Ric Flair did not appear in the opening intro video of Crown Jewel, but he did appear in the opening intro video of RAW. Ric was asked why he wasn’t in the opening of Crown Jewel:
“I have no idea. Here’s the deal. I don’t care what anybody says. I mean, Arn Anderson was giving me a lecture about kissing WWE’s ass at The Last Match. That is the biggest compliment you can ever get as a wrestler is to be at the opening of anything that WWE has. It’s not kissing ass for me to say thank you once or to say thank you twice. One of the most difficult things I’ve ever been through in my life personally, aside from health issues, is having 85,000 people tell me within two minutes I wasn’t on the opening of Raw or Smackdown after that bullsh*t when the plane ride from hell came out, which is all bullsh*t which it explained thoroughly in my new documentary, I mean, thoroughly. I am calling some people out big time. So to answer your question, if they had left me off, I wouldn’t mind it because I’ve had my time. It’s not my time anymore. But it is something that means a lot to me personally, as it does to everybody else, and I’m sure they would tell you that if they’re being honest with you. It’s a big deal. You’re seen worldwide three times a week. It’s a big deal for anybody. Any wrestler that says I don’t want to be on the opening of a WWE show is a lying son of a b*tch. I mean, it’s the biggest platform with the biggest audience. It’s a huge honor to be there and be part of it. Think about this. How many father-daughters are on the opening of anything? Never in the history of the business.”
Flair was asked if Roman Reigns vs. The Rock at WrestleMania had to be for the WWE Championship:
“I don’t think personally it’s a given that the Rock is going to do it. As much as he might respect Roman, I’m sure they do, all those guys. It’s a brotherhood like no other. I don’t think The Rock would come back and do a favor. Why would he? Tomorrow morning, what, he goes back to his acting career with a loss? I don’t think so. I don’t see that happening. It would do the company no good to put the belt on The Rock because he’s not going to be a full time wrestler ever again. I’ve said before, if The Rock happens, that’s great. If it doesn’t, I would like it to be Cody Rhodes.”
Conrad Thompson asked Flair if he wanted Cody Rhodes to defeat Roman Reigns, and Flair replied, “Yes. I thought those matches that Cody had with Seth Rollins were off the hook. Seth really did a good job getting him over.”
Flair’s feelings about referee Charles Robinson:
“He likes me being crazy, but doesn’t like to participate. He’s just a great kid. Charles Robinson loves going to work as much as any human being alive. He does anything the company asks of him. It’s unheard to see a guy that will do anything to be a part of it, and he’s a great referee too.”
Flair on why he got into the cannabis business and why he didn’t do it before:
“Well, I was approached by Chad Bronstein about it and I’ve never obviously been against it. I just didn’t do it because I was wrestling, number one. Number two, I don’t think the company would have approved. As a matter of fact, I know they wouldn’t have even though it became more acceptable. Number three, I just had never had the opportunity. I think I have had one other time before, but it was still like, I mean, it’s basically socially acceptable right now. I mean more and more people I’ve found out since I’ve gotten involved, hell, everybody loves marijuana. I mean, they just do. The edibles, my God. I mean, for me personally, a guy that’s been eating Xanax since ’89, they got me off Xanax. You have to do it proportionately. You don’t just don’t do it like yank the whole Xanax. You know, but I’ve been taking a Xanax a day since 1989. When I was in rehab, I got off it then I got back on it. In rehab, I got off everything for 35 days and within an hour of walking off the campus, I was back on everything.”
You can listen to the complete podcast below:
(h/t to Wrestling News for the transcription)
