WWE Jim Ross aka J.R.

The big man himself, Jim Ross (better known as WWE announcer J.R.) updated on his blog, speaking on the subject of Ric Flair coming out of retirement and returning to the ring. Here are some of the highlights:

- Ric called me last Sunday morning and we had a nice talk and I could tell that “Naitch” was getting “the itch” to get back in the ring. He might be feeling somewhat burned out regarding all the autograph shows and meet ‘n greets that he’s done over the past several months. One can only imagine how much flesh Ric has pressed since retiring. Ric’s driver’s license may say that he is 60 years old but he still has the spirit and constitution of a 30- something year old, for better or for worse, depending on one’s perspective.

- Can Ric still perform in the ring at a competitive level. Hell, yeah. Should he? Well, that’s another question that’s a little tougher to answer.

- I think every one should chase their dreams and do what it is in life that makes them happy and that is legal and ethical because there are no guarantees how long our time here on Earth will be. I chase my dreams every week as I still love “calling” wrestling matches. My wife says broadcasting wrestling is my “calling” and she may well be correct, as usual.

- But this isn’t my call. I do have an opinion. It almost changes from day to day as a matter of fact. In a perfect world, for me, I would love for Ric to not risk life and limb at 60 and not wrestle again. I don’t want to read of Ric Flair wrestling in a high school gym some place.

- However, if Ric can return to a major stage and perform occasionally then I have less a problem with the matter. But here is the bottom line….my thanks to Stone Cold….it’s Ric’s life and he should do whatever he wants to do at this stage of the game that makes him happy.

- If Ric’s act is going to live again, it needs to play “Broadway”….. for a limited time only. WHOOO! What’s your thoughts on the subject? Just because Ric Flair might be able to, should he? There are certainly enough people in the world who think his time is over, but does it matter what other people think? Would you go to see him in the ring again?

Ric Flair has been interviewed by ScrippsNews.com and Flair was saying he’s just itching to get back in the ring. “I want to wrestle again,” said Flair. “I watch WWE and I can still do better than 90 percent of the guys there. I weigh one less pound than the day I retired. I still work out really hard and I wrestle my kid (Reid) all the time. It’s not like I haven’t been in the ring.”

And then of course there’s the financial aspect to getting back into wrestling. Flair dishes out $22,000 a month in alimony payments to 2 ex-wives, but is getting big money offers to return to the ring. “People in Europe are offering me a fortune. I’m tired of signing autographs. I can make more money wrestling. I love the business. I was thinking the other day about the reason why God gave me this health. I don’t hurt anywhere. I haven’t lost any strength. I’m just like I was 10 years ago. I keep thinking, ‘Why am I signing autographs when I can still take backdrops?”

Flair has even gone as far as sending Vince McMahon a text message recently asking him why he wasn’t a part of the 2009 WWE Draft. Vince reportedly responded by reminding Flair that he’s retired. At this point, the only thing holding him back is the blessing from WWE and Shawn Michaels. “I respect Shawn and WWE so much that I wouldn’t do anything to disrespect them. They would have to give me full approval (to wrestle again). They put me in a special place. I think it’s going to be a long time before we see something come across again like what they did for me (with the retirement ceremony). I didn’t think it would be that big a deal. We’ll see how this turns out.”

Flair’s son Reid was arrested yet another time last month (this time for DWI and felony heroin possession) and the Nature Boy spoke candidly about Reid’s drug problem. Ric and Reid had been working on a reality TV show project, but that is now on hold. “It all depends on how he gets himself put back together. The biggest thing about that is that it’s a disease. It’s not so hard for me to say that after being at an outpatient clinic with him where they talk about a chromosome deficiency causing stuff like that. It’s curable, but he’s going to have to work real hard at it. He’s doing that.”

WWE Honky Tonk Man

Former WWE Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man said that he will “Whip Ric Flair’s A**” when he confronts him with the WWE Hall of Fame approaching. Honky Tonk Man will be inducting Koko B. Ware into this year’s Hall of Fame and Ric Flair will be inducting Ricky Steamboat.

“For the things he said about me in his book, I will finally get a chance to confront him in Conn. this coming Friday night. If he dodges me, I will confront him on Sunday night in Mass. If he dodges me again, I will confront him at HOF, and if he skates on me there I will catch him at Mania. I want to know why he says I would be nothing without a Hogan rub when I spent 12 years working main events before I went to WWE with out a Hogan rub and Flair knows that.” Honky said on his official website, honkytonkman.net.

Next week’s RAW is already shaping up to be a blockbuster show. Here’s what we know is going down so far:

Ric Flair will be returning to WWE next week on RAW to address Chris Jericho and his disrespectful remarks from earlier. A graphic appeared during this week’s broadcast with a picture of Flair in a gold robe advertising that he will be there live next week. The announcement came after Chris Jericho cut a promo on Mickey Rourke, Roddy Piper, and Ric Flair saying they were all washed up. He singled out Flair, saying that he is now doing autograph signings in high school gyms and interviews for shady low budget websites.

So the Nature Boy is coming out of retirement for at least one more beat down. Stay tuned for the full details.

Could Ric Flair really be lacing up his boots once again?

