Ric Flair recently appeared as a guest on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the appearance, “The Nature Boy” spoke about how the pro wrestling business has changed in terms of stars.
Featured below is an excerpt from the interview where he touches on this topic with his thoughts.
“If I was 35 years old right now, they wouldn’t be able to afford me, and boy they need help with the ratings right now, both of them [laughs]. Those written interviews, you can tell a mile away whether the kids feel it or not, it’s a lot of pressure to read something that you don’t actually feel in your heart. That’s a big difference. If they are thinking about what they are handed to memorize, they put no emotion into it. That’s just talking generically. It doesn’t sell tickets. When The Rock comes back to wrestle Roman (Reigns), that will sell tickets. When Steve Austin came back, that sold tickets. It’s a different timeframe. The talent is great, make no mistake, there are some great wrestlers. (Randy) Orton, my daughter [Charlotte Flair], Sasha Banks, AJ Styles.
“There’s a list of a great top ten between the two companies, but the events sell themselves now, as much as the wrestlers do. I don’t think they turn them loose enough. They want to make sure they get the right advertisers, everyone has to be happy. It’s a whole different world. I still love it, I just feel that the guys who are really great like Randy and my daughter, they are held back because they only want people to go that far. They don’t want anybody to become The Rock, that’s going to walk off or become Steve, who can say, ‘I don’t want to do it.’ Back in the day with Hulk (Hogan), he’d say, ‘I don’t want to do it,’ he had that kind of power. I don’t know if that’s healthy, but Vince won’t let that happen again. He won’t let anyone get in a position where they can say, ‘Hey, see ya.’ I understand that, it’s business.”
Check out the complete interview at Podomatic.com. H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes.
