Ric Flair Says "I Will Never Retire" Amid Rumors Of An In-Ring Return
Olivia Owen Last week, WWE announced that they had released Hall of Famer Ric Flair from his legends contract.
The Nature Boy revealed that he requested his release so that he could focus on other business opportunities. The wrestling legend emphasized that there were no hard feelings with WWE, and he denied speculation that he sought his release because of frustration with the way the company was booking Charlotte Flair.
WWE Hall of Famer Booker T believes that Flair is looking at "one last run" as a wrestler. Flair told Booker T "If I could be in that ring right now, that’s where I’d be."
On Wednesday morning, Flair tweeted that he "Will Never Retire", further fueling speculation that he may indeed want to wrestle again:
Flair initially retired from wrestling following his loss to Shawn Michaels (per the match stipulation) at WrestleMania XXIV. WWE held a retirement ceremony for the 16-time World Champion on the ensuing night's episode of Monday Night Raw.
However, Flair ultimately decided to continue his in-ring career. He performed on the Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin tour in Australia and proceeded to sign with TNA in 2010.
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Flair spend two years in TNA, and his final wrestling match took place against longtime friend and wrestling rival Sting on the Sept. 12, 2011 episode of Impact Wrestling. The Vigilante defeated Flair via submission. Last year, The Nature Boy referred to his time in TNA as "a disaster."
Never Say Never
Flair is 72 years of age, and he hasn't wrestled in 10 years. But if he's totally bent on wrestling again, perhaps AEW or another promotion would be keen on picking him up.
Sting was retired from in-ring competition for five and a half years before wrestling for AEW at the age of 61 (at Revolution in a tag team match with Darby Allin). Flair is 10 years older than Sting, but AEW could absolutely find a way to book him in a cinematic or not-overly-physical match of some sort. So who knows? Maybe we really haven't seen the end of Ric Flair as a wrestler, even though his last match took place 10 years ago.
NEXT: [Report] Major Update On Adam Cole's WWE Contract Situation
