Ric Flair Rejected Chance To Start Wrestling Union

Ric Flair was asked to help form a wrestlers’ union.

In the early months of 1986, leading into WrestleMania II, Jesse Ventura upped his push to create a wrestlers’ union. During this period, he attempted to recruit the WWF’s major stars to his cause, and while he wasn’t alone, several wrestlers were wary of the impact unionisation could have on their careers.

Ultimately, Ventura’s campaign came to nothing, and all it led to was a major confrontation with Vince McMahon. Ventura routinely blamed Hulk Hogan for tipping off McMahon, and in 2024, Hogan admitted that he outed Ventura to their then-boss.

In a new interview with Games with Names, host Julian Edelman noted that Ric Flair had helped wrestling reach the level that it has in popular culture. In response, he said that “they” don’t see it like that, before pointing out that the industry still didn’t have a union.

“They don’t see it like that. How do we not have a union? A multi-billion-dollar company. No union.”

When asked why that might be, Flair revealed that he was approached by Ventura during the mid-1980s while he was the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. However, he had no interest in throwing his support behind the cause.

“Nobody wants to do it because they’ll just move on without you. They wanted me and Hogan to do it. Hulk called me and I said, ‘I’m not jumping out there. They’ll just replace me.’ Jesse Ventura drove me crazy. ‘Come on, come on.’ I go, ‘Jesse, so I give up the NWA World Championship, walk out. They’ll just put the belt on DiBiase or back to Harley.’

It just wasn’t something I wanted to explore, but I was certainly asked to do it a lot.”

Ric Flair Wanted More For WWE Veteran

Speaking elsewhere, Ric Flair recently claimed that William Regal never got the push that he deserved. The Nature Boy went on to describe Regal as a “great technical wrestler” and a “great guy.”

Flair and Regal shared the ring multiple times through the 1990s in WCW before working together again in the 2000s with WWE.

Despite being held in high regard by his contemporaries, Regal never captured World Championship gold either in WWE or WCW.

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H/t to Fightful