On Thursday night, a new Vice TV Dark Side of the Ring episode premiered which featured the WWE’s “Plane Ride from Hell” in 2002. One of the stories from the episode involved Ric Flair allegedly exposing himself to an attendant during the flight.
During a recent appearance on Renee Young’s Oral Sessions podcast, Flair was asked about the episode:
“God, I’ve heard about it too. Just when things are going good for me. Listen, you [Renee Paquette] put me on your podcast after. We’ll see how it plays out, because I was there and I don’t care whose name I gotta drop if the heat falls on me. I know who was where and what and who and what took place. I know the whole story.” (quote courtesy of PostWrestling.com)
In 2004, attendants Taralyn Cappellano and Heidi Doyle filed a lawsuit. An article by Shane Ryan on Grantland.com provided details:
“In May, Fliehr (Ric Flair) and a group of other wrestlers, including Scott Hall (‘Razor Ramon’) and Virgil Runnels III (‘Dustin Rhodes a.k.a. Goldust’) were on a chartered flight back to the United States after a series of shows in Europe. They began drinking, and the situation quickly deteriorated. Two flight attendants, Taralyn Cappellano and Heidi Doyle, would compile their allegations into a 2004 lawsuit. Chief among the chronicled misdeeds was Fliehr’s sexual aggression. He wore nothing but a jeweled cape, the flight attendants said, and ‘flashed his nakedness, spinning his penis around.’ He separately grabbed each woman’s hand and placed it on his crotch, and then ‘forcibly detained and restrained’ Doyle ‘from leaving the back of the galley of the airplane while he sexually assaulted her.’ Other wrestlers on the flight passed out syringes to the flight attendants with instructions to dispose of them. The specifics of the assault aren’t clear. At other points during the flight, Hall licked Doyle’s face, told her he wanted to ‘lick her p_ssy,’ and asked Cappellano to ‘suck his d_ck.’ Runnels advised Cappellano that, ‘You and me are gonna f_ck.’
Fliehr has insisted that there’s no truth to the allegations, but WWE settled with the women out of court.”
A video clip from the episode went viral and here are some of the top comments from Twitter users:
I have never lost respect for someone faster than I have with Tommy Dreamer after this. Holy shit. Also fuck ric Flair pic.twitter.com/zxzv7WXi5g
— Basil Cabana (@BasilCabana) September 17, 2021
FUCK YOU TOMMY DREAMER #darksideofthering pic.twitter.com/wh6F6D7GYT
— Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) September 17, 2021
What I've learned from this #DarkSideOfTheRing episode is that Ric Flair is a cunt, Brock Lesnar is a bitch, this poor flight attendant went through alot of shit that no one should have gone too. And a bunch of wrestlers used to rape woman.
Indeed. A Plane Ride from HELL pic.twitter.com/Jz2xLhoWxm
— Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) September 17, 2021
It's been forever Fuck Ric Flair over here https://t.co/iyv466qgOv
— . (@IovelsX) September 17, 2021
Shane Douglas warned you about ric flair for years btw #PlaneRideFromHell pic.twitter.com/MK0fAMlFXB
— Basil Cabana (@BasilCabana) September 17, 2021
so much of Ric Flair’s problems in life can be attributed to him not being able to stop being the hornniest dude alive. Nasty ass dude
— Soundwave (@LocalSoundwave) September 17, 2021
Judging by Twitter's reaction to Dark Side of the Ring I get the impression it's going to be awkward when Ric Flair saves Danielson from an Elite beatdown to end next week's Dynamite.
— Trevor Dame (@TrevorDame) September 17, 2021
There it is. Ric Flair commiting sexual assut on the plane ride from hell. Dreamer defending it saying the flight attendant was offended by something Flair does all the time. WTF? Dustin is the one who told Flair to stop. TL is silent. Fuck a Ric Flair #darksideofthering
— TranquiloClubYT (@TranquiloClubYT) September 17, 2021
f*ck tommy dreamer, f*ck ric flair, f*ck those who are like them and f*ck whoever still supports them after what they did.
— kimberly ?✨ (@kimmypaoo) September 17, 2021
If your name is Tommy Dreamer…
If your name is Scott Hall…
If your name is Ric Flair…You may wanna stay off Twitter for a while. Maybe even delete it…
Heidi Doyle just ended some careers today.
Definitely a Plane Ride from Hell. #darksideofthering
— Just Alyx (@JustAlyxCentral) September 17, 2021
That Ric Flair story is pretty damaging. Especially for Dreamer.
But not surprising. The old man, always lived his gimmick. And there been rumors for years, of situations such as the one told tonight.
AEW should stay far away. Especially after tonight. #DarkSideOfTheRing
— Hollywood Holguin (@HollywoodHOLG) September 17, 2021
Here’s a video of Ric Flair flashing flight attendants being portrayed in two separate WWE productions—the "30 For 30” episode they co-produced with ESPN and an episode of Story Time on WWE Network—as a happy fun time worthy of happy fun time cartoon portrayals with jaunty music. pic.twitter.com/IzTqiUaVHH
— David Bixenspan (@davidbix) September 17, 2021
Wrestling fans to Ric Flair right now pic.twitter.com/dqM7nIIgUc
— Big Mike The Genius (@MykeXTheRebel) September 17, 2021