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Guest JMA

Bret Hart responds to Ric Flair's comments

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Guest combat_rock

Honestly, both are a bit too high on themselves, I think everyone will agree with that. So when it comes to them pissing on each other's wrestling careers, I'm not really suprised. I will say that it was very low of Flair to say that Bret used his brother's death to further his vendetta from the screwjob. I mean, that's just low.

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I take Foley's side on this too, but at least people can say "Well, Mick struck first". What the hell did Bret do to deserve such an attack? Comments he made in the early 90s, and has since apologized for to the man's face?

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Ric made an observation, that's all. He never said it was a fact that Bret cared more about the screwjob that Owen's death, he said it was HIS OPINION. Bret is a guy who responds to all criticism of himself with these childish rants and runs topics into the ground. Do I think this is something Flair should have said ? No. However, I can see how Flair could draw those conclusions given some of Bret's actions. Doesn't mean I agree with it, but I can see how Flair could see it that way.

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Ric made an observation, that's all. He never said it was a fact that Bret cared more about the screwjob that Owen's death, he said it was HIS OPINION. Bret is a guy who responds to all criticism of himself with these childish rants and runs topics into the ground.

So if someone told you that you didn't give a shit that one of your family members died, you would just sit there and take it.

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Ric made an observation, that's all. He never said it was a fact that Bret cared more about the screwjob that Owen's death, he said it was HIS OPINION. Bret is a guy who responds to all criticism of himself with these childish rants and runs topics into the ground.

So if someone told you that you didn't give a shit that one of your family members died, you would just sit there and take it.

Ric never said Bret didn't give a shit about Owen.

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Guest Anticrombie

Well would you just sit there and take it based on his comments?

 

What unnerved me the most was the way he used his brother’s death. Through his column in the Calgary Sun, Bret relentlessly bashed Vince McMahon. I sympathize with the emotion – and even the anger – he felt over losing a brother, but I lost respect for him when he made the case into a public spectacle. Why didn’t he take the matter up privately with Vince? It seemed to me that Bret cared more about getting “screwed” in Montreal than he did about Owen’s death, and he used his brother’s death to grind his ax with Vince”

 

He said Bret USED his brother's death for his own personal agenda. Is he not presenting his opinion as fact? If somebody said that about me (when it is damn well none of their business), I'd use his face as a punching bag.

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Ric never said Bret didn't give a shit about Owen.

Yeah, he did. Right here.

 

It seemed to me that Bret cared more about getting “screwed” in Montreal than he did about Owen’s death, and he used his brother’s death to grind his ax with Vince.

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How does that = "not giving a shit" about Owen? It means he feels Bret used the death to fuel his lawsuit against Vince. Frankly, while I don't condone what Flair said, I can see how some of Bret's actions could lead Flair to think this. Flair isn't the only one who thinks this, hes just the only one who's brought it into a public light. And I do feel he was wrong for doing that.

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Well would you just sit there and take it based on his comments?

 

What unnerved me the most was the way he used his brother’s death. Through his column in the Calgary Sun, Bret relentlessly bashed Vince McMahon. I sympathize with the emotion – and even the anger – he felt over losing a brother, but I lost respect for him when he made the case into a public spectacle. Why didn’t he take the matter up privately with Vince? It seemed to me that Bret cared more about getting “screwed” in Montreal than he did about Owen’s death, and he used his brother’s death to grind his ax with Vince”

 

He said Bret USED his brother's death for his own personal agenda. Is he not presenting his opinion as fact? If somebody said that about me (when it is damn well none of their business), I'd use his face as a punching bag.

"It seemed to me that Bret cared more about getting “screwed” in Montreal than he did about Owen’s death, and he used his brother’s death to grind his ax with Vince”

 

 

Flair's opinion, plain and simple. And as I've said, I don't knock him for having that opinion as I can see how he could gather that from Bret's actions.

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Guest Anticrombie

I didn't grow up watching Flair, but I've read all about his legacy, comments from his rivals, admirers, etc. As much as I respect his legacy, I have come to realize in recent years how much of a turncoat and weasel he is.

