My Mom's Basement - QUARANTINE MINI-POD: RIC FLAIR

Episode Date: June 12, 2020

"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair joins Robbie and Jared Carrabis in the Basement today to discuss some of his greatest matches ever ahead of Edge and Randy Orton's "Greatest Match Ever" at Backlash on Sunday.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey, My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. The 16-time world champion, the nature boy, Ric Flair. Ric, how we doing? I'm great, thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you for joining us to talk about this, and you're joining us because Edge and Randy Orton are competing in what they're calling the greatest match ever, right? And you are one of the GOATs. You've competed in so many of the greatest matches ever.

So I wanted to ask you right off the bat, is there a match that did that for you in either your time as a fan, your time as a wrestler, or your time retired that you looked at and went, oh, my God, I think that was the greatest match I've ever seen? Well, you know, I'm just going to be honest with you. So there's no, I'm not going to fully punch it. I think that if you look at the decades, I had a lot of great matches with a lot of people. But the matches that are most recognized by the industry and my peers would be my match with Steamboat. I wouldn't count, it's hard to put an hour match into a,

and call that a great match because there are great hour matches, but nobody measures that. So, but I will put Chicago, which was the first one or the last one in Nashville, up against anything today, now and forever. I agree because I recommend those to people all the time. They were such revolutionary matches, right? And they hold up so well.

If you put them on right now, especially given the crowd reaction that they had, and like you said, the first match and then the third match Chicago and then wrestle war. Yes. Did you know at the time that those were special or were you going out with Ricky Steamboat every night? And it was just kind of like, that was what you guys were doing. I had just turned 40 and he was, um, what 30, 35 or 30.

You should have seen this when I was 30 and he was 25. And I do think that we all get better too. You know, I think everybody can get better every day if that's what they strive to be. You can learn something every day, no matter how good you are. I use my daughter as an example. She, you know, she can have the greatest match in the world, but she'll ask me or she'll ask Andrade, you know,

what could I have done different? Is there anything? I mean, it's that hunger to be the best. I mean, to really be the best, not just in the eyes of the fans, but you want to run that locker room. You want to walk in the gorilla. You want Vince McMahon to stand up. You want Hunter to stand up.

You want Paul Heyman. You want Bruce Prichard. The people that are running the company now and the people that know. You want Michael Hayes. People that have seen it all to say Jesus that was special you know in my case you know I didn't even think I did I know it was that good you know there's a point in my life when I didn't even think about it I just knew I was that much better and I knew when I was with him you know one of

the greatest stories which is untold is Steamboat is half Japanese and half Hawaiian, as you know, right? Yep. I mean, half Japanese. And his mother is from Tokyo. So they made the mistake. Steamboat and I were on the same tour, and I was wrestling Jumbo, Saruta in Japan, and Tenryuu and all the guys, Shoshu

and then they made a mistake of putting me and Steamboat on one night where he looks Japanese and brother, they ain't ever they've never gotten over it mistake number one don't American style wrestling out in Japan when they don't want

when they want to see just everybody getting a hell beat out of them don't put on two guys like me and Steamboat because they're still trying to follow that match I can still see Bob going hmm

but it's the truth you've had a ton of great all-time matches, and I'm not sure if you agree or not, but like wins and losses, that doesn't entirely matter in the grand scheme of things. Nothing. It means nothing.

Right. So I'm not asking like wins or losses, what would you change, but is there a match in your career that if you could go back and rebook the finish to tell a greater story, is there a match that you would go back and rebook the finish of? No, I can't say that there is. I don't dwell on that. You know, for me, it's when I knew that I was, you know, before I had all the, what am I trying to say the self-confidence issues and all that

with the gym herd and then you know compiled three times worse by by bit um I just knew how good I was and I mean I didn't I didn't think like that and the finish didn't matter you know for me and i think i i do get that that respect and i do get that uh praise it was me it's known that the people went out of that building going shit you know i i spent five dollars in the 70s to sit in the front row or if I had spent $200 to sit in the front row. I got to see Ric Flair tonight and man, he gave me everything that the promoter

would let him do. Whatever. It didn't matter. With Dusty Rhodes, it was the same thing. I've been there with Dusty when he's cut his damn ear off. You know what I mean? Yeah.

