Ric Flair is no stranger to iconic feuds in professional wrestling, from his many bouts with Sting to inspiring Dusty Rhodes’ infamous Hard Times promo.
One of his most famous rivalries was that between himself and Ricky Steamboat. The two legends faced off an incredible 135 times, and Steamboat was even rumored to participate in Ric Flair’s Last Match, though he eventually declined.
However, his public feuds with Steamboat were rivaled by that of Flair’s backstage animosity with The Dragon’s wife Bonnie. Speaking on the latest episode of his To Be the Man podcast, Ric Flair opened up about his behind-the-scenes issues with his rival’s wife and revealed that they’ve since buried the hatchet.
“I’ve buried the hatchet with Bonnie. She didn’t like me as a person for a lot of reasons, a lot of wives didn’t like me. I don’t know why but I think she also played upon his emotions and wanted, this is my thought process, as much attention as he was getting. It’s funny how Bonnie met Ricky. She was one of the models that I hired from Charlotte for that angle we shot when he first came, when we first started going to work with each other. They met that day and next thing I knew they were dating.” (h/t Sportskeeda)
Ric Flair Apologized To Becky Lynch At WWE Raw
Another longstanding rivalry was that between Ric Flair and Becky Lynch, largely stemming from Lynch’s use of “The Man” on WWE programming. During another recent episode of To Be the Man, Flair revealed that he finally had the chance to apologize to Lynch as they were both in attendance for Raw’s 30th anniversary celebration on January 23rd.
“It started out with me and Hunter talking for about an hour, which is a private discussion, but resolving a lot of issues that have been lingering for a couple years, and then I apologized to Becky Lynch. I walked up to her and said, ‘May I speak with you for a minute’, and I said, ‘I’m sorry that this got to where it is.’ I went over and shook Seth Rollins hand and I said, ‘I’m going to apologize to your wife.’
“I’ve just decided that, you know, it all comes with the documentary. Sometimes you get so wrapped up in things that you just forget, and you say it so many times for so many years. Actually, the whole ‘The Man’ trademark was decided by someone besides she and I. It’s not that as much as the money that was involved in it which the company reaps the better part of it anyway.
“Then I saw them with their child and I thought, ‘My God, this is going to be Ashley someday.’ It’s not worth it. I am not The Man anymore. The Man is who the people think it is, and basically we’ve turned it over to social media to decide who The Man is.” (h/t WrestlingNews.co)