WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair recently attended a SmackDown taping for the first time since he was engulfed in scandal following the airing of the Dark Side Of The Ring episode focussing on the ‘Plane Ride From Hell’.
On the episode, a flight attendant who’d been on duty alleged that she was sexually harassed by Ric Flair on the flight. In the wake of these allegations, the Nature Boy’s merchandise was pulled from WWEShop.com, and his famous “Woooo” was removed from the WWE signature open that plays before the company’s programming. A CarShield ad campaign featuring the WWE Hall of Famer was also paused.
However, Flair was restored to the WWE signature open in mid-2022 and once again has merchandise for sale through the company. A documentary about the 16-Time World Champion also recently aired on Peacock.
Ric Flair attends WWE SmackDown and praises one of the company’s top stars
Speaking on his podcast, To Be The Man, Ric Flair revealed that he recently attended a taping of SmackDown for the first time since the scandal erupted. According to The Nature Boy, it was like nothing had ever happened.
“[It was] The first show I’ve been on since that bullsh*t with the aeroplane. But you know what I did? I just walked in, Kevin Dunn said Come on. And of course, I cleared it with Hunter, and Hunter couldn’t have been nicer. Anything I was ever cross about with them or them with me, It’s like it didn’t exist that day. It was perfect.”
The WWE Hall of Famer went on to talk about an interaction he had with one of the breakout stars of 2022, Sami Zayn. Zayn’s months-long storyline with The Bloodline has won him a lot of new fans, including, it turns out, Ric Flair.
“I took Chad and his son and we met Roman, and Roman was great. John was great. I looked at Sami Zayn, they were all in the same dressing room. I said, ‘Brother, you got heat with me.’ He goes, ‘Why, what did I do?’ [I replied] ‘I’m just kidding, I meant your character.’
“His character still gets heat with me, the one that gets the marks. You know, it’s funny. I couldn’t stand the character. Well now I do, I appreciate it and watch it more. He does add a lot to it. I didn’t like him, I think I said, I think he even tweeted it. But he’s so good, he’s added a lot of entertainment value to it.”
Ric Flair recently revealed that he will be part of the special 30th-anniversary edition of Monday Night Raw. This will mark the first time that Flair has appeared live on WWE television in almost two years.
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