Ric Flair's responds to Bret Hart's comments and more!

[Y2J World Champ]

Credit goes to TheTurnbuckle.com


-- The show opens up with the Evolution theme to get everyone in the mood for what is about to hit them. Before the interview begins, James and Dan hop in for a short segment giving fans in the UK the "heads up" on the "Phrase that Pays" with a chance to win Legends of Wrestling: Showdown for the Playstation 2 console. They then go to a Ric Flair package rounding out with his classic theme music as the interview prepares to begin.

-- Ric Flair joins the show and James expresses the pleasure of having Ric on. Ric appreciates the appreciation!

-- Flair feels his first and second title reins are the most important of his 16. The first because it was the first and the second because it meant he really deserved to have it in the first place.

-- Flair did not get along with Jim Herd, a promoter for WCW at the time. So, that is why he packed up and left for the WWF in 1991. Flair encourages people to read the book for the details on that story.

-- Flair feels there is no comparison between WCW at any point of its history and the WWE. Flair feels the WWE is the most professionally run company of all time and no matter who was in charge of WCW, nothing was ever even close to touching WWE.

-- Flair also feels there is no comparison between the IV Horsemen and the nWo. Flair says the Horsemen were the true elite stars of wrestling and the nWo was not in the same league.

-- James mentions Bret Hart's response to Flair's book posted on several websites last week. Flair claims to not have seen the article but states, "I feel sorry for Bret Hart." He then goes on to say Mark Madden, the editor of Flair's book and former WCW Nitro host, sent Flair proof that Bret talked about the incident on Montreal the day after Owen died which Bret apparently had always denied doing. "He ceased the opportunity to jump back into the lime light to express how bitter he was about the way the WWF handled his departure. This week I'm headed for Canada. I'm going to be on every national TV show in Canada and Bret Hart will be sorry that he ever opened his mouth!"

-- "Vince McMahon, as creative as he is, couldn't figure out a way to fire Bret Hart. He (Bret) couldn't draw a dime!"

-- "I never said I didn't like his style, I just said he wasn't a good wrestler," said Ric when talking about Mick Foley. "Falling off a ladder into a bed of thumb tacks has nothing to do with pro wrestling. It's certainly not the craft I learned." Flair then runs down a list of great workers through history and poses a question to James, "How many of them do hardcore wrestling?" James replies by saying, "None of them." Ric answers quickly saying, "Thank you!"

-- Flair "tolerated" Bonnie Steamboat. Flair feels she cost Ricky "a fortune."

-- The promo Flair cut the night he returned in 1998 when he screamed at Bischoff was a "100% shoot."

-- Flair indeed did believe his last match was on the final Nitro with Sting.

-- As for when Flair may actually retire, Flair replies quickly with, "I don't know. It will depend totally on what the company has in mind." James asks if Flair would like one last title run and Ric feels it would be nice but that is not his objective.

-- Flair enjoyed the "CO-owner" story. He says, "I wasn't sure I was ready for that level of responsibility but I liked it."

-- "I enjoy my role with Evolution tremendously," says Flair.

-- Flair feels he has worked with a lot of guys with Eugene type characters in the past. He has no problem with the gimmick at all.

-- Flair seems unaware of the "Plane Ride from Hell" story circulating on the Internet. Flair feels it is your typical Internet stuff.

-- James and Dan then roll into their famous Word Associations with names like Eric Bischoff, Dusty Rhodes, Triple H, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon, and more!

-- James opens the floor for Flair to end by doing a "hard sell" for his book. Flair says he does not need to give a hard sell. "I'm the only guy to have wrestled everybody from Bruiser Brody to the Rock. Bret Hart never wrestled anybody except in the WWE. When the WWF was hot, he was in the Hart Foundation. He didn't have to draw any money. He rode around on Hogan's coat tails... Then, when they made him champion here, he couldn't draw a dime -- They couldn't wait to get rid of him. Then he came to WCW and he bombed. Would you say that's pretty accurate?" The question is attempted to be brushed off by James who attempts to use his Fifth Amendment right not to answer on the grounds it might incriminate him. Flair pressures James and James attempts to respectfully agree to disagree taking up for Bret. Flair hits James with some big questions like "Why did the WWE get rid of him?" and "Did he make any money in WCW?" James attempts to avoid answering as the two agree to disagree and James thanks Flair for being a part of the show.

-- James and Dan then do a recap of the show talking about the interview, the new Legends of Wrestling game, and they spin the new Dokken record "Hell to Play" playing "Escape" off the record.

[The Kid]

What can I say that hasn't already been said about Flair? He's a classlass piece of ****. He's an old, senile has-been who's one of the most boring wrestlers around. He doesn't deserve to even be mentioned in the same breath as Bret Hart ( though I'm a little biased). If Bret couldn't draw then why was he given the WWF title 5 times?