And his arm. I mean, just we wanted to be – we got to ring him. I mean, I'll never forget. Starcade with Dusty. We get in the ring. He looks at me and says, just like the opening of Cedar Palace, Daddy. Let's enjoy it. I i mean he broke the tension it was a dream man and we you know it wasn't a me and ricky steamboat but man we gave him 30 minutes of blood and guts man yeah and and that guy brought so much personality in the ring you would have thought he was Ricky Stainbowen. Didn't matter. Oh, my God, yeah.

Absolutely. When the dream got through talking, it didn't matter. But the thing of it is, Dusty and I wrestled a lot of hour matches. Half hour all the time. He was there. He didn't have to. I mean, he just believed in himself.

And he was that good. I mean, can you imagine imagine dusty rose talking right now on the show i mean he would be blowing everyone away yeah it's he it's who he was and uh you know that kind of character is something that you live and breathe me much to the um um dismay a lot of times for personal problems I brought on myself. But what you saw in the 80s is what you got. So when you saw a character like Dusty,

were you like, jackpot, we're going to make so much money. This is the perfect parallel, right? I wanted to be a rambling ricky robes burn guy just said to me no forget that because he couldn't stand dusty and murdoch when i started but um he said rick flair is a cool name and you know one of the cool things that's happened in the last couple years is i saw terry bradshaw and he know, you've got the coolest name in sports, Ric Flair. And I remember, you know, thinking to myself, how boring is Ric Flair? We saved the Vern guy now. But it's worked out. And

but I mean, I feel like every time I saw Joe Namath, who's about five years older than me, but I'm in high school, you read about him sleeping with 300 girls a senior year in college. That's my man. And it was good. And, you know, when they start talking about who the man is and who the GOAT is and all that, how do you ever leave Joe Namath? He only won one Super Bowl. But, brother, if he wasn't a man, I don't know who was.

And I look back on his life, whether it was Susie Colbert drinking a wine and it's Joe Davis. Yeah. And that's what draws money. It's what draws money. And people were going, holy cow. When he's laying in that lounge chair saying they're going to beat the Baltimore Colts, what were you thinking?

Come on, Joe. I love the Baltimore Colts, but who wasn't pulling for Joe Willoughby, right? Right, right. Those are the kind of people that influenced me, and I just took that and went farther with it, and I was just that confident. Later on, obviously, I just took that and went farther with it and I was just that confident you know and later on obviously I struggled with that but it while I had it I just felt like I was on top of the world and getting back to Randy and Edge they've had those that should be Randy right now

is on the top of his game there's nobody better than Randy right now when he wants to be. I tell him all the time. You know, when he's motivated and he's got a project that, you know, that winds him up, listen to his interviews. I mean, they're unbelievable. This Edge program is a great example of that.

His promos have been tremendous. It's tremendous. Their interviews are to die for. Unbelievable. Because they're personal, they have substance, and the audience can buy that. They're going,

you know, Edge was great. He suffered a horrific injury. I mean, on a personal note, I don't think Edge will mind re-repeating it, but the day that Vince called him,

it was like getting stabbed in the heart. Yeah. He said, I've got to put you on the sideline. The doctor came back with the report, and I'm not going to have, you know, I can't have you in the ring. I can't, you know, I'm sure Vince didn't use these exact words, but his feeling was, you know, I can't have you know, I'm sure Vince didn't use these exact words, but his feeling was, you know, I can't have you get hurt. No matter how much I need you on the show,

I cannot risk you being injured. So in talking to Edge, I know that he has had multiple opinions, as has Steve Austin, because, you know, not to change the subject, but I was with Steve about six months I didn't realize that Steve retired he was 38 yeah yeah Jesus Christ how much money is left on the table with Steve Austin right right oh my god yeah because I wasn't there and I didn't get to see all that are you kidding me 38 Steve was done. And here's Edge, done in his 30s

nine years ago. Was he 35 or 36? Yeah. See him come back and don't think. I mean, once this business is in your blood, you want to come back. So for Edge Sunday, this is an opportunity

to prove to himself, to prove to Orton. Even though they used to be tight and they probably are very cordial now, who knows? But he wants to prove it. He wants to show up and give Randy everything he's got.

