Ric Flair has revealed the valuable lessons he learned from former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
The relationship between Ric Flair and Vince McMahon stretches back decades. While Flair initially made his name away from McMahon and WWE, as part of Jim Crockett Promotions, he enjoyed fruitful spell in the McMahon led promotion in the early 90’s.
The Nature Boy famously returned to the company following the demise of WCW in 2001, which saw him undergo a career renaissance. Since his full-time career ended, Flair has worked with the company on and off for a number of years, although always retaining a good relationship with McMahon.
As Flair prepares to step into the ring one last time on July 31st, he reflected on his life, career and Vince McMahon’s recent retirement in a new interview with Chris Van Vliet on his Insight podcast.
During the conversation, the 16-time World Champion opened up about what he learned from McMahon.
“For me personally, he said that I needed to get my sh*t straightened out, because I was pretty wild, as people are well aware of. I could be remembered for 2 things, either the greatest wrestler of all time, or the guy that p*ssed it away and got married too many times. He is such a hands on guy, nothing went around at the company that he didn’t know.
To me, I guess he had a very difficult time delegating authority. He has to really trust somebody to put them in a position to make the big decisions. He hates lawyers, he likes to talk to you man to man. He would always tell me ‘Before you say a word, hear me out…’ Of course I can’t do that ‘Let me finish.’ He is not bullsh*tting you, he is the real deal.”
Vince McMahon remains under investigation regarding allegations that he paid a former employee $3 million in “hush money” after the pair had an affair. More allegations have since been made public, including claims that McMahon paid four women more than $12 million across 16 years as part of similar agreements.
On July 25th WWE disclosed via a SEC filing that they’ve made “a preliminary determination” regarding payments made by McMahon. The payments made between 2006 and 2022 totalling $14.6, should have been recorded as business expenses.
As a result, WWE will be reissuing financial statements for 2019, 2020, and 2021, as well as Q1 of 2022. They aim to republish these statements by Tuesday, 9 August, though “there is no assurance that it will be able to meet this deadline”.