I wish that he would at the very least get his facts strait before he says stupid **** that makes him come of as a bitter, old bitch. Vince made several offers including a 20 year contract offer. Maybe it's just me but would Vince make that kind of an offer to somebody who has no value to the company? However when it was Flair's turn to get re-signed he was allowed to just walk back to WCW.

So maybe Flair's jealous of Bret and Foley. He's sees their popularity and wonders why people don't love him like that. Maybe it's because everytime Flair opens his mouth and says something besides that tired old WOOOOOOOOO he alienates fans and other performers alike.

I have a feeling GD isn't going to like me saying this. Round 2 is comin' up I guess.

[Cripplerlock]

What can I say that hasn't already been said about Flair? He's a classlass piece of ****. He's an old, senile has-been who's one of the most boring wrestlers around. He doesn't deserve to even be mentioned in the same breath as Bret Hart ( though I'm a little biased). If Bret couldn't draw then why was he given the WWF title 5 times?

I wish that he would at the very least get his facts strait before he says stupid **** that makes him come of as a bitter, old bitch. Vince made several offers including a 20 year contract offer. Maybe it's just me but would Vince make that kind of an offer to somebody who has no value to the company? However when it was Flair's turn to get re-signed he was allowed to just walk back to WCW.

So maybe Flair's jealous of Bret and Foley. He's sees their popularity and wonders why people don't love him like that. Maybe it's because everytime Flair opens his mouth and says something besides that tired old WOOOOOOOOO he alienates fans and other performers alike.

I have a feeling GD isn't going to like me saying this. Round 2 is comin' up I guess.


Ok lets be real here. Despite what you and I think of Flair he still has a very strong fan base despite his age. I know your biased towards Bret. Maybe I am too in this situation but Flair was correct in a sense about Brets drawing power. However in another sense he is way off. Now I am not pick on Canada but sometimes I think it is hard to understand that Bret even at his peak probably did not have the same level of popularity in with the US fans as he did with the Canadian fans. That is not a negative it just means his home country supported him more which actually makes sense. What I am getting at is Bret is not the person who is going to have the same drawing power as a Hogan in the 80s or Austin in the late 90s. That does not mean Bret could not draw and what Flair said about Bret not beening able to draw a dime is a load of crap. I really seldom use title reigns in a debate but you are right in saying that Bret would not have had the belt 5 times if he could not draw. Bret did the best he could under the circumstances he was in. Lets go back the early/mid 90s. WWE is caught under a big steriods case and their prime wrestler Hogan is gone. Hogan was the most popular wrestler of the 80s. Everything was centered around him and now he is gone. Now at the time WWE was promoting this New Generation era. Bret was one of the main wrestlers at that time but how could anyone expect any wrestler to replace the popularity of Hogan at that time. I damn sure done recall Flair doing much better when he was in the WWE at that time. Until the ratings wars the 90s was not that great for the whole industry. Of course WCW bounce back early with Nitro and the loss of Hogan and the court battles took their toll on WWF. Yes it was like Bret was trusted into the situation but he did the best he could and he definitely made his mark in wrestling history in the WWE. There is no denying that. Flair should learn not to bash someone if it makes him look dumb in the process.

[Y2J World Champ]

Well I was able to find a quick response by Bret Hart about Ric Flair.

Credit goes to prowrestlingscoops.com


Bret Hart was recently on the WrestlingObserver radio show and stated that even though wrestlers claim the best in recent history are Hart, HBK, and Flair, Flair is considered to be a legend due to a misconception of his wrestling. Hart went onto claim that Flair couldn't lace the boots of Curt Hennig or Dynamite Kid.

[Gravedigger]

What can I say that hasn't already been said about Flair? He's a classlass piece of ****. He's an old, senile has-been who's one of the most boring wrestlers around. He doesn't deserve to even be mentioned in the same breath as Bret Hart ( though I'm a little biased).
LMFAO. Ok in that other post you said you'd been watching wrestling since basically 1991. Flair's biggest years were in the 70s and 80s and for you to say and believe that he can't even be mentioned in the same breath as Bret Hart shows you don't know a damn thing about wrestling. You know nothing about the sport if you believe that statement.

None of that quote is true at all and I can't believe someone would have the audacity to say that about one of the greats in the business. I'd like to see a videotape of you going into EVERY SINGLE lockerroom in wrestling and saying that. I'd like to see how many lockerrooms you walk out of without any kind of serious injuries. I doubt there's more than five wrestlers out there who would agree with you.


If Bret couldn't draw then why was he given the WWF title 5 times?

