Jeff Jarrett has opened up about what it meant to appear in Ric Flair’s last (Probably) ever match.
Traditionally Ric Flair has taken a fairly liberal approach to retirement. As in, he’s always seemed to be in a competition with Terry Funk over who can have the most ‘last matches.’ However, following a special event at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium on July 31st, fans have been assured that this time, it really is the last time.
On an emotional night in Nashville, Flair teamed with his son-in-law Andrade El Idolo to take on Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal. In typical Nature Boy fashion the veteran bled, cried and threw in as many of his signature spots as possible to prove one more time that he is The Man.
Speaking after the match with ESPN’s Marc Raimondi, the three men who had shared the ring with Flair gave their assessment on the action.
Andrade described the bout as the “most important of his career,” hailing the 16-time World Champion as an “inspiration.”
Heading into the event AEW star Jay Lethal had been charged with getting Flair into shape, something which played into the storyline of the match. Lethal admitted that he was worried about Flair blading, as it was something that was out of his control.
“That’s the unknown variability,” said Lethal, who also wrestles for AEW. “I hate to give too much away in wrestling, but Ric, he likes to do what’s called walking and talking. There isn’t a lot that’s planned. But I can foresee how a lot of the moves will go. The only thing I can’t foresee is how much he will bleed, is it controllable? Was it too much? It was out of our hands.”
As the show ended, Lethal and Flair embraced at the top of the ramp, where the former Ring of Honor World Champion had his own tribute.
“I said, ‘I f*cking love you, you’re the f*cking man, I’m trying to be like you when I grow up, because you’re f*cking great. You’re the greatest wrestler in the f*cking world’,” Lethal said. “He starts crying and says, ‘Thank you. Thank you so much.'”
Meanwhile in the aftermath of the show, it was Jeff Jarrett who earned the plaudits online, with many fans commenting how the man who is a veteran himself, went above and beyond to make the match a success. Looking back at the action, Jarrett confirmed Flair was done, calling the match “overwhelming.”
“It’s his last one,”
“If anything goes wrong, it’s on me. It’s on others. I’m so damn happy for Ric, I don’t know what to say… As a spectator, y’all watched it and went home tonight. When you’re participating, it’s a whole other level of pressure that I’ve never been under.”
By the end of the match, Ric Flair appeared a little worse for wear, admitting that he couldn’t remember parts of the match, despite it only just ending. However, it has since been reported that the two-time WWE Hall of Famer is fine.