 

In this aspect he is just as bad if not worse then Hogan.

 

He would stand in the WCW ring and proclaim that it was home and where his heart was all the while decrying the WWF for not respecting and understanding the legacy of WCW/NWA, and a couple of months later when he was hired by WWE he would turn around and kiss Vince's ass by saying WWE is the greatest company inthe world and it was his home.

 

He would talk about the great men that held the WCW title, and then turn around and say that the WWE title was always the real heavyweight title.

 

I could list various examples of his weaseling throughout his entire career, but it's early in the morning and I'm not up for it right now, maybe later.

 

Flair's words just don't hold any water for me anymore because he always seems to have an agenda with what he's saying. I have relatives like this, so I tend to have little tolerance when I see this type of behavior in a person.

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I didn't grow up watching Flair, but I've read all about his legacy, comments from his rivals, admirers, etc. As much as I respect his legacy, I have come to realize in recent years how much of a turncoat and weasel he is.

 

In this aspect he is just as bad if not worse then Hogan.

 

He would stand in the WCW ring and proclaim that it was home and where his heart was all the while decrying the WWF for not respecting and understanding the legacy of WCW/NWA, and a couple of months later when he was hired by WWE he would turn around and kiss Vince's ass by saying WWE is the greatest company inthe world and it was his home.

 

He would talk about the great men that held the WCW title, and then turn around and say that the WWE title was always the real heavyweight title.

 

I could list various examples of his weaseling throughout his entire career, but it's early in the morning and I'm not up for it right now, maybe later.

 

Flair's words just don't hold any water for me anymore because he always seems to have an agenda with what he's saying. I have relatives like this, so I tend to have little tolerance when I see this type of behavior in a person.

How long have you been following wrestling? Because that's the name of the game, getting ahead - at all costs. It's how it's always been and will always be, and this goes back to the territorial days, you do what you gotta do to keep your spot.

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How does that = "not giving a shit" about Owen? It means he feels Bret used the death to fuel his lawsuit against Vince.

Did you miss where he said that he cared more about Montreal than Owen's death?

 

Frankly, while I don't condone what Flair said, I can see how some of Bret's actions could lead Flair to think this. Flair isn't the only one who thinks this, hes just the only one who's brought it into a public light. And I do feel he was wrong for doing that.

 

Yeah, it's fine for him to have that opinion, but publically saying it and putting it in a book makes him look like an asshole. All because Bret called him overrated once. It's the same thing with Foley. Foley gave him credit for being a good wrestler but said he made a couple big mistakes as a booker, and now according to Flair, he's the biggest the joke in wrestling. It sounds like Flair is the one that can't take any criticism.

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Well...

 

Hart/Austin > Flair/Steamboat

 

 

Oh, and Bret seriously tore into Flair there. Ouch. It's kind of a shame when ywo of the greatest wreslters ever have to resort to this. Bret could have confronted Flair to his face, instead of using his column. Then again, Flair could have confronted Bret to his face. and as someone said before, this is WWE ghostwritten. That frightens me also.

 

That is all.

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Guest INXS

Flair's book may have been ghostwritten to a certain degree but both Flair and Vince had a look at the final manuscript.

 

I think that Bret is fair in retorting and I found it an interesting and well written article.

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Guest Dynamite Kido

There's a little bit of truth and bullshit to Flair and Hart's accounts. It's tough to take sides though, as none of us really know the truth........

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"In the infamous words of Dick Cheney, go f**k yourself Ric and be glad that someone like me doesn’t shove your head squarely up your ass someday."

 

HA! That's awesome!

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very candid read I think maybe Hart strayed off topic when he brings up Montreal but this is not the first time we have heard that Ric Flair is a prick , maybe some of Flairs comments were uncalled for but he has a right to tell his side and now we have Harts side maybe they can just let it rest and get on with their lives.

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Guest cobainwasmurdered
That article was bullshit. Bret should try getting at least half of his facts straight before he goes after Flair in a manner like that. I mean shit, he didn't even name the right plane crash that Flair was in at the end of his column. For as bitter and angry as Bret says Flair is, Bret comes off much much more bitter in that column. To say Flair wasn't a great worker is simply outlandish. Just so many off the wall comments in this thing, Frank Gotch would find Savage and Foley more credible than Flair? Give me a fucking break.