Oh please. First off, Undertaker and Ric Flair were the only people of big name value who people gave a damn about that Hart ever beat for the title. WWF was in the middle of going downhill not long after Hart started holding the title. Read Flair's book and he points things out during Hart's title reign that you can look up (which will prove his comments right) and show that WWF didn't benefit from Hart holding the title.

Hart was rarely ever in a major main event as the champion. The only time his matches as champion were THE main event were when he faced off against another major established superstar such as The Undertaker or HBK. During Hart's last reign he was facing people like the Patriot while Shawn and Undertaker battled it out in the main events of the shows. During another of Hart's title reigns, Undertaker would headline the shows while Hart was on the match before the main event or even one match below THAT.

Bret always hated HBK before the SS '97 match because HBK was having five-star matches with people like Tatanka, Jannety, and Martel...FREAKIN TATANKA!! Bret only had amazing matches against established, uber-super popular superstars. When he faced anyone else he had mediocre matches.

Don't get me wrong, Bret was awesome and everything but he could only wrestle with certain people and make them look good. Otherwise the match would have been ho-hum.


I wish that he would at the very least get his facts strait before he says stupid **** that makes him come of as a bitter, old bitch. Vince made several offers including a 20 year contract offer.
20 year contract offer? Where did you hear that??


Maybe it's just me but would Vince make that kind of an offer to somebody who has no value to the company? However when it was Flair's turn to get re-signed he was allowed to just walk back to WCW.
Read Flair's book and you'll know why it went down like that!


So maybe Flair's jealous of Bret and Foley. He's sees their popularity and wonders why people don't love him like that. Maybe it's because everytime Flair opens his mouth and says something besides that tired old WOOOOOOOOO he alienates fans and other performers alike.
Jealous?? Why in the world would he be jealous of either man? What in the hell has Foley done to make Flair jealous?? He does violent things to his body which is what a lot of people liked in the 90s and some still do these days, big freakin deal! Look where it got him!! He can't wrestle anymore while Flair is STILL wrestling. And before anyone says that he wrestles awful now, keep in mind that he's been doing this for 30 freakin years. I'd like to see ANYONE wrestle for 30 years and still be looking good. Do you guys know of anyone other than Flair who's been wrestling as long who can still go? I doubt it and if you do, they're likely on some indy show every other week. They aren't wrestling multiple times a week like Flair.


I have a feeling GD isn't going to like me saying this. Round 2 is comin' up I guess.
Hell yeah, I'm not going to like you saying it because what you're saying is nothing but ignorant bull**** that you're being fed by the puppet master, Bret Hart.

The guy used Owen's freakin death to hammer in the SS '97 situation. Those articles he wrote for that newspaper, he could rarely go one freakin article without mentioning both incidents. The fact that Hart couldn't go that whole bashing of Flair without mentioning both incidents kinda shows that to be true. Sometimes he came right out and talked about '97, other times he just implied it.

[The Kid]

Ok so maybe some of my comments come off as being overly critical but honestly Falir brings it on himself. GD please explain to me why Flair attacked those two? In my opinion it was to try to create conterversy to sell the book.

And just because Flair is a great in the sport of wrestling doesn't mean that he is above criticism like you would want us all to believe. Watch 10 of Flair matches and tell me how much variation there is in those matches. Flair has always been a good in ring wrestler but he was never really a great one. He is definately no Bret Hart. And since when is not being in Bret Hart's league an insult any way. I think maybe it's you that doesn't know anything about wrestling if you truely believe that Flair is even close to Bret.

About Bret not wrestling any big stars that's because even as champion he tried to put younger wrestlers over, he was in a role very simalar to what Chris Benoit is now. Are you going to sit there and blame Benoit for wrestling Batista? No because you realize that he is using the fact that he is champion to put over other wrestlers who benefit because they put up a fight against the champ. At that time the WWF was pretty short of main event talent so Bret helped to create some. ( think of how big Austin go after his Bret Hart fued). Flair rarely did this ( with the exception of putting Ricky Steamboat over big time.)

About the 20 year contract offer, both Bret Hart and Vince McMahon have mentioned this contract offer on Off The Record. ( a Canadian sports show which occasionally does 1 on 1 interviews with wrestlers) The deal was supposed to go until Bret reitired and then he would have been given a backstage job with the WWF for the duration of the contract.

Terry Funk has been wrestling as long as Ric Flair but I guess he'll be automatically dismissed because of the fact that he only wrestles some Indy shows. Flair doesn't wrestle multiple times a week either. Flair only wrestles when he needs to now a days when he needs to. Other than that he is mostly used as a manager. And I'll give Flair props for still wrestling but is that a good thing? He's taking up TV time that a young talented wrestler could probably use. And who knows if Bret would still be wrestling if it weren't for an acident in the ring.


