WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair spoke about why he turned down the opportunity to form a wrestler’s union in the 1980s.
During a recent appearance on Games with Names, Ric Flair brought up the fact that there is no pro wrestler’s union after the host, Julian Edelman, credited Flair for helping to shape the wrestling business as it is today. Flair said that, despite wrestling being a multi-billion-dollar industry, there is no union because nobody in the industry wants one. Flair said:
“Nobody wants to do it because they’ll just move on without you. They wanted me and Hogan to do it. Hulk called me and I said, ‘I’m not jumping out there. They’ll just replace me.’”
Flair believes that even if the top stars of a promotion went on strike until a union was formed, the companies would just replace them with another star. Flair said that Jesse Ventura, who attempted to form a wrestling union in 1986 prior to WrestleMania 2, tried to get him on board while Flair was the NWA Worlds Champion, but Flair declined out of fear of being replaced as the organisation’s top star. He stated:
“Jesse Ventura drove me crazy. [He said] ‘Come on, come on.’ I go, ‘Jesse, so I give up the NWA World Championship, walk out. They’ll just put the belt on DiBiase or back to Harley.’ It just wasn’t something I wanted to explore, but I was certainly asked to do it a lot.”
What Else Did Ric Flair Discuss During This Interview?
Ric Flair spoke on a number of topics during his appearance on Games with Names, including how WWE attempted to take his copyrighted name while he was on life support in 2017. Flair recalled how he was on life support for 14 days after suffering complications following a surgery he had in August 2017 to remove an obstructive part of his bowel, which led to him suffering from a ruptured intestine, kidney failure, sepsis, respiratory failure, and pneumonia.
Flair’s doctors did not think he would survive this ordeal, and Flair said that he found out while recovering that WWE had attempted to sign over his wrestling name to them, and that his own agent had stolen $150,000 from him.
