Ric Flair Was Unhinged In TNA

What's good, y'all? It's your boy Ross, back at it again with another video. So, we're going to check out Ric Flair lost his mind in TNA. Now, when Ric Flair left WWE and went over to TNA, uh a new monster was created. I've seen some of the clips of him in TNA and uh yeah, Ric Flair has always been a very interesting character, but his TNA run from the stuff that I did see was absolutely insane. But, nevertheless, we're going to check this out. I'm still one of those people that his perfect send-off was when he had his retirement match against HBK. I think that was WrestleMania 24. I honestly think that was the probably the best send-off you could have given Ric Flair. It was one of It's such an iconic and classic match. Love that match. And if you would have ended it there, I would have been okay with it. But, that's not what happened. So, we're going to check this out. Should be a good one. Appreciate all the love and support. Let's check out Ric Flair's days in TNA. >> It's WrestleMania 24. Ric Flair is 59 years old and after 35-plus years in that ring, he was standing across from Shawn Michaels with his career on the line. And what followed was genuinely one of the most beautiful endings to a wrestling career you will ever see. But, he gave everything he had left with his family in the front row, 70,000 fans screaming, millions of watching at home. But, then Shawn looked at Flair and said those famous words, "I'm sorry. I love you." Shawn hit that sweet chin music and it was all over. One of the greatest wrestlers of all time had just had his last dance. Tears filled the stadium, emotion overtook Flair, everybody was standing. A truly fitting end for a legend, going out in a classic at the grandest stage of them all. And the next night was even more emotional. They brought out everybody who had ever meant anything to Ric Flair. The Horsemen, Harley Race, Ricky Steamboat, and so many more. Even the Undertaker came out to pay his res- >> It's It's goosebump inducing cuz I remember watching this live and I was like, this I'm not going to lie to you, this run, and I love this part of Ric Flair's career that if you lose another match you have to retire, that was such a good run. Such a good way to keep people invested in Ric Flair. And this was the perfect send-off. It could have ended right there. Right there. It didn't. >> [laughter] >> Thanks. It was perfect. You genuinely could have not written a better ending to Ric Flair's career. Uh there was just one tiny problem. >> THAT I WILL NEVER RETIRE. >> [laughter] >> BECAUSE EVENTUALLY THE RETIREMENT ceremony ends, everybody goes home, and life goes on, the show goes on, but Ric Flair still has to wake up the next morning and somehow figure out how to live his life without being the Nature Boy. And boys and girls, that is something he just cannot do. Just a year later, by the end of 2009, this man was in Australia wrestling Hulk Hogan because life did go on, bills had to be paid, alimony had to be paid, and most importantly, Flair needed to be Flair. And it was fine. It was a non-televised tour for the Australians. He got it out of his system. The legacy of WrestleMania 24 lived on. But then January 4th, 2010 happened. And with TNA Impact going head-to-head with Raw with the debuts of Hogan, Bischoff, and every other out-of-shape '90s wrestler you can imagine, it was only right out comes Flair. Flair had officially signed with TNA. The old man just couldn't resist. But for the first few months, jokes aside, it was actually pretty awesome. He was there to be AJ Styles' manager and it was perfect. Why not join TNA and help their biggest homegrown star? Why not get paid to style and profile and stand at ringside? AJ and Flair together were magic and the best part was Flair didn't need to wrestle at all. He had sacrificed enough. It was just time for him to chill and be a manager. It was as if TNA had found the perfect role for him. >> A few moments later. >> [laughter] >> It was March 8th, 2010. It was going to be AJ Styles and Ric Flair versus Abyss and Hulk Hogan. Rest in peace to WrestleMania 24. If TNA needed star power, they needed ratings. Apparently, Ric Flair needed pain and here he was back at it like a crack addict. And not only does Flair come out of retirement and wrestle, he wrestles twice on the same show. And before you know it, Ric Flair, 2 years removed from one of the most emotional retirements ever, is on Impact in front of 900 people at Universal Studios a busted wide open. Hulk Hogan is biting his forehead. Hogan is whipping him with the belt. The best part was Hogan was in 10 times worse shape than Flair. Yo, how do you go from WrestleMania 24 to this? Brooke Hogan is at ringside watching her dad and her drunk uncle fight. This is the future. This is TNA. This is how we're taking down Monday Night Raw. 61-year-old Ric Flair dying on Spike TV. But okay, it's fine. He did it. He got it out of his system. Two matches in one night. It's all good. Maybe Flair just needed to feel the rush again, to feel alive again. Surely we're done now, right? >> Nope. >> Literally 1 week later, AJ Styles wrestles Jeff Hardy. Flair is at ringside. Abyss is there. Match ends and he grabs a chair, starts beating the hell out