Bret Hart was in attendance for Ric Flair’s final in-ring appearance, believing that Flair has guts for going ahead with the performance when few others would.
‘The Nature Boy’ teamed with Andrade El Idolo to defeat Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal. Although the match was criticised before, during, and after Ric Flair’s last in-ring outing, the two-time WWE Hall of Famer has also been praised for going ahead with the match.
Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart is among them. In speaking with Sportskeeda Wrestling’s Senior Editor Bill Apter, Hart directed commendation Flair’s way for participating in the match in the condition he was in:
“I just congratulated him and let him know that I appreciated what he did and what he was trying to do. There’s not too many guys who would have the guts to go in there and do what Ric Flair did, and I admire that about him.”
In his final match, Ric Flair wrestled for almost half an hour, during which he infamously bled profusely and, at one point, was left unable to move by himself. He was doing “great“, though, which came as welcome news to those concerned for Flair’s wellbeing after the encounter.
Regardless of the reception to the match, Ric Flair’s Last Match was a proven success, drawing $448,502; this makes the card the second-best-drawing independent wrestling show – based on income – in North America, behind only All In. That drew $458,525.
It’s expected that WWE will eventually gain access to the footage of Flair’s retirement bout. Reports have stated that they initially tried to have crews in attendance to film the match for themselves for use in a future documentary, but a deal was unable to be struck with Starrcast.