Ric Flair vents about WWE’s ‘lack of respect’ after alleged WrestleMania snub: ‘Are you kidding me?’
Ric Flair just isn’t proud of WWE. The 77-year-old pro-wrestling legend offered on Wednesday’s “The Ariel Helwani Show” after what he perceived to be a less-than-welcoming weekend in Las Vegas for this yr’s WrestleMania 42 spectacle.
Flair, a two-time WWE Hall of Famer, claimed that he “wasn’t allowed to go” to WWE’s annual two-night occasion this yr as a consequence of an alleged altercation in 2025 with Ludwig Kaiser, the previous boyfriend of WWE star Tiffany Stratton. Flair mentioned he “threatened to beat up” Kaiser final yr amid a dispute between Stratton and Flair’s daughter, 14-time WWE champion Charlotte Flair, forward of their WrestleMania 41 title match.
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Flair’s account of the state of affairs:
“I didn’t get invited to WrestleMania this year. I threatened to beat up Tiffany Stratton’s [boyfriend] last year and I wasn’t allowed to go. A 24-year-old kid being threatened by a 76-year-old man, and I can’t go to WrestleMania? Are you kidding me?
“[Last year] I went OK, ‘I need your number,’ and I got it — which, I can get any number that I want any minute of any day. And I called [Kaiser] and I said, ‘Hey, when I see you, I’m going to beat the s*** out of you.’ So he went like a little b****, told Hunter [WWE CCO Paul Levesque]and I wasn’t allowed to go.”
“Even although I’m not there, I do know all the things as a result of I do know all people. There needs to be a crimson carpet for me — a crimson carpet to the entrance row. And I talked to them about it. With my contributions to this enterprise and the work that I’ve put in, hours and hours and hours of making an attempt to make wrestling one thing that it’s as we speak, and I’ve acquired to have issues with politics? Give me a break. Come on. I’m not mad at anyone, I perceive it is politics now — it is an excessive amount of politics and never sufficient wrestling.”
Flair additionally claimed that Dennis Rodman personally requested him to offer an induction speech for the former NBA star’s entry into the WWE Hall of Famenevertheless Flair was unable to take action after allegedly getting the chilly shoulder from WWE officers.
“Dennis Rodman called me and said, ‘Will you induct me into the Hall of Fame?’ And I sent to the powers that be, ‘Dennis wants me to induct him.’ I never got a call back. …I never even got a call back.”
“I believe there is a lack of respect. And I believe there’s so many individuals below hearth proper now, they’re all ducking and dodging.”
“I do not know. All I do know is that it looks like individuals, they hate the truth that I’m so related. They hate the truth that signed extra autographs this weekend at WrestleCon than anyone. They hate the truth that I did a pool occasion with 3,000 stunning ladies with Diplo.”
Flair additionally famous frustration with not with the ability to be there for the WWE Hall of Fame induction of Stephanie McMahon, who was half of the 2026 induction class as nicely.
Yet his grievances did not cease there. Earlier this month, a livid Flair admonished the pro-wrestling chief on social media, claiming that WWE nixed a merchandising deal he is lengthy had with in style attire model Roots of Fight.
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Indeed, Flair-branded attire can now not be discovered on Roots of Fight’s online storenevertheless fellow WWE legends “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Rock and The Undertaker all nonetheless have their merchandising traces obtainable to buy.
In Flair’s eyes, the alleged halting of his deal — and the way through which he claims it occurred — was one more instance of WWE’s “lack of respect” for him.
“I awakened that morning to seek out out — as a result of 10 individuals referred to as me — that Roots of Fight needed to drop me. Then I acquired a really lengthy, prolonged textual content from [Roots of Fight co-founder] Jesse [Katz] saying, ‘I apologize, they purchased the corporate and I’ve nothing to do with it. Thank you.’ And that pissed me off. Not even a name. And typically I believe — and I imagine this in my coronary heart — there are exclusions, as a result of some folks that have executed a lot to assist so many individuals and affect so many personalities, that I might get lower a break. It’s not a monetary cope with them, you do not make quite a bit of cash with Roots of Fight. It’s status. It’s Muhammad Ali, proper? It’s Ric Flair, I might go down the listing. And I used to be the No. 2 vendor behind Muhammad Ali. So why not simply say, ‘Hey Ric, we will not use you,’ a easy telephone name?”
“Now they simply add on who they need to. Not that these guys do not deserve it. Make no mistake, Taker, Steve, all these guys. But now the WWE needs to regulate all people, simply does need them do. … I attempt to not have any animosity with anyone, however simply to be fairly trustworthy with you, how do you not have sufficient respect for me to name me and say, ‘I’m sorry Ric, we do you anymore.’ “That’s what I call a lack of respect.”