 

He was using an example of the plane crash as an outrageous example of something he could say about Flair. He's not using it as a fact. It's not like he said "Flair was in ___ crash and allowed ___ to die." he was using hyperbole.

 

And Flair isn't a "great" worker. I'm a big Flair fan myself but Bret is Deadon when he talks about the holes in Flair's psyhcology, the goofy spots, and the fact Flair seemed to wrestle the same match every night.

 

there's no denying Flair's a legend in the sport but Bret made a number of true observations.

 

 

As far as Bret's continued comments on SS97, i think he was mostly just talking about it because Flair wrote about it in his book and Bret was trying to address that.

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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Flair got his ass torn out by Bret!!!!!!!!!

Of course, Bret is always going to talk about Montreal. He wants the truth to be known about it. Look how many damn times the wwe uses it in storylines. Flair brought it up in his book, so Bret responded to the Montreal incident again for those who don't know about it. There are a lot of fans out there that didn't watch back then. I tend to believe Bret's stories on Flair for the simple reason that Vince Mcmahon has claimed the greatest story teller he ever promoted was Bret Hart. He said his greatest performer of all-time was Shawn Michaels. I have never heard or seen Vince give the backing to the claim of Flair being the greatest of all-time. Of course, it can be argued Flair was apart of the competition and he would be bias to his crop. If that's the case, Flair denigrates his legacy as someone said by claiming the wwe as the greatest company and that the wwe title was the real championship all along.

 

I just want to hear Macho's rap song on Flair next. You saw what the hell he did against Hogan :D

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I respect both Bret Hart and Ric Flair, but it is kind of sad to see Bret Hart talk about Ric Flair's "routine" when everyone knows about Bret Hart's "Five Moves of Doom" that usually signal the end of his matches.

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Guest Dids

I think trying to engage in debates with people about a wrestler that they're using as their avatar is just asking to waste your time.

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Guest MikeSC
I’m sure that if wrestling fans will give some thought to what I’ve written here, you’ll find it to be more accurate and far more interesting than Ric Flair’s book.

Oh, I'll bet otherwise, but let's see.

I don’t know if I’m more infuriated or disappointed by the derogatory things he wrote, not just about me, but about other hard working members of the wrestling fraternity, like Randy Savage and Mick Foley.

Never mind that you and Foley slammed him before and, well, he was right about Savage.

Yes, I did make some unflattering comments about Flair and Hogan back in the early 90’s. I then rethought what I’d said and in the interest of doing business with them, for the greater good of the business, I made a sincere effort to apologize to both of them, publicly and privately. They each shook my hand and told me not to worry about it and that it wasn’t an issue, but when I got to WCW I was never given any kind of a chance and whether either one or both of them was behind it I’ll probably never know, other than hearsay.

Is THIS an example of opinion "backed up by facts"? Because, again, it's not like Flair had, well, ANY power during Hart's WCW run.

Never, in all my life, have I ever been so infuriated by ridiculous statements made about me. Perhaps they were purposely designed to get my response and sell more books, who knows. Who cares?

How about THIS? Opinion backed up by fact? Is it?

Flair talks about how I could be the president of my own fan club. All I can say is, he’s one to talk! Self promotion was an intricate key to any wrestler making it in the business. He convinced a legion of fans that he was the best in the business - and there’s nothing wrong with that. He even convinced himself. But his peers, the guys who worked with him night after night, know better. How could any fan know what kind of a worker Ric Flair really is without actually working with him?

I suppose he'll mention names of the guys who thought Flair was shit in the ring. As Flair liked to mention, he was voted World Champion by a board --- somebody had to think he was worth the effort.

Flair says that I believed my own press and convinced myself that I’m the best there is. When I boast about being the best there is, it is because of three reasons. The first and most important is that I never injured any wrestler in any way despite my physical style.

I could be mean and mention that most guys probably figured out what he'd do before he did it and protect themselves better, but I won't.

