Ric Flair Goes Into Detail As To How His AEW Deal Was Made

On Thursday, AEW announced their multi-year signing of WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair. The company also revealed that, as a part of Flair's contract, his "Wooooo! Energy" beverage was to be named as the official energy drink of AEW. During an interview with Variety, Flair explained how his deal with AEW was made. "I just reached out to Tony [Khan]," Flair said. "Then Tony got back to me and he said he'd be interested in that. And I wasn't selling myself. I was just selling energy drinks ... And then Tony was thinking about Sting's retirement and asked if I wanted to be a part of it."

Flair's AEW arrival was initially presented as a gift to his former rival, Sting, who recently announced his intention to retire at Revolution 2024. Amidst his debut on the October 25 episode of "AEW Dynamite," Flair vowed to "ride it out" with Sting during the final chapter of his wrestling career. This statement then prompted Luchasaurus, Nick Wayne, and Christian Cage to appear, the latter of which issued a challenge for a three-on-three tag team match at Full Gear 2023, which is set to take place on November 18. Adam Copeland has since been deemed as the partner to Sting and Allin for this match. 

Per Flair's aforementioned statement, it seems that he will be involved in this Full Gear program, and Sting's retirement timeline, in some capacity. Given his new multi-year contract, Flair may also emerge in other storylines beyond that.