And he wants to show Vince McMahon. And he wants to show the locker room. Fans aside, he wants to show Vince McMahon, and he wants to show the locker room. Fans aside, he wants to show that he deserves to be where he's at and to make every dime he's making. Right. You mentioned the it factor. When you're looking at a guy like Dusty, you can see it with Edge. You can see it with Randy.

You can obviously see it with edge. You can see it with Randy. You can obviously see it with yourself when you're looking at guys today is like, when you see that in Dusty and you're like, that's a guy that I can make money with. Do you see that in guys today? And is it the same thing that you're looking for? Like, is that something that changes over time or like, is it just like a time honored tradition where either you have it or you or you don't, and who do you think has it right now? The most it of anybody in the company right now? Her name is Charlotte Flair. That's right. I love that answer.

Yep. She's the biggest star in the company, and I don't have to be the only one to say it. Everybody knows it. If you take the match Saturday night and take the performance with Asuka, which was a completely different match than they've ever had, didn't have all the big major bumps and the moonsaults and all the rest, because they just wrestled the week before,

they just went out and slugged it out, which was, you know, what it called for. And then you take the body of work that she's assembled, that she has an arsenal next to nobody. The Corkscrew Moonsault, they play on the opening of every show at 5'10 or 5'11. I guess she's 5'11 and 150 pounds. I mean, and she looks like a million bucks. She dresses like a champion, acts like a champion.

You know? She, to me, she's too modest. Well, I think you evened it out for her, though. It's perfect. You're the proud dad that gets to be like, no, I'm pregnant. I'm not going to do that. And here's the deal. I don't care.

I care what people think of me, obviously. But I got no problem saying it because I wouldn't say that if it wasn't true. Then people could say he's full of shit. I'm not. But who's going to say that about Ric Flair? Ric, nobody's going to say you're full of shit. No, no, no. But here's the deal.

If she's not the greatest who is hello she she didn't get she didn't get there trying to sell merchandise she wants to be called the greatest she don't care how many t-shirts sells you know what i mean yeah wants that recognition of being the greatest, which she is, you know. And, you know, every day she wakes up. And that's the same way Randy was when he came. And coming from Toronto as a kid. And if you don't want to be that person, you're not going to get there.

And I don't care how many doors they open for you, how many opportunities are presented to you. If you don't have it here and here, you're not going to make it. And you've got to know, yeah, you've got to know who you are walking through that curtain because you're all by yourself and the whole world's looking at you. And you got to remember, I tell her all the time, I did, that camera, you have to imagine that the camera, you're sitting under a magnifying glass

because that camera will sit on you the whole night. And everything that you do in that match, walking to the ring, walking back, until you walk back, you're on camera. And you're judged by everything, you know, and criticized for everything that you don't do. So

it's a lot to think about, but she's at that now. You know, Randy's there, and Edge is trying to get back there and ask me who I'd like to work with. It's never going to happen, but if I could have had Roman Reigns trying to get back there and ask me who I'd like to work with. It's never going to happen, but if I could have

had Roman Reigns to work with, they'd have to build new arenas. I think you're right about that. If I could go back and see that handsome son of a bitch right now, and he is, I mean, he's a

god in terms of the way he looks, and he's a legit athlete, and he is i mean he's a god in terms of the way he looks and he's a legit athlete and he's a man and man i wish i could have been the guy i wish i could have walked on tv you know and just said hey pal you know but i i missed him by 20 years but Roman's got the it factor, you know, just like Randy. It just, you know, it is, it's, it's, it's a once in a lifetime and generational athletes like that, uh, with everything come along, you know, once in a lifetime. So going back to this greatest matches thing, one other match that I would love to touch on that I've watched countless

amounts of times is the 1992 Royal rumble. I assume this is one that's also brought up to you pretty frequently, right? It's, it's the one that you won. The WWF championship was on the line and I feel like still to this day, it's pretty universally considered the greatest Royal rumble ever. What do you think it was that made that Royal rumble so great? The number of guys that are in it that are in the Hall of Fame. Right place, right time.

