Ex-WWE Figure Claims Ric Flair Record Means Nothing
A former WWE announcer might not be getting a Christmas card from Ric Flair.
WWE, historians, and Ric Flair have spent decades unable to agree on just how many World Championships the Hall of Famer won during his career. WWE recognises the record at 16, while Flair himself has suggested it could be 21, and some historians have claimed the true figure might be as high as 25.
With WWE claiming the record is 16 World Title reigns, much was made of the fact Cena drew level with Flair back in 2017. Since then the likes of Cena, Orton, and even Charlotte Flair have been tipped to reach that elusive 17th World Championship.
While appearing on The Angle podcast, former WWE announcer Jonathan Coachman discussed Cena’s long career, which the man himself has confirmed is coming to an end. With regard to beating Flair’s record, Coachman said in reality the record means nothing.
“I don’t want this to come off as disrespectful, because at some point I’m going to run into Ric Flair again and he takes this stuff very personally. At the end of the day, I could be a seventeen-time world champion if they so chose to give it to me. So to me, that record means nothing.”
Jonathan Coachman Doesn’t Care If Ric Flair’s Record Is Beaten
Continuing on, Coachman recalled John Cena going drink for drink with Flair on an international tour in the UK. Despite Cena doing his best to drink the bar dry, at the end of the tour he famously went one-on-one with Shawn Michaels on Raw in a match that lasted just short of an hour.
“The kind of person he is, the way he went about it, the way he trained every single day in the gym. We had a trip overseas, it was ten shows in ten days. Ric Flair talked him into drinking alcohol, because that world champs have got to do.
He literally drank every single night, closed the bar down, paid the bar tab. I asked him on day nine how much he spent, he said $35,000. I said, ‘Dollars?’ He said, ‘Pounds.’ It’s two to one, so it was $70,000 he spent on alcohol just because he’s the world champion. Now, don’t feel sorry for him, he was making 50 to 100 grand every night in the main event.
But the last night, Dean Malkeno walks up to him, beer in hand, whispers something in his ear. He puts the beer down, heads straight for the elevator, says nothing to nobody and disappears. Dean Malkeno had just told him, ‘Tomorrow night, you’re going sixty minutes with Shawn Michaels on Monday Night Raw.’
Out of respect for the effort of what he was doing, I stood at the gorilla position for him to walk back down. He walked towards me, you could smell the alcohol coming out his pours, but he gave sixty minutes absolute banger. So, I really don’t care if he gets to 17. If it means something to him, then I do care. If that’s a record or number he wants, awesome,”
In a recent interview, John Cena admitted the “sun is setting” on his WWE career, but he remains determined to go out on his own terms.
H/t to Fightful