Ric Flair Denies Rumor That He Was Booked to Appear at AEW's Double or Nothing

Back at AEW's Double or Nothing pay-per-view in late May, the company brought out two-time WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart to unveil the company's first title — the AEW World Championship. Hart's appearance was a big shock considering he had just appeared at WWE's Hall of Fame Ceremony a month earlier to accept an induction for The Hart Foundation. Not long after the show it was reported that Hart was not AEW's first pick to reveal the championship. Instead, the plan was for Ric Flair to unveil the championship, but those plans fell through as Flair was dealing with health complications leading to his most recent hospitalization.

However, "The Nature Boy" firmly stated in a new interview with Wrestling Inc. this week that the report was false and that he never intended to appear on AEW's show.

"No. Absolutely not. I heard that too and I've never discussed that with anybody," Flair said. "I'm flattered that I was under consideration but I was never approached for that deal."

He did however speak very highly of AEW president Tony Khan and the overall quality of the promotion's first official event.

"I thought it [Double or Nothing] was great," Flair said. "I just saw Dustin in Austin, Texas a few weeks ago and I talked to both of them after the show. They were tremendous. I thought Chris Jericho was tremendous. I'd never seen the guy he worked against [Kenny Omega] and I'd never seen The Young Bucks. I'm told I did in TNA, but I don't remember them. But they lived up to everything I'd heard and more.

"Then the surprise with Jon [Moxley] at the end, I thought they did a great job with that," he added. "They hit a home run. ...If you are a young, aspiring wrestler you couldn't be in a better position than right now."

AEW held its latest event, Fyter Fest, in Daytona Beach, Florida on Saturday night. The show was highlighted by Jon Moxley (fka Dean Ambrose) beating Joey Janela in a non-sanctioned match in the main event. After winning the bout, Moxley was jumped by Kenny Omega, who was returning the favor for attacking him in the final moments of Double or Nothing.

The company's next pay-per-view, All Out, currently has two matches announced — a grudge match between Omega and Moxley and a bout to crown the first AEW World Champion between "Hangman" Adam Page and Chris Jericho.