Ric Flair will step back inside a pro wrestling ring this Sunday at the Ric Flair’s Last Match event at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. The show marks Flair’s first match since 2011 and is being promoted as the finale for his in-ring career, but fans have openly speculated that this will just set up future matches if it’s well-received and lucrative for “The Nature Boy.”
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However, the 16-time world champion has remained adamant that he won’t have another match, pointing out that he has already turned down multiple offers to wrestle beyond July 31 during an interview with Chris Van Vliet. He’s scheduled to team with Andrade El Idolo to face Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett in the show’s main event.
“It has to be,” Flair said. “That question, I get asked a lot. It will just have to be. Even if I do real well, I can’t go back on my word to the people that have given me all this respect and time and have bought tickets. I’ve already been offered 10 matches at 50 grand a piece. Over in Europe, a guy offered me $100,000. This will be the last one. I can manage somebody in the ring, but this will be my last match.”
“It’s not about money at all. I’m great, money-wise. When I saw Steve (Austin) and Vince (McMahon) at WrestleMania (38), people have been asking me to do it,” he added. “Some people offered me $100,000 to do it, and I thought, ‘Nah.’ I don’t want to go in and half-ass it, I need to really get in shape. I’m taking three months to get into shape, I feel great. I’ve had some ups and downs. I had plantar fasciitis, I still have it, but it’s almost 90% healed. I pretty much have that under control and I feel great. I don’t hurt, I don’t ache. Why not? Who doesn’t like the glory. If I pull it off, I’ll be bigger than ever. It’ll be more than a ‘Wooo,’ chop, and strut. I have to perform.”
Flair previously spoke with ComicBook about the match and said the only way it will feel like a proper finale is if the match is better than anything else he did post-WrestleMania XXIV, which was his original retirement match against Shawn Michaels. A year later he was back in the ring for financial reasons and started wrestling for Impact (TNA) Wrestling up through late 2011.
