AEW star Frankie Kazarian has recalled an incredible story about drinking with Ric Flair, recalling the Hall of Famer “going into character” to deter a group of guys who wanted a photo.
Speaking on The Week In Wrestling podcast, Frankie Kazarian recalled witnessing the interaction during his time with Flair at IMPACT Wrestling.
“I was walking into the hotel bar and Ric sees me walking and is like, ‘Kaz, where you going, brother?’ ‘Up to my room.’ ‘Put your bag down and get over here.’ You don’t say no to that. This is a regular hotel bar, we’re sitting there and having beverages and getting a little loud. A group college-aged guys come in and notice Ric Flair. They walk over and are like, ‘Ric Flair! Woooo!’ [He greets them] and is very polite.”
Kazarian, one of AEW’s veteran performers at 43 years old, said Flair went from being polite to pretending it was a “private party” – not the kind performing alongside Kazarian in AEW – before not-so-politely telling the group to leave.
“They keep going and he goes from polite and nice to ‘this is a private party.’ It’s absolutely not a private party, it’s a public hotel bar. The guy’s are like, ‘We just thought we could get a picture’ and [Ric] goes, ‘GET THE F*** OUTTA HERE! THIS IS A PRIVATE PARTY!’ The guys are like, ‘This isn’t a private party!’ and Ric goes into character. Security is like ‘gentlemen.’
The AEW star went on to say security even cordoned off the area for Flair.
“To placate him going forward, they brought a velvet rope and put ‘Private Function’ on it because it was going to continue to happen.”
Frankie Kazarian will face off against another former IMPACT colleague in Christian Cage on this week’s Dynamite.