Ric Flair hasn’t been featured on AEW TV in many months, and he recently explained why.
During a recent edition of Busted Open Radio’s “From The Master’s Class” podcast, Flair explained his absence.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On why he’s not on AEW TV: “The reason I’m not on TV now is Tony [Khan] didn’t know I was on blood thinners…That’s why. At Sting’s last match, I had already made a blade. I was ready to go. He said [no]… I made blades for all the guys in the old days.”
On his history with blading: “If I couldn’t cut myself, we weren’t gonna make it through the match. [chuckles] You try wrestling Rufus R. Jones for an hour…That’s a long hour-Broadway.”
Although Toni Storm defeated Miyu Yamashita in their Women’s World Title Eliminator match on this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, the win came at a cost — Yamashita delivered a fierce performance, landing blows that Storm won’t soon forget.
Judging by Yamashita’s post-match remarks, she has zero regrets about the intensity she brought to the fight.
Sure, she had a nice ass! But that doesn’t matter, I’m a STRIKER https://t.co/GNs6dsMK2w
— 山下実優 Miyu Yamashita (@miyu_tjp) May 1, 2025
During a recent interview with TalkSport, Bryan Danielson highlighted the Brodie Lee tribute show as a token that demonstrated AEW’s care for wrestlers and fans, suggesting that they are the “good guys” of wrestling.
CM Punk expressed similar feelings about the impact of that show during his time in AEW.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On the ‘war’ between WWE and AEW: “We as a company don’t approach other companies in a warlike fashion, right? We don’t feel like we’re in a war with anybody. But that’s not the same as the other side. We’re constantly kind of on the defense in that. I don’t know the right strategy, but I like the way Tony Khan handles things because that it in my mind, it makes us the good guys. But I don’t know if at some point we need to go more on the offensive. I’ve had friends bring that up to me like, ‘Oh, you guys should attack.’ I’m like, wait a second. Like one, that’s not my personality. Two, that’s not Tony Khan’s personality. And I think that’s one of the things that drew me to AEW. When I was in WWE, I was watching the way AEW did things.”
On the Brodie Lee tribute show: We had a wrestler, Brodie Lee, who had passed away. They did this incredible tribute show. At that point, I was still with WWE. And the way that they did that show — Brodie was my friend — it touched something in me and in my mind. I was thinking like, ‘Oh, these are the good guys of professional wrestling’. There’s going to be times where we make wrong, or bad decisions, that happens everywhere. But one of the things that I like to think about AEW is that we try — and we don’t market ourselves as this — to be good. Tony Khan never says it. He never says, ‘We’re the good guys in professional wrestling.’ But that’s one of the things that I thought of when I was in WWE. I was like, ‘Oh, the people behind this, who are running this thing, they care about the wrestlers. They care about the fans, too.’ The one thing that I love about Tony is that he is a wrestling fan and he wants to produce a show for wrestling fans, or that wrestling fans will enjoy.”
On the end of his career: “The last six months of my career, I was in a lot of pain with my neck, I could notice it in my wrestling. Also the flying, the traveling, all that kind of stuff was so hard that by the time October came around, I was ready. I don’t want to put the word like retirement out there, but I’m honestly very comfortable where I’m at now. The reality is, I’ve given 25 years of my body to to wrestling. I think now it’s OK for me to step back. And honestly, I don’t crave the spotlight or anything like that. I enjoy being a homebody. I enjoy being with my kids.”