of Jeff Hardy. Then he starts hitting Abyss and Abyss just stops selling it and it's like, "No, Flair, get out of there. Run. You're too old for this. You don't need this." Abyss starts hulking up cuz that's what we need, right? Abyss Hogan in 2010. Flair is still swinging the chair. Abyss knocks it away, grabs the 61-year-old man by the throat and choke slams Flair through the announce track. Bro, you retired 2 years ago. Your family was crying. I was crying. You don't even make it 3 months into TNA before you get choke slammed through the building. Look at him. Look at the state of this man. He looked like he was dead. He genuinely looked like he was a dead man. And I'm not talking about The Undertaker. You know what You know what it's fine. It's always fine. At least he'll get a few weeks off. Maybe he gets written off TV for a bit. He got out of this [laughter] system. Cram sessions, you know, tweaking a little bit. Oh, he's at the next pay-per-view in a wheelchair. He's getting pushed around like a grandfather at the airport. Yo, look at his eyes. Those are the eyes of someone who has seen some [ __ ] [laughter] Ladies and gentlemen, this night right here, this was where TNA just genuinely lost the plot. The main event was Abyss Hogan taking on AJ Styles for the TNA [laughter] title. And what should have been just a normal match ended up being whatever the hell this was. Abyss choke slams AJ so hard that AJ goes through the ring. So, now there's just a giant hole in the ring. Desmond Wolfe comes to help. He gets pepper sprayed by Hulk Hogan. He falls in the hole. And then somehow, before you know it, Ric Flair falls in the hole, too. And I'm not talking about his financial hole. What is happening? This man started the year mentoring AJ Styles. It's March now. He's in a wheelchair at the bottom of a hole. Oh, not to mention they turned Abyss into Eugene. Turned him into the biggest doofus ever. But, uh hey, he has super strength now. TNA. TNA. The next Impact, AJ and Flair come out on crutches. These two look like they just got back from Normandy. And he proceeds to just get his ass beat by the Hogans. I got No, HOGAN HOGAN NO. >> [laughter] >> YOU CAN RUN. You can hide. But, I'm sorry, Flair. Just like WCW in the '90s, Hogan will always go over. At this point, it's like, who did Shawn Michaels retire? It certainly wasn't this man. And the funniest part is 3 weeks later, he's still in the wheelchair and he's just assembling Team Flair like Professor X for Lethal Lockdown. Sting, beer money. Desmond Wolfe, you're on my team. This was basically the X-Men if Professor X was an alcoholic and owed the IRS taxes. Eventually, we get Team Flair versus Team Hogan at Lockdown. Hogan and Flair get involved, and as usual, uh our boy gets killed by Hogan. And at this point, it was obvious. Ric Flair's retirement was dead. We held the funeral. We mourned. We weeded all that. By mid-2010, it reaches a point where you're like, "You know what? There's no point of judging this. There's no point of being shocked. You just have to embrace this. Embrace the chaos, the insanity, and honestly, it was time to just enjoy this old man losing his mind again." On Impact, Ric Flair decides to put his WWE Hall of Fame ring on the line against Abyss. >> Why? [laughter] >> What? >> of course, this is a regular match. All the rules were enforced. Uh Flair is still just filled with color. And of course, Abyss beats his ass and takes his Hall of Fame ring. Cuz what Why not? Why not? It's not like Flair has anything to live for anymore. But don't worry. Th- This is where it gets peak, and this is where him coming out of retirement was all worth it. Hogan eventually gets Flair's ring and decides he knows exactly who deserves it. Ladies and gentlemen, >> [laughter] >> and somehow, someway, by pure luck, this company that was actively driving itself off a cliff, that was just going straight to disaster, [laughter] falling apart, accidentally stumbled into gold. Jay Lethal >> This is >> [laughter] >> SO [ __ ] GOOD. THIS [ __ ] WAS PEAK. I'M not going to lie to you. He sold this. Oh, [laughter] good. >> over Ric Flair in 2010 becomes the TNA Feud of the Year, to be honest. See, it was great because once Lethal gets the ring, he becomes Ric Flair. It was like [laughter] Venom attaching to Spider-Man. The second Lethal gets the Hall of Fame ring, Lethal sheds [laughter] Macho Man and just becomes Flair. Lethal comes out wearing the ring, doing the walk, doing the mannerisms. Woo! And of course, Flair comes out, and he is pissed. Meanwhile, Jay's genuinely excited. He's basically telling Flair, "Bro, I'm not disrespecting you. You're my hero. This is one of the greatest moments of my life. Here, take your ring back." His response? These two start blasting and before you know it, Prime Jay Lethal has senior citizen Flair in his own finisher. Woohoo! And the best part was Lethal just continued to be Flair and the next thing [laughter] you know, we casually just got a top five TNA moment ever. I I have never seen two people just just lose it like [laughter] this. They're taking clothes off. They're throwing shoes at each other. Woo, there's woo, that elbow drop, [laughter] this elbow drop, that. Genuinely lost their minds. I'm surprised Rick