Ever since starting his own podcast (and having that be his main gig since departing WWE television a few months ago), Ric Flair has been wonderfully candid about all manner of things, ranging from his personal regrets, to speculation on wrestling news and rumors, to claiming he bumped uglies with Halle Berry.
On the latest episode of The Ric Flair Show, The Nature Boy spent some time talking about the worst matches he’s ever had, which involved a fellow Hall of Famer, the late Ultimate Warror. The Warrior was never known for being a technical wizard or warhorse, but a pair of house shows against the 90s icon left a lasting impact on Flair.
“I’m wrestling the Warrior in Winnipeg [Canada], right? I’m the champion. And the match, Mike, probably, the second worst match I ever had in my life. The first being when I wrestled The Warrior in Phoenix [Arizona] and he dropped me on my head. Okay? So I come back from the ring. I knew the match just was absolutely brutal. And Pat Patterson goes to me, ‘that was the worst f–king match I’ve ever seen in my life’. And I said, ‘you’re telling me, motherf–ker? I was in it!'”
“It was absolutely terrible. I just couldn’t have a match with him.”
But that isn’t where the story ends. Flair famously dropped the WWE Championship to Bret Hart at a house show in Saskatoon in 1992 — Hart’s first world title reign. Unfortunately, Flair believes that match didn’t live up to his personal expectations for it … all because he was still feeling the effects of his Phoenix match against the Warrior.
“Well, going back to what I had said before, I was wresting The Warrior two nights before that and he dropped me on my head in Phoenix. And I got that inner ear problem where I lost balance. And I never was capable of giving Bret nearly the match he deserved that night. I literally lost my balance and I just hobbled through the match. And he actually carried me because every time I went down, my equilibrium was gone and I couldn’t get back up fast enough to feed him. Do you know what I mean because I fell down and it took me awhile to get used to it.
“I did the best I could. It wasn’t nearly the match that it should have been. I wish I could have given him a better match because he won the world title and he deserved to get it, so that’s how it started. And I had that darn inner ear thing and it didn’t go away for six months. I wish I could have given Bret a better match. We certainly had some good ones after I got well and he was champion and I was chasing him. It was fun. It did real well.”
No one has a longer memory than an aggrieved pro wrestler. On the other hand, you probably have a pretty good memory of people who have dropped you on your head, and where and when. Would that Hart vs. Flair match have become a legendary bout that fans still talk about today? I guess we’ll never know.
(h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription)
