The official press conference for Ric Flair’s Last Match on 7/31 took place today. Thanks to Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com for the following recap. You can watch the complete press conference below.
Impact Wrestling Champion Josh Alexander vs. MLW’s Jacob Fatu is official for the show, announced by David Crockett.
*The Wolves vs. Motor City Machine Guns has also been announced for the event.
Jeff Jarrett is at the press conference. As we noted on the We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Name Show yesterday, there had been rumors making the rounds Jarrett and Flair would face off in a tag team bout this week at the show.
David Crockett is in attendance.
Ric Flair is there.
Tickets for the event at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium will go on sale tomorrow.
Ric Flair’s final robe will be raffled off to raise money with the proceeds going to the First Step Foundation, an organization that helps those battling addiction. The raffle will open up this Monday at RicFlairsLastMatch.com.
Nashville Deputy Mayor Brenda Haywood spoke for the Mayor of Nashville. July 31st will be named Ric Flair Day in Nashville.
The PPV’s Kickoff Show will start, appropriately enough, at 6:05 PM EST.
David Crockett spoke about his long friendship with Ric Flair, including going through the plane crash in the Carolinas together. He said Flair would have his last match and go out the way he wants to go out.
Jeff Jarrett talked of his family’s long history in professional wrestling in Nashville. He put over Starrcast and the city of Nashville, noting that Ric Flair won two World titles in Nashville. He said he was proud to just be a part of the event.
Flair was introduced and said he’s been training for three months for this match. He said that donating the robe to a cause that his son fought against after his son Reid’s death “almost killed” him. He praised the Jarrett family and everyone involved in the project and his family. He said he’s gotten himself in shape and he doesn’t want anyone to think he’s not going to walk in and walk out. He doesn’t want anyone to come thinking “something is going to happen.” He said he’s had more fun in Nashville than he had in Chicago and “that’s saying a lot” and praised the city. He thanked Conrad Thompson for calling him. He said he won’t be better than Ric Flair of 1989 but perhaps he’ll better than the Flair of 1999 and 2009. He said he feels like he’s had more great moments and matches than anyone alive and is blessed. He said he wants to prove the skeptics and everyone watching that he can still be “real good” at this. He said that at the end of the night, “You’ll all be wondering, ‘what the hell did he just do?”
They began taking questions from media in Nashville. Flair said training with Jay Lethal has been fantastic. He said the more people who come, the more bumps he can take. He said that there’s psychology that doesn’t take place in wrestling any more that he can use for components of the match. They will feel the match in their hearts as opposed to memorizing something. He noted he wouldn’t take a blood thinner that day and his other concerns were his pacemaker (joking “You can just plug that back in”) and his inner ear issues.
Flair said he went to work for Impact Wrestling because he needed to after several divorces. He said now, he doesn’t need to go to work thanks to Conrad and others who have helped him get to where he needs to be. He said there are moments where you “lose your psyche” and you go through the movements and the motion, but without your psyche, it’s not good enough for you. He has that now and that’s all he needed. He said the old days it was ‘Rassling and ‘Rassling never let Nashville. He joked about not having a chisel to blade with like he did back in the day but joked “I’ll have something with me.”
Flair was asked what the last match would be and said that he doesn’t know because he’s not booking the match. He was asked what he wanted in an opponent and he said “someone who can work.” He said there’s a lot of talent who should be wrestling and getting name recognition, but they deserve it. He told a story about AJ Styles walking into WWE and getting a big reaction, which Flair didn’t think would happen. He said WWE has 80-100 NXT talents and if 2 make it to the top for a long consistent period of time, that’s a lot..
Jeff Jarrett was asked if he would take part in the match. He said at this point no, but was Conrad’s partner. He said that he’s in another position right now and pivoted to promoting the other Starrcast events.
Flair was asked about his legacy crossing over so many genres, races and generations. Flair said he takes for granted how many he’s become friends with and how many he’s crossed paths with. He said he believed Flo Rida would be part of the Roast of Ric Flair.
Flair was asked about his choice of robes for the final match. He praised Conrad and said he was like his son. He’s never met someone who was so successful in another business world who has such a love and respect for the business. He said he wouldn’t be shocked to see him open his own promotion one day.
At the end of the press conference, Flair presented Jarrett with front row tickets for Jarrett and his father. Jarrett said Flair was playing a rib on him.
During the conference, Flair made several mentions of Jay Lethal being upset with him.
