Source: Mike Mooneyham
TNA Impact Wrestling star and pro wrestling legend “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair was recently announced as an inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Four Horsemen. Mike Mooneyham of the Post and Courier did a nice piece on the announcement, with some quotes from Ric. Mike also covers Edge’s induction, the omission of Ole Anderson, & Lex Luger from the Horsemen induction, as well as a number of other HOF related topics. You can check it out at this link, and the quotes from Ric Flair below:
The greatest unit in the modern era of professional wrestling is being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
And one of its members, arguably the greatest performer of our time, is returning for an encore.
While last week’s announcement of Ric Flair and The Four Horsemen’s impending induction into the WWE Hall of Fame didn’t exactly come out of the blue, it did come as a big surprise to the 16-time world heavyweight champion.
After all, it was less than four years ago when Flair was enshrined in an emotional and memorable ceremony in Orlando, one night before his final WWE match with Shawn Michaels. On March 31, the Nature Boy will walk the aisle once more, but this time in Miami, becoming the first wrestler in WWE history to be honored twice.
Thirteen-time world champion Triple H (Paul Levesque) broke the news to his longtime friend prior to the announcement on Monday Night Raw. Flair was at TNA tapings in Orlando when he received the call.
“It’s amazing. It’s very cool. The whole TNA crew was watching the vignette. I started crying when they aired it,” said Flair.
The longtime Charlotte resident, who “retired” from WWE in 2008, has worked for TNA since January 2010. His selection marks the first time a performer under contract with a rival promotion has been inducted into the WWE Hall.
All four members of The Horsemen — Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and Barry Windham, along with manager J.J. Dillon — are expected to attend the ceremony.
Windham’s appearance will be a special one, as he survived a close call several months ago after suffering a heart attack and a seizure. But the eldest son of WWE Hall of Famer Blackjack Mulligan (Bob Windham) is making slow but marked progress, and is expected to be released from a Florida rehabilitation center within the next couple of weeks.
Flair, who turns 63 in February, joked that his Hall of Fame speech will be limited this time around.
“They told me I could only talk seven minutes,” said Flair, whose impassioned acceptance speech in 2008 lasted well over an hour, with Triple H making several trips to the podium to rush Flair due to network time constraints.
Flair, who attended last year’s WWE ceremony in Atlanta to see Michaels’ induction, says he is eagerly looking forward to the event and reuniting with his former stablemates.
“We’re going to blow the roof off,” he said.
