Ric Flair Applauds Hulk Hogan's Return to WWE

WWE made the decision to reinstate Hulk Hogan into the WWE Hall of Fame back on July 15.

While the decision, as well as Hogan's public apology to the WWE locker room ahead of the Extreme Rules pay-per-view that ngiht was not well-received by everyone, one of the biggest supporters of the decision turned out to be Ric Flair.

"The Nature Boy" sat down with Wrestling Inc recently and, in an interview released on Thursday, he praised WWE's choice.

I'm very happy to see him back," Flair said "I don't pretend to understand any of that. I've heard so many different sides of the story and all that.

"I think that anyone who portrays him as anything less than a good person that has done an excellent job, I mean he's been through a lot — just think about it. His wife was terrible during the divorce and then there was the accident with [Hogan's] son and then this," he added. "... I mean, he's had to go through a lot and the thing is great about Hulk is that he's still the most expensive guy to get out there to sign autographs. He's still Hulk Hogan, they can do whatever they want. If you want Hulk Hogan, you gotta have a big wallet, that's the way it is."

He also spoke on his relationship with Hogan while the two worked together in WCW as well as how the wrestling world might have viewed him if social media were around back in his prime.

Hogan was originally fired from the WWE in 2015 when racist comments he made during his leaked sex tape made their way onto the Internet. WWE had virtually scrubbed all mention of Hogan from their programming, though that rule has been gradually relaxed as time has passed.

Both Titus O'Neil and The New Day spoke out against Hogan regarding his apology, saying that it wasn't sincere.

"This is not about second or third chances," O'Neil said in an interview with Busted Open Radio. "This is about a man making a decision to make statements that he truly felt in his heart I believe at that time. He may not feel that way now, he may regret it. But to come out and say, 'I didn't know I was being recorded' and ' be careful what you say' and 'I don't remember saying that stuff.' When you start out an apology like that. Dude, you lost it already. I wanted to give him a chance, I didn't know what that meeting was about going in but I wanted to give him a chance."