Bret always hated HBK before the SS '97 match because HBK was having five-star matches with people like Tatanka, Jannety, and Martel...FREAKIN TATANKA!!

Umm, Ok. I'm not quite sure what HBK has to do with this but I'll adress it anyway. I never said that I didn't think HBK wasn't a good worker. And Bret didn't like Shawn because at the time he played alot of politics and refused to put people over very consistantly.

GD, if you have to use personal insults against me to be able to get your point across, then I really feel bad for you. I got nothing against you but it's really becoming hard to like you.

[Gravedigger]

Ok so maybe some of my comments come off as being overly critical but honestly Falir brings it on himself. GD please explain to me why Flair attacked those two? In my opinion it was to try to create conterversy to sell the book.

OMG...you seriously need to do your research. In Foley's first book he insulted Flair and blamed Ric Flair himself for Foley not going anywhere in WCW. He couldn't take the blame himself. He couldn't see the fact that he wasn't good enough wrestling-wise to get himself over and didn't really know how to cut good promos back then, and so he blamed Ric because Ric had said he'd try to help Foley out. Flair wasn't able to because Jim Herd gave the other bookers no freakin power back then, but Foley decides to stick his foot in his mouth anyway and blame Flair for him not being able to make it in WCW.

THAT is why Flair took a shot at Foley. Thank you for once again proving that you're just listening to Hart's bull**** and not doing research first.


And just because Flair is a great in the sport of wrestling doesn't mean that he is above criticism like you would want us all to believe. Watch 10 of Flair matches and tell me how much variation there is in those matches.
lol, all the wrestlers use the same basic moves in their matches. It's not that hard to sit there these days and predict all the moves that are going to happen. Again, all the wrestlers use the same movesets these days.


Flair has always been a good in ring wrestler but he was never really a great one. He is definately no Bret Hart.
I seriously doubt you've seen any of Flair's matches from the 80s or 70s after reading those two sentences.


I think maybe it's you that doesn't know anything about wrestling if you truely believe that Flair is even close to Bret.
This coming from the guy who is totally bashing Flair and worshipping Hart? I can see that both wrestlers were great, but I don't believe that Hart is as good as he likes to make everyone believe. I liked Hart back when he was wrestling. I loved watching the guy. He was one of my favs but that doesn't mean I think he's a god. Same goes with Flair. I just think Flair's one of the greats and that Hart is almost up there. Hart's problem is he's too bitter for me to put him up there with Flair.


About Bret not wrestling any big stars that's because even as champion he tried to put younger wrestlers over, he was in a role very simalar to what Chris Benoit is now. Are you going to sit there and blame Benoit for wrestling Batista? No because you realize that he is using the fact that he is champion to put over other wrestlers who benefit because they put up a fight against the champ. At that time the WWF was pretty short of main event talent so Bret helped to create some. ( think of how big Austin go after his Bret Hart fued).
Ok, you keep telling yourself that, but ten years ago when all that was happening, world champions RARELY EVER did that. They were almost always wrestling the other major stars. Bret rarely ever had big matches at all even with the mediocre/jobber wrestlers. Flair's matches were always great to watch even with the worst wrestlers in the business. There was plenty of talent for Hart to wrestle that were high up on the card. It was still a couple of years before WCW started grabbing up all the major WWF stars.


Flair rarely did this ( with the exception of putting Ricky Steamboat over big time.)
Read his book before you say that again. He gives examples of plenty of people he helped out with and most of those people gave him quotes to put in there about how he helped them out.


Terry Funk has been wrestling as long as Ric Flair but I guess he'll be automatically dismissed because of the fact that he only wrestles some Indy shows. Flair doesn't wrestle multiple times a week either. Flair only wrestles when he needs to now a days when he needs to. Other than that he is mostly used as a manager. And I'll give Flair props for still wrestling but is that a good thing? He's taking up TV time that a young talented wrestler could probably use. And who knows if Bret would still be wrestling if it weren't for an acident in the ring.
Vince asked him to come back. Vince wanted him back. Flair didn't go to Vince.

The only time Flair ever went to Vince was when Vince tried to grab Flair up at one point and Flair turned him down. Later down the road (like a couple of months or maybe a little longer) he called him back and said he wanted to join WWF.


Umm, Ok. I'm not quite sure what HBK has to do with this but I'll adress it anyway. I never said that I didn't think HBK wasn't a good worker. And Bret didn't like Shawn because at the time he played alot of politics and refused to put people over very consistantly.
My point was that Bret was always a jealous person and he got mad because HBK could wow the crowd no matter who the opponent was, while Bret could only do it with major talent-filled opponents.


GD, if you have to use personal insults against me to be able to get your point across, then I really feel bad for you. I got nothing against you but it's really becoming hard to like you.
What are you talking about? When did I use a personal insult against you?