Ric Flair loves pro wrestling, but even he is aware of how insensitive the sport and fandom have become.
These are words spoken directly by the Nature Boy during his recent appearance on Booker T’s Hall of Fame podcast. During the chat, the former 16-time world champion praised the NFL for how they handled the Damar Hamlin incident from Monday Night Football but explains why that would never happen in this industry. Highlights are below.
Praises the NFL for how they handled the Damar Hamlin situation:
Just to be in wrestling, here’s the thing nobody gets, the other night we witnessed a real tragedy with the football player and the NFL, they made the most awesome call I’ve ever seen watching NFL. They stopped the game. They thought about it, went back out, and actually gave that young man so much respect, and his family. They made themselves look good.
Why that would never happen in wrestling because of how insensitive it is:
In our business, where guys are jumping off a goddamn top rope on tables, ladders, chairs, and shit. Somebody gets hurt, show goes on. It’s the most insensitive business in the world. There is no one person to blame for it, it’s just wrestling. We as wrestlers have let that happen. We have.
Says that many came to him and Hulk Hogan about unionizing:
Do you know how many times people came to me and (Hulk) Hogan in the 80s and said, ‘let’s unionize? How many times do you think people have asked me to walk out? You know why we didn’t? We would have been replaced, number one. Been blackballed, number two, and number three, don’t think you can’t be replaced. Everybody can be replaced. It’s our own fault we don’t have that. It’s not one person that makes these decisions. We have ourselves to blame. Have you ever heard of a show being pulled, except for when (Chris) Benoit passed away? It took something that drastic to pull a show. It just doesn’t happen. Guys get hurt and the show goes on. We’ve done it to ourselves.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)