On the most recent episode of his podcast, “Grilling JR,” host Jim Ross covered a wide variety of topics.
During it, Ross brought up Flair’s defeat at the hands of Rob Van Dam at the No Mercy event in 2002. Flair put over the crowd favorite after competing on television on a consistent basis for a number of months prior to the match.
Ross admitted that WWE was having difficulty trying to extract the maximum potential from the 16-time World Champion.
“I don’t know that we had a good handle on how to book Ric. I think that what we should have done in hindsight, which is always pretty viable, is Ric should have been booked as an attraction. Seldom used, but when he was used, used in a positive manner.
In other words, he would go over more often than not. And I don’t know that we knew how to book him. You know, Ric’s own scenario was Ric didn’t really want to ever be a babyface. You know, he likes being a heel. That’s what he grew up on, that’s what attracted him to the original AWA territory..”
You can listen to the complete podcast below:
(H/T to Inside The Ropes)