I mean, I like that recognition, but I don't. I don't think I did anything special. You think it was just the roster at the time? Yeah, I mean, I think someone said, but there's like 19 or 20 guys in the Hall of Fame. I mean, look, I mean, you're talking about everybody from the boss, man, God rest his soul, Davey Boy, Sean, Brett, Hulk, Sid, me, Kerry Von Rigg.

I mean, it's a who's who, a Jake. I mean, everybody. I don't want to leave anybody out, but, I mean, everybody was in it. And so you're looking at that aura of talent, and that's when our business, I think. And then, of course, along came the Attitude Era, which I thought was a phenomenal time in the business for talent as well. Everybody came together, and Steve, and then Mick,

and Hunter was, and Sean. I mean, then they, and Taker, who has always been, you know, the guy. But that, I hit, oh, Taker was in that match too. I mean, give me a break. For me, I was lucky to be there

right time, and I, you know, I needed, they had beat my brains out for a year and a half down there. I just said, he promised me this, he promised me that. No need to wear people out with that story.

I just said, I'm gone. I had no idea. I didn't have any promises. I wasn't promised WrestleMania. I wasn't told about I had no idea. I didn't have any promises. I wasn't promised WrestleMania. I wasn't told about the Royal Rumble. I just had to go back up into a world that was full of Ted DiBiase, Kurt Henning, Taker, Hulk, Savage. I mean, look at the list of guys.

Oh, Randy was in that match too. And then I said, said hey I walked away and I got an opportunity to be with some of the greatest guys of all time for a year and a half and then I made a mistake going home which was good for a week you uh you mentioned the Undertaker and uh WWE Network has uh the special the last ride on it right now um there's a scene in there the wrestlemania after he loses the streak he's uh i think it's wrestlemania 31 against bray wyatt and uh triple h notices taker having this moment of self-doubt and i know that you've had a moment like that as well and it's as as a fan, it's like, it's crazy to me that a legend like you,

a legend like the undertaker can have these moments so late into their career where they've already proven themselves. Like it's not, I can understand. You're trying out a new gimmick. You're trying out a new character. It's early in your career, but you and taker have these moments later in your career, these moments of self doubt moments later in your career, these moments of self-doubt. How, in your opinion, how do you get there and how do you get yourself out of those moments? Well, first of all, let me answer the first question.

And Taker and I have talked about this and I have with Hunter. Hunter said the same thing to me at least 20 times. What in the F is going on? The Ric Flair, but I couldn't get it. They had beat me up so bad in WCW. I mean, the last show shaving me in my skin.

I mean, this is just like, just, you know, pouring it on the NWO buried me in the desert. That Russo buried me in the desert. Russo buried me. I mean, I'm trying to survive this. And the last thing we do is, and Eric Bischoff says to me,

I can never forget it. Remember the word, you got to let them shave your head. Okay, Eric, you're just going to get your final two cents. You know what I mean? And they shaved me and my son's head. I mean, hello. I mean, I'm Ric Flair. And you can look back on that and all that, but him and Russo,

they just – and I don't know what – I didn't do anything to them. They just couldn't stand it that I was this guy that no matter how hard they tried to destroy me, people wouldn't let go of it. And I'm thankful for the fans. But getting to WWE, when Vince called me, I said, yeah, but I can't wrestle again. Me, I can talk all night long, Vince, but I can't wrestle.

And sure enough, I'm there and Shane comes over and says, hey, what do you think about wrestling my dad? And at Royal Rumble, I said, no. As he came back in November, this is already getting in. I said, I can't do it. I can't do it. And that fell on deaf ears. And then I'm sitting there lost again because I thought that match was horrible

because I thought I looked like it didn't look good cosmetically, which has been an issue, obviously. I never thought of myself as being, you know, a Ricky Steamboat body type or Sean or Hunter, just average body, but I could talk my way around it. Does that make sense?

Of course. But I was broken, and then Hunter sat down next to me in the building one night and said, hey, Taker wants to work with you at Mania. I went, what? I mean, I literally said, what? He said, yeah, ask Taker who he wanted, and he wants you. I said, what do you think?

