Ric Flair Clarifies “Breaking Tradition” Comments Towards WWE
Ric Flair recently took issue with WWE’s decision to have the WWE Tag Team Title match headline Saturday’s WrestleMania 39 show over Charlotte Flair defending the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Rhea Ripley.
Instead of Flair defending her title against women’s Royal Rumble winner Rhea Ripley, it was the emotional, rollercoaster story of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens challenging The Usos for the WWE Tag Team Championship that went on last on Saturday night in Los Angeles.
Speaking on the To Be The Man podcast, Ric Flair was upset that Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley didn’t go on last and blasts WWE for messing with tradition:
“We’re talking about what I think should personally happen in the promotion. There’s no way that Sami and KO and The Usos would go on after Ashley [Charlotte] and Rhea, no way. Only in the WWE. [Conrad says that he thinks that The Usos vs. KO and Sami had the better story] That’s not the point. We’re talking about a single Championship from a girl that won the Royal Rumble. Why are we just breaking tradition just for one [night], for what? Why are we breaking tradition for one night?”
Many took that to mean that The Nature Boy was taking issue with the Royal Rumble winner not going on last – despite that not actually happening as much as people might think – he actually had something else in mind.
Speaking on Good Karma Wrestling, Ric Flair clarified what he meant and noted that when he was champion, the title match always went on last despite the quality of other stories going on:
“Well, I’ll give you an example of what I was going to say in reference to the tag match going on last as opposed to Charlotte and Rhea. If factions were more important than single title championships, I know titles were involved both ways but in my entire career, no tag match went on, when I was the World Champion, after me. That’s what I meant by tradition. I didn’t mean that they broke it that night. It was a comment made, talking about tradition in my career.
“Cody wins the Rumble, he wrestles Roman, Rhea worked just as hard if not harder to win the women’s and she’s in the semi-main event and I don’t agree with that. If storylines were the best then anybody that Dusty Rhodes was in the ring with against the Horsemen, Dusty and Sting against the Horsemen, Dusty and Nikita against the Horsemen, Dusty and the Road Warriors, then that would have gone on after me and it never did. Because there was no greater faction, no greater storyline than Rhodes and the Flairs and the Horsemen. That’s where that comment is coming from.”