didn't catch a charge for half the stuff he was doing. >> [screaming] [laughter] >> Woo! Woo! Woo! Flair starts yelling. Jay starts yelling. My mom starts yelling. It's like two dogs standing across the street from each other just barking. They're talking about Space Mountain. They're talking about women. >> [laughter] >> Jay Lethal was fantastic in it and at mimicking Rick Flair's like his mannerisms, the way he talked, the way he walked. It was fan- tastic. Should this have been as entertaining as it was? Probably not. But this was peak. When you think of TNA, this is one of the moments you think of, right here. This was peak. >> [laughter] >> Nobody knows where Rick Flair ends and Jay Lethal begins anymore. Honestly, watching this, I couldn't even tell who's who. It was like face-off all over again. Dog, Rick Flair was so red, it looked like he was about to explode. He was so red, he looked like the Kool-Aid Man from Family Guy. Instead of "Oh, yeah!" So, these two for five minutes just have a televised joint aneurysm and it all leads to a match. Lethal versus Flair on pay-per-view. That's how you sell pay-per-views. And if you're going to have Jay Lethal and a Rick Flair have a match and you're going to have Jay Lethal go over, there's only one possible way to do it. Figure four, Ric Flair taps out to his own move. Jay Lethal has officially stolen this man's identity, his finisher, his dignity, and his ring. Flair gets cooked so hard, but it was great to see. It was an awesome feud, even though it was only a month long. Some of the best television that TNA produced the entire year. So, after this, the question was, where does Flair go next? He just had an amazing feud with Jay Lethal. He put him over. He has his group with Fortune now. He's going to elevate some young talent. The possibilities are endless. What Wait. Why the [ __ ] is Mick Foley here? No. No, please, no. No, not not this again. Please, no. >> Ah, [ __ ] Here we go again. >> [sighs] >> If you've seen my SummerSlam 06 video, you already know how I feel about Flair versus Foley. I love that match. Two old men just randomly decided, "We're going to die tonight." Flair was 57, Foley was 41, but his body was approximately 73. But, you know what? Despite all that, they had one of the most violent matches we'd seen in years. It was great. It was beautiful. Loved it, lived it, never do it again. Uh sorry, guys. We need you to run that match back for the TNA audience, please. Mind you, these men are 4 years older now. Foley gets involved with EV 2.0. Fortune starts beefing all the old ECW guys, and eventually Flair and Foley decide, "Who cares about these younger wrestlers? We have to kill each other again." That Green Goblin mask was talking to Flair like he was Norman Osborn. Coward. Go out there and sacrifice. Boys and girls, what do I even say? It's last man standing, and it's not SummerSlam no more. No, no, no, we're not even on pay-per-view anymore. It's Spike TV. It's the Impact Zone. There's 900 people here. It's free television. And I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that the match starts, and Foley has color 1 minute into the match. >> [laughter] >> 1 minute? How was THAT EVEN POSSIBLE? 2 minutes in, they're both cooked. Fam, there's a barbed wire baseball bat. Flair throws Foley off the stage THROUGH A TABLE. THUMB TACKS. Flair gets back dropped into the thumb tacks with no shirt on cuz why would we need that? There's a barbed wire board. Why is there a barbed wire Where do you even find this? Foley runs the board directly into Flair but all that was nothing. All of that was genuinely nothing because nothing can compare to the visual of a 61-year-old Ric Flair going up to the top rope and and no he's not going to just do a normal move. No, no, he's not going to just do his little knee drop. Why why would he do that? I got to show these kids I can still hang. Woo! With Foley laying on a table, Flair just just flies. Bang! Tom Cruise has nothing on Ric Flair. 61 years old jumping off the top rope onto a table. Now you would assume after this it's over, right? Like what more damage can be done? What else can they do? But just when you thought you had seen it all. Just when you thought he'd already went crazy in '06. No, no, no, it's 2010. The ratings for TNA are worse they've been in years. Flair wants to draw. He wants to prove he's still the man. to showcase his skills and he wants to show us that he still has love for the game. Flair flop. Face first into the tacks. >> [laughter] >> Why? Yo, somebody turned on Spike TV in 2010. They were trying to watch a thousand ways to die or something and then next thing you know they're seeing Ric Flair actually trying to find a way to die. Absolute chaos. Flair has to get carried away. Foley wins the match but Ric Flair once again proves there is nothing that he won't do in that wrestling ring. Doesn't matter how old he is. And you you got it, Flair. You're the goat. You got it. Who else would ever do this? Let alone do this at 60. Nobody is doing Nobody is moving like him. He doesn't even want to win. He doesn't care about winning. He doesn't He'll let Lethal beat him. He'll let Foley win. He's not here to win any titles. He's not here to bury anyone. There's no