Ric Flair will compete in his final match on July 31 at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. When news of his retirement match first broke, it was reported that he would be involved in a six-man tag team match with FTR taking on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, one of Flair’s oldest rivals. However those plans had to be scrapped after Steamboat turned down the idea, and in the weeks since then Jim Crocket Promotions (revived for one night to promote the event under the Starrcast banner) has been announcing other matches that would round out the card. It was finally confirmed on Monday that Flair would be taking part in a tag team match, joining his son-in-law Andrade El Idolo in a match against Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal.
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Flair had previously made disparaging remarks about Lethal on his podcast after claiming Lethal’s frustration when he found out he wouldn’t be booked for the show. Lethal has a history with Flair that stretches back over a decade and he was the one initially training the 16-time world champion for his return. As for Jarrett, Flair began poking fun at him during a press conference at the Nashville Fairgrounds, going so far as to hand him a pair of free tickets to the show.
In the announcement video, Lethal is shown jumping Flair after the event before Jarrett and his wife, Karen, make the save. Flair then rebukes Jarrett, prompting the two to turn on him and assist in the beatdown. It was then confirmed that Flair would be teaming with his son-in-law to get revenge.
Flair spoke with ComicBook recently about the event, saying that his match will only be a satisfying finale if it’s better than his original retirement match against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XXIV. He would go on to wrestle 16 times after that initial 2008 retirement, with the last match being in September 2011 in Impact Wrestling (TNA) against Sting.
“It has to be really good, it has to be better than anything I did after Shawn Michaels,” Flair said. “It’s not about the money. It’s all about re-establishing the fact I have my self-confidence. It’s never been higher. Back then, at that time, I was still having self-confidence issues and I was paying out (for his divorces) more to three people and had to go to work. Now I don’t have to do anything.
“But it gave me a goal,” he continued. “I’ve been working out. Kelly (Brewster) and I worked together, as partners in this (his upcoming comic book series) but she also trains with me and it’s a lot of hard work. We drive 45 miles up to John Cena’s place in the morning for an hour and a half. And then we go down to Saint Peak to training like there’s no tomorrow for two hours and it’s a lot more fun for me if I have someone to compete against.”
Below is the complete card for Ric Flair’s Last Match. How do you feel about Flair’s opponents for the match? Let us know down in the comments!
- Ric Flair & Andrade El Idolo vs. Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal
- Impact World Championship: Josh Alexander vs. Jacob Fatu
- Impact Knockouts World Championship: Jordynne Grave vs. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Rachael Ellering
- Rey Fenix vs. Taurus vs. Laredo Kid vs. Bandidio
- The Motor City Machine Guns vs. The Wolves
- The Von Erichs vs. The Briscoes
- Killer Kross vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
- Ricky & Kerry Morton vs. Brian Pimman Jr. & Brock Anderson
- Clark Connors vs. Ren Narita
