On July 31st, 2022, Ric Flair stepped into the match for what he promised would be the final time.
It was the Nature Boy’s first match since a widely criticised match against Sting in 2011 and would be only his 17th match since ‘retiring’ at WrestleMania 24 back in 2008.
On a special card run under the Jim Crockett Promotions banner, Flair teamed with his son-in-law Andrade El Idolo to take on Jeff Jarret and Jay Lethal. On the night in front of a packed house including legends such as Mick Foley, The Undertaker, and Bret Hart, Flair bled, cried, and passed out twice before eventually claiming victory.
The match was criticised by a number of fans with Flair appearing in great physical distress for much of the 26-minute contest. The legend himself has admitted that he’s unhappy with the match, claiming he was severely dehydrated at the time.
Speaking in a new interview with Good Karma Wrestling, Jeff Jarrett touched on a whole range of subjects including his involvement in the match. Jarrett said that was honoured to have been involved, and defended the match, suggesting that those who were in attendance know magic was created.
“That is something that in so many ways evolved. I wish we were doing a documentary just on how that naturally evolved. Its something that from the bloody parking lot scene that was off the charts, Karyn’s shoe got him good. How that all developed and his real-life relationship with Jay Lethal, his son in a law, obviously my history with Ric, kind of a mindset that came out of a conversation of “what about one last match?”
The controversy that he created, I still chuckle to myself that Ric sold out Municipal Auditorium or damn near close to it on his last match and people still want to criticize him. I get all that, I understand all that but that was a lot of magic was made over the last summer, that 90 days. That doc they did, that 3-part story, just the views.
Look, I’ve always said since that match is over and you started to hear the feedback, good and bad. There are 3 groups of people, people that saw it live, people that saw it on Fite TV and people that didn’t see it. The people who didn’t see it are heavily critical of it. The people there that are live they know the magic that was created.
When you have legends in the business that attended the show not only on camera but off camera, I’ll let you guys go down that rabbit hole, the comments they made. The energy that they saw in the arena, it was truly a special night and I feel pretty honored to have that opportunity because it delivered in every metric.”
Ric Flair Earned Monster Sum For Final Match
In the wake of the criticism, Flair himself also fired back, claiming that he made $300,000 for the match. He has since stated that while he feels he could wrestle again, he has no plans to get back in the ring.
You can find the full interview here.