Source: Albany Herald
As was first reported on TNAStars.com after the iMPACT Wrestling house show earlier this month in Asbury Park, Ric Flair has been telling folks that he’s returning to active competition to wrestle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. In a recent interview with John Millikan of the Albany Herald, Flair reiterated his intention to wrestle for the championship as noted below.
The entire interview is available for your review below (emphasis added by TNAStars.com) or you can read it on the Albany Herald’s website. Enjoy!
ALBANY — “To be the man you gotta beat the man.”
And for the better part of four decades, Ric Flair was the man.
Flair, one of the most recognized professional entertainment wrestlers in the world, penned several catchphrases over the years, including “Wooooo!” and “to be the man you gotta beat the man,” which inspired his 2004 autobiography, “To Be The Man.”
On Thursday evening, the 62-year-old wrestler spent two hours at Wal-Mart on Ledo Road signing autographs and posing for pictures for hundreds of fans during a joint promotional event sponsored by Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart.
After he was done signing autographs, Flair told The Albany Herald that he plans to return to the ring in September, quieting those who thought his storied wrestling career was finished.
He had been sidelined for the previous three months with a shoulder injury.
“I don’t know for sure, but it will be either Sting or Kurt Angle,” Flair said about the prospective opponent in his comeback match. “It just depends on whoever wins between them on Aug. 6. You got the scoop right there, brother.”
Fans both young and old lined up outside of Wal-Mart’s Garden Center to meet Flair. He took pictures with members of the crowd and signed everything from mock title belts to his book.
“This is very rewarding to meet the people who have followed me for four decades, four generations of people,” said Flair, who has won 16 World Heavyweight Championships in the WWF, WCW, TNA and PWI. He’s also a member of the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame, being inducted after WWE was formed by merging WWF and WCW.
Surrounded by an entourage of body guards and Wal-Mart employees, Flair — known for trademark moves like the “Flair Chop” and the figure four leglock — walked into the store amidst a chorus of “Woooos!” by hundreds of wrestling fans who had been lined up more than three hours to meet the wrestler commonly known as “The Nature Boy.”
Albany’s Ryan Ortiz, who was first in line to meet Flair, said he had been waiting with memorabilia in hand for three and a half hours.
“I have just been a huge fan, and anytime I get a chance to meet a legend, I just jump at it,” Ortiz said.
Flair’s journey from one professional wrestling circuit to the next eventually landed him at TNA’s Impact!, where he last wrestled April 16, tapping out to Robert Roode. Writers of the show used Flair’s loss to temporarily write him off the show while he recouped from a torn rotator cuff. According to the “Pro Wrestling Torch” website, Flair returned to Impact! on May 12 in an out-of-the-ring role along with wrestling legends Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett and Mick Foley.
The opponent in Flair’s next match won’t be decided until Sting, the current TNA Heavyweight World Champion, and Angle battle during TNA’s Hardcore Justice, which will be aired live on pay-per-vew from Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla.
TNA’s Impact! airs each Thursday night on Spike TV and is the program’s No. 1-rated show.
Several live TNA events will be held in Georgia this year when the Impact Wrestling World Tour performs at the Columbus Civic Center on Aug. 18, the Forum Civic Center in Rome on Aug. 19 and the Tabernacle in Atlanta on Aug. 20.
Matches will be taped for television on Oct. 26 when the tour will be at the Macon Coliseum.
Very cool news … Could Ric Flair become 17 time world champion? I for one would love to see it happen.
On a side note the writer of the article could use a fact checker. I don’t know that you can say Jeff Jarrett has an out of ring role. And if the WWE was formed by merging the WWF and WCW, it’s news to me. Silly me I always thought WWE bought out WCW and had to change their name because they were sued by the World Wildlife Federation. I wonder if this sort of thing was looked over simply because it’s wrestling.
Anyway when we were all discussing who Immortal could put forward in the absence of Jeff Hardy, it never occurred to me that there’s always Ric Flair.
Dylan. i really dont count TNA as a world wide company even though yes they have one 5 day a year tour of england. plus they have 150 shows a year outside of the impact zone. That dont make them much of a global presence now is it. so in my Mind the TNA World title. isnt actually a world title. its more like a National title. like some of these regional Independent Companys promote their Top title as a World title. yet they dont even leave a certian region of the USA
Standards,
I believe you’ve been misinformed. The TNA title has been defended in the US, Canada, UK, India, Australia, Japan, probably even more countries than that.
That aside World Titles are generally titles recognized as an achievement that is sought around the world and open to the best competition in the world, not necessarily defended in every country. How many major World boxing or UFC titles are defended regularly around the world? TNA is seen in 100+ countries, there are wrestlers the world over that would like that prestige and there are wrestlers from around the world that participate in TNA. That’s what makes a world title.
In addition to William’s comments, I would add that iMPACT Wrestling is (and has been) the number one rated professional wrestling television show in the United Kingdom for months on end (going back to 2010, if I’m not mistaken).
One might argue that iMPACT Wrestling is the second biggest company in the United States (by default, of course – WWE is a monolith). But when you look at the promotion’s performance in the United Kingdom (where they are easily the “larger” or “bigger” or “better” wrestling company – whatever adjective you want to use) as well as their frequent cross-promotions with New Japan Pro Wrestling as well as AAA in Mexico – it’s pretty easy to see that they are, in fact, a global company.
Thank you, William and Joe, for helping me out there 🙂
I would also like to point that the World Series of Baseball only includes teams from the United States and World War I was pretty much confined to Europe. Also WWE’s European championship was more often than not defended in the United States, and most of it’s champions were not European. It’s all about perspective really, and the top title in any company is usually the World championship.
The notion that TNA’s championship, if won by Ric Flair, would not count, is I think made on false grounds, for the reasons others cited above. I think though that even if Ric Flair won a world/heavyweight championship in a company that was only seen on United States television in the United States, it would still count. A championship is a championship, in my opinion.