According to Conrad Thompson, Ric Flair’s Last Match is part of a larger “master plan.”
On July 31st as part of Starrcast V, Ric Flair competed in what he says to be his final match at the age of 73. The bout saw Flair team with his son-in-law Andrade El Idolo against the team of Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett, and though there was concern for the badly-bloodied Flair following the match, the WWE Hall of Famer was thankfully said to be in “great” condition afterward.
Flair’s final retirement wasn’t the only match on the card, however, as talent from MLW, NJPW, ROH, AAA, and more participated to put on a star-studded supershow.
Conrad Thompson, the man behind Starrcast and another of Ric Flair’s sons-in-law, spoke about the event with Jeff Jarrett on the My World podcast (available first via AdFreeShows) and said that the event was part of a larger “master plan” that would be revealed at a later date.
“You and I talked about this over a year ago. I said, ‘no, I’m not doing wrestling, I’m not promoting wrestling, I’m not negotiating finishes, I don’t want to be involved in the politics.’ I like my lane but this opportunity presented itself.
“The real story that we’re not talking about, we will tell you one day, but this is part of a bigger master plan and no it does not involve Ric Flair wrestling again but the entrepreneur brain kicked off and I saw an opportunity for Sunday and I said, ‘if I don’t do it, I’ll wonder what if, so let’s do it.’ We rolled the dice, I couldn’t be more tickled with the results.”
Later in the episode, Conrad Thomspon continued, praising the roster for understanding the goal of the show and reiterating that he didn’t intend for the event to be a one-time event.
“Everyone went out of their way to do it because they understood even though this might be one of the biggest crowds I’ve wrestled in front of or a big pay-per-view crowd or whatever, it ain’t about me, it’s about Ric.”
“This was bigger than a one-off, this was bigger than a one-time show. No, we’re not starting a promotion, I’m not saying that, I’m definitely not saying that. I’m just saying everybody minded their Ps and Qs because what are we going to do? Boy, if they don’t do what we need them to we’re going to punish them next week on TV? There is no comeback, this is it, they just did it and it was such a special thing.”
While the event received mixed reactions from fans, there’s no doubt that it was a success, with Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer calling it the second-biggest independent show of the modern era, second only to 2018’s All In.
h/t f4wonline.com