Ric Flair claims his wrestling return in Nashville inspired Ricky Steamboat to lace up his wrestling boots one last time.
It was announced on September 15th that WWE Hall of Famer Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat would return for one final match on November 27th for Big Time Wrestling. ‘The Dragon’ will team with FTR’s Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood to take on Jay Lethal, Brock Anderson, and a mystery partner.
Steamboat’s return comes after his famous rival Ric Flair wrestled his supposed final match in Nashville on July 31st. During the most recent episode of his “To Be The Man” podcast, Flair discussed whether he plans on also wrestling again and how his return inspired Steamboat to lace up his wrestling boots for one last go around.
“None. When I say that it inspires me to want to do it again [they think I’m doing it]. I’ll stand by this, I wish I hadn’t said it was my last match. I don’t want to disappoint a bunch of fans by doing it again but I got myself in good shape and made one drastic mistake by not hydrating.
I feel great. I feel like as long as you’re healthy and you want to do it than you should do what you want to do when you get to my age. I feel like we limit ourselves to what people think we should be doing sometimes as opposed to what we’re doing. I think maybe me wrestling in Nashville inspired Ricky to do it. He said, ‘What the hell, I can do that.’ And probably better. And he probably will. He’ll look better. He always has and always will.”
Steamboat was reportedly offered the chance to be part of Flair’s final outing in Nashville. However, the Hall of Famer declined the offer.
H/t – Fightful