On the latest edition of his WOOOOOO Nation podcast the Nature Boy Ric Flair spoke about being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and also gave his thoughts on the potential WWE return of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Highlights from the episode can be found below.
Says getting inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame was the biggest moment of his life:
“That weekend was the biggest moment of my life. That’s not taking away from Harley (Race) or Terry (Funk), or anything like that, but I mean, just to see the people in the audience that really genuinely care about you, and the fans generally care about you, it’s just hard to imagine. Then you walk away. What’s different is for me, I left the business altogether. Mark (Undertaker) will always be part of the business and he’ll always be a featured attraction when called upon. The Hall of Fame for me was the end. For him, it’s just another great tribute to a great wrestler and a great guy.”
Thinks Kevin Owens would be a great opponent for Steve Austin at Mania 38:
“Kevin Owens would be a great opponent. If there’s a guy that gets it in this business on how to put someone in a position to look incredibly good. Kevin gets how to work and get the very best out of whatever situation he’s in. That’s my take on Kevin. Kevin Owens is a guy that is so respectful. If anybody deserves the opportunity to wrestle Steve, it would be Kevin Owens.”
Says he’ll never bad mouth WWE:
“I never did that. I never said a word. I refused when Bischoff wanted me to crack on Vince, and I said, ‘I will absolutely never do that.’ Ring of Honor, same bullsh*t with them. They wanted me to get in the ring and say that they were as big and can compete with the WWE. I said, “I absolutely do not do that’, and I walked out the door. I don’t care what story you hear from anybody. That’s what happened. That was unconditional. I will never crack on the WWE. Do I have issues with people that work there? Yes. But the WWE pulled me from my head being shaved (in WCW), shamed beyond belief for who I was supposed to be in the business, head shaved and shaved my son’s head. Oh, my God. Had to get us both right? He thought it was the greatest thing in the world because he was 12 years old. But what a way to be left, and that’s how they left me. That’s history, and that’s bullsh*t.”
(H/T and transcribed by WrestlingNews.Co)