politics. He's just out here to do this for the fun of it. Ladies and gentlemen, Ric Flair. After this legendary match, the simulation glitched and TNA just got really weird. Next thing you know, he's managing Matt Hardy of all people. Matt Hardy in 20 in 2011? Before you know it, Ric Flair is in a lethal lockdown match. I don't even know how he was medically cleared for this. I don't [laughter] know how this was even possible. He's now 62, by the way, and grabs just for the love of the game goes in there gets embarrassed gets his pants ripped off. Yes, you heard me right. And grabs just for the love of the game, you know, sacrifices once again. After Lockdown 2011, it was time for the fun to end. Flair had done it all. He had given his all to TNA and it was time for his last TNA match ever. And honestly, it was poetic. It was perfect because no matter what year it is, no matter how old they are, what company they're in, these two are wrestling soulmates and they always find a way to each other. Sting versus Flair. The most fitting opponent imaginable. But the stipulation that TNA had for this match was just hilarious. So, the storyline was that Sting wanted Hulk Hogan at Bound for Glory for a match and Flair says, "Hey, you want Hogan? You have to go through me." And the stipulation becomes if Sting beats Flair, he gets the Hogan match. But if Flair beats Sting, Sting has to retire. I'm sorry, what? Sting has to retire? Ric Flair, you are now trying to retire other people? You You of all people are enforcing retirements? [laughter] Brother, you retired three years You're not even supposed to be here. But you know what? Here we were. September 15th, 2011, Ric Flair Sting one last time. And the match is exactly what you expect. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the end of Flair wrestling in TNA. What a run. I can't even believe this actually happened. And looking back at all of this, listen, after all the memes, the jokes, the insanity, me losing my mind at what I was seeing, after revisiting this all these years later, the ironic part is I don't actually think TNA ruined Ric Flair's retirement. I don't even think Ric Flair ruined his own retirement. Maybe the WWE just misunderstood the man. They thought we thought WrestleMania 24 was supposed to be the end. They gave him the perfect opponent, the perfect match, the perfect moment, the perfect goodbye. Everybody cried. Everybody celebrated. They gave him a Hall of Fame ring, but it it didn't matter. He wanted to get chokeslammed through the stage. He wanted to be in a wheelchair. He wanted to be the Death [laughter] Match King again. He wanted to He wanted a younger wrestler to steal his identity. He wanted to wrestle Sting again and so much more because the point is Ric Flair will always more to give the wrestling business. And what makes it perfect, like I said, is he just wants to be a part of it. He doesn't want to win every match. He doesn't want to win at all. He's down with losing every match. He doesn't want to win titles. He won the title 16 times. He's literally the opposite of Hogan. He's not there to feed his ego and play politics. Bro, Flair just loves the game and he told us himself exactly how this was going to go. I will never retire. >> yeah. >> And maybe we and the WWE should have just listened to him because who is Vince McMahon to tell Ric Flair when Ric Flair should stop being the Nature Boy? WrestleMania 24 wasn't Flair choosing to retire. It was the WWE choosing a perfect ending for him. Flair chose something else, something significantly stupider, I will say that, something more violent, something involving Abyss and and wheelchairs [laughter] and holes and Matt Hardy for some reason, but it was him. And that's what he's always been about. So, as stupid as it might have been, as embarrassing, and people say ruined his legacy or it tarnished WrestleMania, this and that, it was beautiful. He was just there to have fun, make some money, and be the Nature Boy. >> Yeah. >> Truly one of the greatest of all time. So, yeah, did Ric Flair lose his mind in TNA? 100%. But, honestly, it was perfect. It's your boy Pat, aka Wrestling Gives. Thank you for watching. >> This was a great video, man. >> [laughter] [gasps] >> Hey, for him to have such a great send-off at WrestleMania 24 against Shawn Michaels, and then for him to go to TNA say, "Yeah, [ __ ] all that. I'm here to just have a good time. I'm putting people over. I don't give a [ __ ] if I lose. I don't care if I bleed. I'm here to have fun cuz this is all I know." I get it. Should he still be out there? No. But it's This is all he knows. This is all he cares about. This is what brings him joy. [music] This is what brings him peace. And for a lot of people, it's hard to adjust outside of what you've been known to do majority of your life. It could It comes with that caveat of, "All right, I've done it all in this profession. What am I going to do afterwards?" And Ric Flair, for him, wrestling. That's it. That's That's all he cared to do. So, hey, comment down below. Let me know some other wrestling-related videos you guys want me to check out. I definitely will. Appreciate all the love and support you guys shown on the channel. Road to 200K. See you on the next one. Peace.