WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair has promised that he will come off the top rope when he wrestles his final match during Starrcast V weekend.
Flair is set to return to the ring for one night only at Starrcast later this summer, as PWMania.com previously reported. The match will take place on Sunday, July 31 at Starrcast V in Nashville, Tennessee, live from the Nashville Fairgrounds, as part of “Jim Crockett Promotions Presents: Ric Flair’s Last Match.” Flair is expected to face WWE Hall of Famers The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express and a mystery partner against AAA and ROH World Tag Team Champions FTR. WWE Hall of Famer Ricky Steamboat was rumored to be the mystery partner, but he recently denied it. WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan is also rumored to be Flair’s opponent.
Flair’s mystery opponent for the six-man bout was supposed to be revealed on Monday this week, but that didn’t happen.
This week, Flair spoke with Paul Ruzzo of The Tampa Bay Times about his upcoming match.
“[Wrestling] in my blood,” Flair said. “It’s my life. So, I thought, why not one more go-around?”
Flair, who is 73 years old, has recently spent time in Tampa and claims to be working harder than he is partying, crediting Tampa training opportunities for bringing him back in shape. Flair claims to weigh 223 pounds right now.
“I feel better about myself now than I did 12 years ago,” Flair said. “I now weigh 223. The last time I wrestled, I weighed 240.”
Flair is currently spending up to two hours every day at John Cena’s Hard Knox South private gym in Tampa, where his personal trainer pushes him harder than anyone has in years. Flair has been working on his in-ring skills with AEW standout Jay Lethal at Tampa Bay Pro Wrestling’s Lethal Academy for up to two hours per day.
Flair recently released videos of him and Lethal training in the ring, as PWMania.com previously reported. These clips are available to view below.
Flair sort of joked, “That was just an experiment to make sure my pacemaker didn’t come unplugged from landing on the mat.”
Despite a health scare in 2017, Flair says that doctors have cleared him to return to the ring and that it’s now simply a matter of “just picking up the pace where I’m moving faster and just reacting” during a match.
The Nature Boy also stated that he will not return to the ring out of boredom or financial necessity.
When Flair told his family about the idea of having one more match, they thought he was crazy.
“But they’ve always known I was crazy,” he said, adding that they accept his decision.
Flair also admitted that his athleticism has deteriorated. However, he can still perform his most famous maneuvers, like his signature chest chops, the Figure Four, and walking the ring while yelling “Wooo!” to the crowd.
Flair was asked about his signature spot, where he is flipped over the ropes, sprints the apron, climbs to the top turnbuckle, and leaps off, only to be caught with a gut punch. He stated he’s still working on it, but he’ll eventually be coming off the top rope.
“That’s what I’m working on,” Flair said. “It’s just a timing issue. I’ll guarantee I’ll be coming off the top rope. Whether it’s the flip or not, I don’t know.”
Flair lost his retirement match to WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels at WWE WrestleMania 24 in 2008. The following year, he wrestled an Unsanctioned Match on RAW against Randy Orton, and then four matches with Hogan on the Hulkamania tour of Australia in November 2009. Flair also competed in 11 TNA/Impact Wrestling matches in 2010 and 2011, losing his final match to WWE Hall of Famer Sting on the September 15, 2011, episode of Impact. Flair tore his left triceps in that match, which was severely criticized and required editing.
Due to his injury and his state, Flair feels his last match with Sting robbed him of a formal retirement match. Flair believes he wasn’t inappropriate shape when he wrestled for TNA and that this final match in July will “be better than I was the last time I wrestled with TNA. That’s all that really matters. I just want one more go around to look back on and say I did something special. I’m pretty confident it will be something special.”
The “Jim Crockett Promotions Presents: Ric Flair’s Last Match” event starts at 6:05 p.m. ET on July 31, a homage to pro wrestling’s Saturday night start times. Thuzio, a Triller company, is producing the event, which will be streamed globally via FITE. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 27 at noon ET, which is also the start of FITE pre-ordering. Flair’s opponent and the whole card will be released soon, according to the RicFlairsLastMatch.com website. The Roast of Ric Flair and a reunion of the Four Horsemen will make Starrcast V a big weekend for Flair.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more.
