REPORTS: Ric Flair requested and received his release from WWE

Originally published at REPORTS: Ric Flair requested and received his release from WWE

Two reports came out on Monday stating that Ric Flair had requested and has obtained his release from WWE.

Fightful and Wrestling Inc reported on Flair’s release that ends the 72-year old’s latest relationship with the company.

In Fightful’s reporting, they stated that Flair had contacted Vince McMahon directly regarding his frustrations with booking decisions and requested his release.

This latest tenure with WWE goes back to late 2012 when Flair returned to the company after working for TNA for over two years. Following an appearance at that year’s Hall of Fame (while under contract to TNA and given their blessing), he returned at the Slammy Awards that year. Over the years, he would make appearances sporadically with his most involved story occurring when he seconded daughter Charlotte Flair to the ring until May 2016.

In the summer of 2017, Flair had the most significant health scare of his life that required a piece of his bowel to be removed, and suffering kidney failure.

Earlier this year, he was involved in an angle where he was infatuated with Lacey Evans. Flair aligned with Evans, her daughter’s rival, in a storyline that was cut short after Evans announced she was pregnant.

Flair shared his dissatisfaction with the angle while speaking to Ariel Helwani earlier this year:

In this instance, I didn’t. The one thing I’ve learned is you aren’t going to win a war when someone has their mind made up and she (Charlotte Flair) most definitely didn’t like it. The one thing I can say about me, I always said ‘yes’. I didn’t want to be that guy that always goes ‘that isn’t perfect for me’. I don’t know how much you’ve followed my career but I’ve been buried in the desert by Russo, I’ve had my head shaved. If you look at the other top guys in history whether it’s Shawn (Michaels) or Hunter or Undertaker or Bret Hart no one has gone through this. I’ve done everything. I got fired for a year for taking my son to the AAU nationals where Dan Severn was the master of ceremonies, and he won. I’ve weathered every storm and I’ve come back.

This was something new and I got to TV and Mr. McMahon wasn’t there to argue the point with and he had stuff going on and I don’t like to put the pressure on someone if I can’t talk to him. He just made up his mind. I think a lot of it is because she’s a Marine and God only knows, we cannot give enough back to the people that served in the military, that’s a given. I think he wanted her to be successful and the way to get successful sometimes is to take two other people that are doing well and give them the rub. She’s a very nice girl, it didn’t fit this time, you know what I mean? But we made the best of it and ultimately, she’s pregnant now with her husband and it wasn’t anything personal. I barely knew her and her whole life is her husband and her daughter.

I didn’t like that one. To him (McMahon), I’m always going to be the ‘Kiss stealing, wheeling-dealing…”, you know what I mean? Which is great because he likes that even though he hated when I used to say it. He used to say, “’80s heels don’t draw”.

Neither WWE nor Ric Flair has commented on the reports of his release yet.

I wonder what Charlotte’s future with the WWE is. Her dad and fiancee are both gone. I wouldn’t have said this 6 months ago but is Charlotte gone next?

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No way. I think they have put so much into making her the star of the women’s division that they won’t let her go easily.

She way be lured to AEW bc of Andrade but wrestling relationships have a way if not working out a lot of times too so let’s see how steady they are in a year or so. She’s likely under contract for a while and I don’t see them giving her a release

I can definitely see Charlotte moving on. Probably has a big salary and she’s done everything there is to do in WWE. Wrestling fans need to realize it’s not normal for wrestlers to stick in one spot forever. That was normal when WWE had a monopoly. Now there are so many other places and ways to make money. Plus the product sucks

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You guys are missing out of an important thing.

The Horsemen are coming together in AEW!

Tony Schiavone is going to lose his soul! :rofl:

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Suddenly John Cena breaking Flair’s “record” doesn’t seem so far fetched anymore.

Definitely looking forward to an on camera proper Four Horsemen reunion on a Dynamite down the road…

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Thats what I would like to see…there is really nothing else Flair can bring to WWE at this point. He’s done it all, hes done the story with Charlotte, hes done the authority role, at this point reuniting with the Horseman is probably the most intriguing thing he can do.

From what I understand, Ric and Arn haven’t talked for years because Ric was hurt that Arn didn’t call him after his son died so I don’t think it would be as simple as just throwing them together on tv.

And talking about the 4 horsemen reuniting on AEW, if they sign Flair, they’ll have him, Arn, and Tully, who am I missing?

Ole Anderson was the original 4th guy, then they brought in Windham and Lugar. There have been more since (ie. Roma, Mongo etc.), but typically people associate Windham and Ole as the 4th guy.

Ole is 78 and from my understanding an asshole, so Windham probably makes the most sense.

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I’d bring in Flair to sell tickets the next time they run North Carolina or the mid-Atlantic area but that’s about it. He’s got the WWE stench on him, no reason to give him any kind of significant role

Ole doesn’t work for aew though. I’ve read comments about flair going to aew and reuniting the horsemen and I’m just trying to figure out who the 4th person is. Someone who works there already?

Dean Malenko was in the final iteration of the 4 Horesemen…
Not the most likely candidate, but he is already there

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She hasn’t been a 17x champ yet and now they keep cutting her title reigns down too. SMH

Wait, is this trolling? Or serious? Pretty sure the Ric Flair Stench overpowers anything associated with the WWE Stench. The Flair Stench is so powerful that even the zoomers at Rolling Loud would have recognized and popped for it (as opposed to just about any other professional wrestler in the world). Just pair him up with a guy like Sammy or JB and let him cut a 1 minute promo every other week and we are all the better for it (especially the guy he’s paired with).

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Personally I’m sick of Flair after the way WWE has used him the past few years. Doesn’t feel all that important anymore. I’m fine with using him once every six months but the guy is 72 - no need for him to be on tv every week

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Yes! Thank you. I forgot about Dean

I think a Horsemen reunion (with Dillon even) in one of the Carolinas, or Georgia, would be a big deal.

I’m not saying give them an angle… But an appearance, in a celebratory manner, would be a nice little thing to do.

A company like AEW, which two years in, has established a great respect for wrestling history, regardless of the company - feels like an easy no brainer segment.

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