
Your daughter recently dropped her Women’s Championship to Sasha Banks a couple of weeks ago. What does that mean to you after watching that match and seeing her passing on the title that she held for a very long time?
She didn’t lose anything. She proved to everyone in the world that she is the greatest athlete in the WWE and the greatest women’s champion of all time. There’s no disgrace losing to Sasha. She had it for 307 days which is such a long time in a sport that is so very competitive. I’m so proud of her and she has such a positive attitude. She’s looking forward to the rematch and so am I.
She’s only been the business for 4 years and she has come so far already. Out of those 4 years she took 8 months off due to injury and another 4 due to my son passing away. She has come full circle and is just a phenomenal athlete. Obviously, it takes time to develop a craft in wrestling and to tweak things to get comfortable. The hardest thing in this business is if you have the ability, you still need to develop that character. She found that niche and she’s rocking and rolling.
During this great run by your daughter, you were brought in to be her manager so to speak. What was is like for you to come into a storyline with your daughter?
I’m a big boy so I can take it . We both had a terrible 2013, but we got through it. We are very close-knit family. But I enjoyed it because she is my daughter and she has came a long way from when she first started getting interested in sports.
I think I started taking her to sporting events when she was 4 whether was it was gymnastics or something else. I kept the pressure on her and look what she has become. She could of went to Division 1 college and played 3 different sports. She was the Dennis Rodman in basketball. She didn’t have much of a shot but I wouldn’t get in her way for a rebound.
She is way better than I was let me tell you that. In 4 decades I have never done a moonsault to someone off the top rope. She has legitimate heat and I love it.
Evolution was based on the 4 Horseman in sense when it was introduced to the WWE in 2003. Looking back at that stable, was it something that the WWE needed at the time?
It was an amazing time and I enjoyed every second of it. All the respect to Triple H who put us all together. It was a little more conservative than the 4 Horseman but equally just as fun. It was a great opportunity for me to have a good time, and I always do.
Randy is back and looks like a million dollars. Dave has a brand of his own that has taken off. And look at Hunter who is virtually running the company. I am proud of all three of them for improving their wrestling careers and other opportunities outside of the wrestling business.
Look at Hunter though, he has taken a tremendous amount of responsibility in the WWE. Look at NXT where I think he was solely responsible for the upswing on the talent. When he took that over it blew up.
You were involved in the first brand split in 2002 being one of the “owners” at the time. Do you think this revival of the split is something that is going to help in the talent in the long run?
Well when it happened the very first time, it captured the imagination of the viewers. The fact that Smackdown is going live, it was needed to create that shuffle. Now you have two competitive products under one umbrella. Now don’t think they aren’t going to be digging. I love the new sets and everything that is part of this new era.
Vince McMahon is a genius and innovative as hell. He has a daughter and a son-in-law who will carry that flag, until somebody shoots it down. Trust me, the work ethic they have is simply amazing.