This is something in which I take a lot of pride and I don’t know of anyone, who worked a schedule on par with mine for as long as I did, who can truthfully make that same claim.

Who'd Flair ever injure?

The second reason is that in the fourteenyears I was with the WWF, often wrestling three hundred times per year, I missed but one match - and that was due to a canceled flight. Again, I don’t think there is anyone who worked that schedule who can truthfully make that claim.

Umm, when did Flair miss a ton of matches?

Everyone on the road worked hard but I was proud to be counted among the handful of guys with an exceptionally dedicated work ethic. The third reason is that throughout my career I never once refused to put over a fellow wrestler - except at Survivor Series ‘97.

And the house show before it.

And the 6-man tag the night before it.

In a conversation that I had with Shawn Michaels three weeks before Montreal, when I was champion, I told him that despite our differences, I wanted him to know that he was safe working with me in the ring and that I had no problem whatsoever putting him over. Shawn’s exact words to me were, “I appreciate that, but I want you to know that I’m not willing to do the same thing for you.” This was just plain unprofessional. Putting him over would have condoned his disrespect, not just for me but for the honor of old school ways.

As Shawn mentioned, him putting over Hart when Bret was leaving soon would've been "retarded".

Vince told me that I could leave any way I liked, not to mention the fact that I had contractual creative control for my last thirty days. The idea for him to beat me in Canada was solely conceived to ruin me as a commodity in my home country where WCW had big plans for me.

Thank God you're not overly bitter about it, though. As Flair said, you never saw him saying "I won't lose in NC", did you?

Not to mention that when Shawn Michaels mocked fornicating with the Canadian flag in the middle of the ring it went beyond being personal to me, my fans, and my country!

Nope, couldn't have been to, you know, GET HEAT. Had to be to piss on the country he's worked in, repeatedly, since then.

I remember Ric Flair and Bobby Heenan coming up to me in the dressing room in Nashville on May 6, 1989. I was in the Hart Foundation at the time and Flair told me he was honored to shake my hand. I had never seen him work.

He'd NEVER seen him work? Jesus.

Being on the WWF road schedule made it nearly impossible to catch any wrestling matches on TV because we were almost always working or traveling when wrestling was on. From what little I did see of the NWA my impression was that their TV show at that time was poorly produced and made the wrestlers come off as second rate. Despite that, I’d been lead to believe, like everyone else, that Ric Flair was the best in the business. I always wondered, if he was the best why wasn’t he in the big league WWF?

Man, I've had nasty beer than was less bitter.

His popularity at that time was largely concentrated in the deep south.

Said the man whose popularity was largely concentrated in Canada.

I appreciated his compliment and hoped I might have the chance to work with this legend some day.About a year later Flair was head booker at WCW and he made me an offer to come work there for money good enough that I had to seriously consider it. As it turned out, Flair was unable to back up his offer and the deal fell through when he nervously reneged. I lost respect for him and his word and smartly chose to stay put in the WWF instead.

I guess the thought that Flair couldn't get his bosses to view Hart as being worth signing would be too painful to consider. I love that Flair is the bad guy when he can't get WCW to sign the guys he'd like.

Eventually, Flair showed up in the WWF with the WCW belt and I was somewhat surprised when he shamelessly crapped all over the history of the territory that made him by not giving them their belt back.

All they had to do was give him back the deposit on the belt plus interest. Herd refused. But, again, more opinion backed up by fact out of Bret.

To this day I don’t know what would make him hurt his fellow wrestlers and their struggling company like that. I admit I don’t know all the facts on this so I won’t comment any further about it, and Ric should have done the same with me.

Umm, didn't you just comment while saying you wouldn't?

Flair was trumpeted into the WWF with great fan fare and at last, one night in New Haven, I was thrilled to defend the IC belt against this great legend in an unscheduled dark match that was taped for Coliseum video. I knew more about ring psychology and real wrestling at the ripe age of nine than Ric

Flair knew in his entire lifetime yet out of respect I let him lead the match.

Explains your ability to carry total slugs to great matches.