And I was like, I wanted to just start going. I wanted to get up and leave and go home. Rather than say, because I just knew, my God, Undertaker, me, WrestleMania. Are you kidding? You know, I'm 50, I'm 55 years old. I mean, I was, it went, I couldn't get it guys. And again, he got me through, just like Sean got me through 24. Taker got me through, just like Sean got me through 24. Taker got me through that. And then halfway through it, I start to realize that I can do it here, right?

It's never been physical with me. They can kill me. Knock on wood, my body is held up. But halfway through the match, as soon as I made that flip that I messed up the first time, he backed me up and he goes, let's try that again, kid. Now I'm 20 years older, Mark. As soon as I made it over, he gave me the boot, down we go. I was good.

But prior to that, I was just struggling. I mean, the anxiety for that month going in there for me, and I can, you know know those stories i tell them by talking to the sports psychologists i've exhausted a couple of them i go i go listen yeah i drink every day and i wrestle every day and that's right depending on where i am that's gonna happen too but when you lose your self-confidence and with mark it's physical from multiple surgeries with me it was mental but it's equally crippling. If you're in the ring worried about getting hurt

or worried about a knee or a back and all that, I haven't experienced that. But, you know, because I've been relatively surgery-free, rotator cuffs and all that. But, I mean, that's all healed. You know, for him, 6'10", 300 pounds, doing stuff the ray mysterio does i mean come on he's put him he has diving over the top rope i mean hello you know that's the stuff the guys that are you know anywhere from five five to six feet are doing right yeah and they don't do it as

good as he does and it doesn't look as good because he's six foot 10 and 300 pounds. But I can only imagine how that is debilitating to him. It's just self-confidence physically and mentally can be very crippling. And I tell Hunter, I mean, Hunter was every night with me. And I go, and finally, with evolution, I got to the ring and I started feeling good. And it wasn't that I couldn't do it physically. I just was overly conscious of my physique. You know, first of all, it's almost a rib that put me in there with Hunter, Randy Orton, and Dave Bautista. Come on. I never know whether that was a personal rib or what.

With them, you never know. But I did get my groove back on, and I felt great. But all of a sudden, then bingo, and then I think Shawn Michaels. I got Shawn's the best worker in the business now. I mean, and he changed everything around his moon salts and all this stuff that Sean's the guy that brought that platform, you know, not, not like, not, not like Lucha Libra, but you know, into, in, in, in, into, in, into the big scene.

My best example is when I came home one day and my son said, Dad, can you do a moonsault? And I said, what? I said, can you do a moonsault? I said, no, I can't. I said, why do you? Well, Sean Michaels can do them. Why don't you? What?

No, it's but I mean, then you're aware that you know, the person you want to be their hero, they're looking at somebody else. Yeah. And he idolized the hunter. He read the bodybuilding book that a hunter had years ago. He idolized Sean. I mean, you know, where you want to be your kid's hero,

all of a sudden you realize that the business is changing. And, you know, you, you, you were great and you had your time but you know unless you want to go out and learn how to do a moonsault and practice and all that probably not going to happen at 50 years i bet you could do one now though you could moonsault rick you got a pool or something you could practice on you could moonsault yeah listen my You got a pool or something you could practice on. You could moonsault. Charlotte was in gymnastics at that time. And I said to her, Coach, can you put a harness on me? They could flip you. That never materialized.

Rick, this has been an absolute pleasure getting to chat with you. And that story about regaining your confidence was amazing. I'm so glad that you got it back to you because that final round of your career was absolutely amazing. Listen, I've always been able to talk my way through it. But I just had a rough time getting there. But going back to Sunday, I think it's going to be great. You've got two great athletes. And, I mean, I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm sure the fan base all over the world is going, Jesus, you know, that's going to be it. It's Edge and Randy Orton. Randy feels like it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Randy's in a groove that very few athletes ever get to right now. And he's atop me just like the queen.

So, anyway, love you guys. Thanks for having me. Love you too, Rick. Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to seeing that. Remember to woo all night long. Oh, yeah.