Ric Flair Says 2019 Is the Best Time to Be a Wrestler Since the Monday Night Wars

With All Elite Wrestling and NXT gearing up for the new Wednesday Night Wars starting on Oct. 2, many wrestling fans are calling 2019 the most exciting era of professional wrestling since WWF's Monday Night Raw and WCW's Monday Nitro were going at it in the Monday Night Wars in the late 90s.

Ric Flair, who was right in the middle of that war while on WCW, agreed with that sentiment in a new interview with the Houston Chronicle.

"This is the greatest time in the last 20 years to be a pro wrestler," Flair said after throwing the ceremonial first pitch at a Houston Astros game.

"Tony and the Khan family have a lot of money, and they're going to spend the money to get good," he continued, regarding AEW owner Tony Khan. "For the young guys coming along, it provides an alternative way. The WWE can pay only so many guys and feature only so many guys. They do a great job of it, but a lot of guys who do have talent never get an opportunity."

AEW will host its final live show this Saturday before their TNT premiere with the All Out pay-per-view. The show will emanate from the sold out Sears Centre outside of Chicago, Illinois and will be headlined by Chris Jericho vs. "Hangman" Adam Page for the inaugural AEW World Championship. Other marquee matches include Cody Rhodes vs. Shawn Spears, Kenny Omega vs. Pac and The Young Bucks vs. The Lucha Brothers in a ladder match.

One of the show's top matches was supposed to be Omega vs. former WWE Champion Jon Moxley. However Moxley had to be pulled from the bout just eight days before the show due to an MRSA infection in his elbow.

"I'm absolutely gutted to have to deliver this news but I'd rather it come directly from me," Moxley wrote in a series of tweets. "In a nightmare scenario, a serious case of MRSA has returned in my elbow. The timing couldn't be worse. In this circumstance I am forced to pull out of the fight 8/31 vs Omega at All Out . I apologize to all involved, most importantly the fans. I am incredibly frustrated and pissed off. I'll have surgery this week to remove the bursa sac in my elbow and be done with it for good. Should be a quick recovery so I will be 100% for AEW Wednesday nights on TNT.

"Still, I expect All out to be an amazing ppv and hope all the fans out there looking for an alternative tune in," he added. "You will be blown away by AEW and be excited to be a wrestling fan. I'm looking forward to watching as a fan myself. This f—ing sucks."

Within an hour of the news breaking, AEW announced Pac as Moxley's replacement.