 

Oh wait, you couldn't.

 

My bad.

Ric suggested a finish that called for me to do a flying cross body where he would subsequently catch me and stagger backwards with the two of us toppling over the top rope only to be counted out for the finish. It was a simple but risky move that I’d done countless times before with lesser wrestlers but at the end of the match when I dove into Flair he stood too far from the ropes, mistimed it , and he simply didn’t have the strength to catch me so we fell down in an embarrassing heap. Ric suddenly came up with a new make shift finish that, not surprisingly, benefited him and not me.

"Blown finish? All Flair's fault. I'M BRET HART, DAMMIT! I DON'T MESS UP!"

It absolutely stunk but these things sometimes tend to happen when two wrestlers work together for the very first time. Although the match had been taped and can still be seen today I wasn’t going to make any kind of a big deal about it, but back in the dressing room I was annoyed to hear Flair painting out to everybody that somehow I had messed up the finish, implying that I was still a young up and comer. If you understand wrestling, you know that all I could do was dive into his arms and the rest was up to him. He proved to me, right then, that he was full of it and was no legend at all.

Man, Bruno Sammartino is less bitter about things than Bret is.

I remember Flair worked with Randy Savage who, like me, was lead to believe the same crap about how great Flair was when they had a Saturday Night’s Main Event TV match in Hershey on September 1, 1992. He somehow became WWF champion and Vince McMahon carefully constructed an elaborate storyline for this very important match. I was standing right next to Vince watching the match live on a backstage monitor when Vince blew his stack as he watched

Ric do absolutely nothing he told him to do. Ric has never been able to do anything but his one routine match, which consists of cartoon high spots borrowed from Jackie Fargo and midget wrestlers, along with an assortment of tired

old ripped off Buddy Rogers high spots.

Thank God you don't use opinions without facts, Bret. Thank GOD for that. I could, you know, judge Bret by his uber-shitty WCW work, but I won't.

My dad always called Flair a “routine man” - because he did the exact same routine every night, every where, and was forever stuck with it.

Wow, he doesn't even recognize the irony of HIM saying this.

An angry Vince met Flair as he came through the curtain and he furiously ordered both Flair and an exasperated Randy to march right back out and redo the entire match the way he’d told them to do it! Even then, as I remember it, Flair was still unable to impress Vince. Personally, I would have been shamed with embarrassment to ever put the promotion, myself, or my opponent through such a farce!

Like your "classic" Ironman match with Shawn?

I recall telling Randy that I thought Flair was ‘thirty minutes of non stop non psychology’ and Randy shook his head and laughed along with me at how true it was.

Wow, who could possibly disagree with THIS assessment?

I can tell you first hand that Ric Flair was not a great worker at all. Yes, he did hilarious interviews but, to my taste, I never thought a world champion was supposed to be hilariously amusing.

Oh, I know you don't believe that. Anybody who ever watched you knows you believed that fervently.

Granted, Flair was entertaining to watch - and there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, much like Hogan, Flair’s magnetism and charisma distracted from and offset his limited ability in the ring.

Flair/Steamboat > anything Bret has ever been involved with.

The single greatest contribution that Flair ever gave to pro wrestling was the wooo from his silly chops. First off, chops hurt - and in my opinion they look like crap.

They don't look vicious like a russian legsweep, followed by an elbowdrop, followed---bah, screw the Five Moves mockery.

For Flair to demean Randy Savage and Mick Foley is outrageous! In my opinion, as someone who has worked with all three of them (and everybody else from that era too) Ric Flair couldn't even lace up Randy and Mick’s boots!

Couldn't be bitterness talking, could it?

They were both hard workers and exciting innovators who at least made every possible effort to put on some kind of a different show from night to night.

Boy, those Flair v Morton matches were the same every night.

Ditto Flair v Steamboat.

Ditto Flair v Funk.

Some great pro! If old time shooters like Ed Strangler Lewis or Frank Gotch were to look down from the heavens I’m sure they’d be more impressed with Randy and Mick’s realism and psychology than Flair’s phony chops and upside-down

flips into the corner, where amazingly he somehow landed right on his feet! - only to jog down to the next corner - where he climbed right up and - even more amazingly - took ten or fifteen seconds to maneuver his opponent’s hands

carefully onto his chest so he could take a phony beal back into the ring!

