Ric Flair Says Social Media Negatively Impacting WWE Superstars

Social media certainly has the power to create and destroy, but as far as Ric Flair is concerned, WWE may be better off without it.

During an appearance on The Steve Austin Show, The Nature Boy discussed the current state of WWE. Given his daughter Charlotte Flair is one of the most prominent wrestlers in the industry, Flair has an inside lane on what it's like to be a Superstar in 2018. And according to Flair, social media is making an already demanding job even more complicated.

"I think it's harder because the kids on social media eat them alive. I don't think the [pro wrestling] business is any harder. I think the days are longer. I think the scrutiny [is more intense]." Flair added, "but it's equally hard physically, but it's harder on them because they're so affected by social media and the number of people trying to give them direction," he said.

With Twitter, fans can easily reach Superstars. While this can certainly help wrestlers build their own brand, social media has a tendency to get toxic. Criticism, passive aggression, and outright bullying are all too easy to find in a Twitter thread and Flair seems to indicate that Superstars aren't able to shrug this off as easily as we'd presume.

In what looks to be company policy, Superstars keep their social media interactions with fans to a minimum. However, Flair thinks that WWE protocol, not just in social media, is constricting the craft that is professional wrestling. As someone known to be an iconic talker, Flair think that today's creative process in WWE is too involved as every promo is micromanaged by a WWE writing staff.

"I have to believe, because I was there with [Austin] a lot, but [Austin] walked around and [he] collected [his] thoughts and [Austin] knew where [he] was going. [Austin] didn't have 40 writers walking [him] to the gorilla [position] before [he] walked out the door. [Austin] had a gameplan." Flair continued, "when you have that groove and the capacity to entertain the crowd, they have to let you run with it and I don't see that much these days because I think they're worried that the kids don't have enough experience. It's not that they can't, but that they don't have enough experience, so I think it's harder these days from that standpoint. Do I think it's any easier in terms of work? No. I think that the kids do a lot more high wire stuff right now and they incorporate so many things in their work. It's not that they're any more gifted as an athlete, but the business has raised the bar. Ultimately, it may mean something or it won't mean something," he said.

[H/T Wrestling Inc.]