The latest episode of The Ric Flair Show is now available to listen to above or at this link; this week’s show featured Bruce Prichard as a guest filling in for Flair this week, as he talks with Conrad Thompson about Flair’s WWF Run:
On How Vince Would Negotiate With a Top Guy Like Ric Flair Coming to WWE:
Vince would always keep those negotiations very vague. I’m going to give you an opportunity where he sees potential in someone. Obviously with Ric Flair, he was the top guy for so many years in the NWA, and I think Vince looked at it like, here’s an opportunity to get one of these top guys, bring him in and make him one of our top guys. So, Vince would always talk about opportunity, and here’s an opportunity to do something with the WWF, and be a bigger star than you ever have before. I go back to Ted Dibiase and the Million Dollar Man. Vince would not tell Ted what the Million Dollar Man was until Ted committed to come in. He had an idea, and said he had big things for him and thought it would be great, but he said he wouldn’t share it until Vince knew Ted was with him.
Why Flair Wasn’t Part of SummerSlam 92:
That was Savage and Warrior for the Championship, and it was one of those deals that they planned on getting Ric in there at some point, but they had to get Savage and Warrior out of the way. I’m guessing, I’m strictly guessing at that point.
On Ric Flair Asking For His Release
Ric asked for his release sometime in January of 93. Ric was unhappy and Vince was the opinion that he didn’t want disgruntled people working there. Prior to that, Ric was battling vertigo and had some equilibrium issues, so we didn’t have Ric Flair of old, so he was battling through that and we switched the title to Bret, and Ric had another opportunity and Vince wasn’t going to stand in his way and asked for his release. I remember that night we had Survivor Series, at Monday Night Raw in the Manhattan Center, where we had Flair and Perfect in that match. Flair had called Arn Anderson on the phone, saying, hey, you watching Raw? Watch this, and went out and dropped the fall to Perfect and came back, so it was pretty quick.
On WWE Interviewing Ric Flair at Ringside While He Was Under a WCW Contract:
There was always talk back and forth of Flair coming back. Ric Flair is someone who always explores his options, to see if the grass is greener on the other side and was looking for something else, and wanted to see if there was any interest on the other side. I dare say there was always interest in Ric Flair, so of course there was an interest. In April of 98 there was this standoff with Bischoff, in April of 1998, WWF had a PPV at the Greensboro Coliseum, there was talk of Flair coming ringside at the pay per view where we wanted to interview Flair from the audience. The idea, I think was floated out there by Ric himself. He was looking up to stirring as much controversy as he could. We always had a great relationship with Ric, and Vince was very careful at that time to navigate those waters with WCW with contract tampering and that nature. It was a messy issue. Ric was still under contract and it was just messy so I think cooler heads prevailed if you will.
