AEW's Matt Hardy Shares His Favorite Story About WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair

Much like how "Everybody Has an Andy Dick Story" in Hollywood, everybody has a Ric Flair story in wrestling. It seems like those stories can be broken up into two categories: those that can be told, and those that are too scandalous for public consumption. 

During a recent episode of "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy," Hardy was asked his favorite Ric Flair story that he could safely disclose. Hardy remembered a time when Flair pressured Shawn Michaels into getting drunk after Michaels had cleaned up his act and found his Christian faith. 

"Shawn Michaels and John Cena were in the UK, and they'd had like a 45, 50-minute match," Hardy recalled. "We were back at the bar. And this was when Shawn had cleaned his life up, right? He's sober, not being old school HBK that you hear all these horror stories about, and I remember Ric said, 'Woo! You're still the man! Drinks are on me tonight, HBK.' And Shawn was like, 'Ric, I can't do that,' and he's like, 'Just because you have [one] drink doesn't mean you're a bad Christian.' And eventually Ric talked him into having a drink, and it ended up being another and a couple, and then before you knew it, Ric was laughing because he knew he got Shawn back in his old mode."

Hardy said that the drinks loosened Michaels up to the point where he began talking smack to Umaga, and the late star apparently responded quickly and stood Michaels down.

"Ric was just like the puppet master, he was just laughing at all this," Hardy said.

Hardy's Flair story is tame compared to most. The two men don't have an extensive history, but one major moment stands out — the WrestleMania 22 "Money in the Bank" ladder match, in which Hardy superplexed Flair off the ladder. It was a risky maneuver for the then 57-year-old to take, and Hardy said he was the only combatant Flair trusted to execute it safely.