Ric Flair Speaks Out - NWA Vs. WWF, WWE Title, More
Author Kevin Sullivan (author of the WWE Championship book) posted the following excerpts from his Ric Flair interview, here they are?
On Winning The WWF Title In 1992 As His Best Career Moment: "It was. The problem is I have so many great moments? my retirement, the night I wrestled Hunter in Greenville? but it's a combination of all those. But if you're looking for a defining moment or one that re-revived me, that was it. I didn't retire until 2008, and that was 1992, so I had another 19 years and that really gave me a lot of credibility, even though I thought the match was only so so, because those kinda matches are hard to work. Everybody says it was a great match and I say "well, if you guys think so, then it was." They thought that just because I wrestled an hour, but I had been doing that my whole life. It was no problem. I was in the ring with such an array of talent. And all those guys were my friends. I didn't have any self doubt about my relationships with the guys in the business ever, except when I came back in 2001 because I had been out for a year. And I was shocked that Vince hadn't called me Day One. When I sat home for a year, I started thinking about what was going on in my life."
On NWA vs. WWF Fans: "I'm not really sure because there was a division of fans back then. I don't really know that anybody really understood my career until WWE made that first DVD about me. The first five years I was champion, I didn't have a day off except Christmas Eve. I never took a day off. Because if I had a day off on the schedule and a promoter called Barnett who was the booker and asked to have Flair, I always said "yes." Especially if it was Dallas or St. Louis. I liked working. I liked the adulation and respect that being in that position gave me."
On NWA & WWF Title Wins: "Equally as big. My first win was in a match against Dusty in Kansas City. Bob Geiger was the president of NWA then. Instead of having Dusty and I wrestle for the World Championship in Tampa or Greensboro, my backyard, or Atlanta, he finagled the match in Kansas City where I had never wrestled before until that night. And Dusty only did one or two times. It was just an average crowd; Lou Thesz was special guest referee, they knew Lou. But the building held 3,000 people. And Dusty hoped to have the title longer? when you're friends with people, that's what causes the drama in this business. And when you like somebody, you don't want to see them in a bad place. And he was there with his wife Michelle, who I'm really close to. My mom and dad came and they never saw me wrestle before. It was a different night. But winning the title the second time in Greensboro was what really launched me in '83, the first Starrcade."