I'm sure they'd have loved your finishing sequence too, Bret.

If done on rare occasions, such silly routines, because they are highly amusing and entertaining, often go undetected for how ridiculously phony they are. But this pathetic routine was performed every time Flair went blank, and let me tell you, he went blank all the time! As for Ric’s criticism of how my comeback was repetitive, all I can say is that I felt that, logically speaking, why wouldn’t I break into my patented arsenal of best moves before going into my finish? I did, in fact, change it up from time to time, but I also recognized that most fans completely understood what I was doing. It made as much sense as doing the same finishing move every night, except my finish was a series of moves. The fact that Ric took exception to this is a simple example of his inability to fully understand ring psychology.

You changed it up?

 

WHEN?

 

If Flair is ridiculous for doing the same spots, why in the world is it peachy for Bret to do the same spots every night?

The day after I wrestled Davey at Wembley at Summerslam ‘92 in front of 86,000 fans I flew to Baltimore. They were playing a tape of the show in the hotel bar and I was watching a tape in my room when there was a knock at my door and low and behold both Randy and Flair stood there beaming. They each shook my hand and I remember Flair excitedly grinning and praising me saying, “Brother, that was the greatest match I’ve ever seen. The greatest!” For Ric Flair to say that I wasn’t a draw is just plain ridiculous.

Well, WCW didn't exactly do bang-up business after they signed you.

WWF wasn't setting the world afire with you.

I’m very sure that I sold enough tickets throughout my career. Who is he kidding? Everyone knows that most of the time WCW wrestlers worked in front of empty chairs in empty arenas. All one has to do is watch Flair’s DVD to see the

empty seats and the exact same match with every opponent, whatever their shape or size.

But if you watch NWA, before they shit all over their market, Flair worked in front of 10,000 fans fairly regularly.

Scott Hall was there and often told this story to other wrestlers for years. Sadly, old Ric still managed to mess up the timing for every fall, in what I could only see as intentional. At the time I was furious to read in Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter how Ric Flair carried me for the full sixty minutes!

"But I'm not a mark for myself. HONEST!"

If you watch Flair’s matches you’ll see that he usually made himself at the expense of his opponents , something I was famous for not doing.

Who did Flair "make" himself at the expense of? I mean, besides our lord and savior Bret here?

For shame that Ric Flair should take pot shots at Terry Funk, Mick Foley, Savage, me or anyone else.

When the hell did he take a potshot at Terry Funk?

For Flair to denounce me for my role in the infamous Survivor Series in Montreal, all I can say is that he wasn’t there and he ignores much of the truth when it comes to the facts. The most complete and accurate written account of the whole Montreal debacle, for anyone who is interested, is available at brethart.com - written by Dave Meltzer.

Thank God you're not a mark for yourself, Bret. Thank God. It'd be painful if you took yourself too seriously.

I stand proud with my head held high for the way I handled myself and the position I took for the business and my fellow wrestlers that fateful day.

"Not jobbing on your way out RULES!"

I think it’s fair to say one had to walk in my shoes to fully comprehend the situation and when I put my story into words in a book about wrestling that is worth reading only then can anyone appreciate all that I lost and all that I gave during such a difficult time. For this asshole to blindly poke me

in the eye would be like me declaring that Flair showed great cowardice when he let Bobby Shane die in that tragic plane crash back in ‘75!

Well, except Flair was, you know, very much unconscious with a broken back.

 

But thank God you wouldn't make a low blow like, say, mentioning that.

Foley , Savage and Bret Hart have been doing just fine outside of the world of wrestling. What else has Ric Flair got? I’d like to punch Ric Flair right in the nose - but I’d probably have to kick somebody in the ass to do it! In the infamous words of Dick Cheney, go f**k yourself Ric and be glad that someone like me doesn’t shove your head squarely up your ass someday.

Wow, a bit of bitterness needs to be worked through there, Bret.

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