During a recent episode of Grilling JR, Jim Ross spoke in Ric Flair almost leaving for the WWE in 1988 and why he ultimately chose to stay. Here’s what he had to say:
Ric wore his feelings on his sleeve and he would commiserate. I talked to him at that time – ‘This was the shits and creative, we’ve got no ideas and there’s nothing fresh.’ But here’s what he was really saying – my money is in jeopardy. And Ric not being unlike anybody else, especially guys that made a lot of money – Ric would share his feelings. And it wasn’t a secret Ric would entertain those thoughts of leaving. Where else would he go? He’s gonna go to the big dog in the yard, and that’s Vince McMahon’s company. That couldn’t have been a secret or a surprise. Ric had several of those moments in his life where he was unhappy, he was disenchanted, and if you peeled the onion back a little more, he was concerned about how he would make a living and maintain the lifestyle he’d had established. No secret there. Luckily he didn’t bolt at that point in time.
I think it was a comfort zone issue. He great up in Mid-Atlantic and grew up working for the Crocketts. He established his roots, his reputation in the Mid-Atlantic territory. It was home, Conrad. It was home. People thought ‘Well, Tom Brady will always be a Patriot.’ Wrong. He waited until he was 42 to jump. He tried to hang in there, but he said I gotta try something else. That’s a bold move. I think Ric was in a comfort zone. I believe he had a strong loyalty to Jim Crockett and the Crockett family. We both know that Jim had come to Ric’s aid on more than one occasion.
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Credit: Grilling JR. H/T 411Mania.