A new report has shed some light on Ric Flair‘s apparent departure from AEW.
Ric Flair signed a huge deal with AEW back in November 2023. After signing, The Nature Boy was featured on TV as part of the road to Sting‘s retirement at Revolution 2024, however, he hasn’t been seen since The Icon hung up his boots.
Flair’s agreement with AEW deal also saw his Wooooo! Energy drink become a sponsor for the promotion. In a similar arrangement to WCW and Slim Jim’s back in the 1990s that saw the company sign Randy Savage for free, Flair was being paid by the sponsor and not by AEW itself.
Recently, fans have noticed that the logo for the sponsor has stopped appearing at events, where once it was prominent on the entranceway. It has since been reported that Ric Flair’s deal with AEW has finished.
Why Is Ric Flair No Longer With AEW?
On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer provided an update on the situation, saying that the “Woooo” Energy thing fell apart” and the sponsorship deal fell through.
“I asked and it was not told to me completely but you can kinda read between the lines and the tea leaves and the sponsorship fell through, that’s what happened. The Wooooo! Energy thing fell apart, the sponsorship fell through.”
Ric Flair has recently been in the headlines for claiming a “three-headed monster was responsible for the demise of WCW. That monster consisted of Eric Bischoff, Vince Russo, and Jim Herd.
H/T to TJR Wrestling for the above transcription.