After an amazing sendoff at WrestleMania earlier this year, Ric Flair is rumored to be considering stepping back into the ring.

During a question and answer session with fans at a 1PW event in Great Britain last weekend, Ric Flair admitted that he is considering a return to the ring. Flair claimed that his retirement from wrestling only applies to the United States and Europe, and he has stated that he is in talks with promoters in Japan regarding some potentially big money matches with wrestlers such as Great Muta and Masa Chono.

Flair stated that while part of him would like to do the matches, he’s conflicted because of his promise to Shawn Michaels that Wrestlemania XXIV would be his final wrestling match.

For what its worth, Hulk Hogan did a radio interview up in Rochester, New York: and spoke about Ric Flair’s retirement. Hogan said that it was a great storyline but he doesn’t think we have seen the last of Ric Flair in the ring.

Bret Hart was interviewed this week by Alfonso Castillo of Newsday’s Steel Cage blog. Throughout the interview, I just got the impression Bret’s got one heck of an ego. What else is new coming from a guy wearing pink spandex right? Anyway, moving on.

Hit the jump for some of the highlights:

His New Autobiography: “I wanted them to at least look and put themselves in my shoes and put themselves in the dressing room and asked themselves if they had been me, what would they have done? Would they have had – for the lack of a better word – would they have had the balls to get up and knock him out? To stand up and do something about it? I could sense that day that it was kind of like everybody, or a lot of people, would have expected me to just blow it off and maybe say a few words to him and tell him he was a real jerk or something like that – slam the door and walk out.

The Montreal Screwjob:”I think that’s what Vince (McMahon) was looking for. That’s all anybody ever does. Everyone is so job scared. But for me it was different. I grew up with wrestling, like Vince did. It was my whole life, and my whole family had given so much for the industry. And I thought about how much it would hurt my father at home and my kids were watching. I thought what I did and how I handled things was a defining moment for me and my character – not my wrestling character, but my own character as a human being. I always thought it was the best thing I ever did.”

Working With Ric Flair: “People always talk about who the best wrestlers are. I actually go to maybe too much of an explanation about someone like Ric Flair for example. They rave about Ric Flair about being this great, great wrestler. And he was a great wrestler in many ways. But, in a lot of ways, like working with him in the ring, he was not so great. And for someone to contest that with me or argue with me that I don’t know what I’m talking about, things like that drive me crazy. Because it’s not true. They don’t know what they’re talking about. I know. I’ve worked with some of the greatest wrestlers of all time.”

The Sun has published an interview with Randy “The Legend Killer” Orton while he was in the UK last week. The interview touches on which wrestlers Randy Orton likes, as well as who he dislikes.

Orton starts by praising Ric Flair, Undertaker and Triple H, but took aim at Hardcore Holly, Bubba Ray Dudley (TNA wrestler Brother Ray), and former WWE star Test. “I never liked him,” Orton said of Bubba Ray. “I never liked what he did because he only thought of himself. In the match my foot was broken, it was his fault… Bubba Dudley is the most out of shape, fat, non-work-ethic-having person I knew. And you had a bad taste in your mouth when you met him.”

Strangely, Orton was happy that he suffered a broken collarbone. “It is really great that I got hurt,” Orton said. “I thank God that I broke my collarbone. At the time I wasn’t thankful. I missed work, but being home with my wife the last two months of the pregnancy and witnessing the birth of my baby, which could have missed if I was on the road, that would have been horrible.”

Orton also talked about his bad behavior in the role, how he’s adapting to his new role as a husband and father and why he likes it when the fans chant “boring” during his matches. Orton also mentions that he took up motorcycle riding as a hobby related to his anger management.

Orton teases returning at or around SummerSlam, but this interview was conducted before the motorcycle accident reported on WWE.com last Monday.

You can listen to the interview here, with reports that the transcript is coming soon.

Ok, so here’s an interesting story. It started with this on WWE.com
Flair and WWE Part Ways
Written: August 3, 2008

WWE and Hall of Famer Ric Flair have mutually agreed to contractually part ways. After an extraordinary career Ric has chosen to pursue opportunities outside of WWE.


Then we started to hear reports claiming that Ric Flair is going through some personal problems, but we’ve got no confirmation on what the problems actually are.

In Charlotte, NC last night Ric Flair discussed his upcoming appearance at the NWA Legends convention. And the neat part is now that Ric Flair and World Wrestling Entertainment have parted ways, the door is now open for TNA to step in and grab Flair. His WWE release does have the 90 day clause so unless things change, he will not be able to do certain bookings until the 90 days are up.

And the story continues with Ric Flair releasing the following statement:

“WWE and I parted on the best of terms. This gives me the chance to pursue new opportunities…corporate speaking engagements, product sponsorships, autograph shows for my loyal fans (who made me what I am today) and film and television roles. My agent and I are very excited about what the future holds!”

Wrestling promoters interesting in booking Flair should contact his agent, Elaine Gillespie. She also coordinates bookings for “Rowdy” Roddy Piper as well as SmackDown announcer Mick Foley. Here is her contact information and e-mail address for promoters interesting in booking the one and only Ric Flair.

ELAINE GILLESPIE
THE GILLESPIE AGENCY, INC.
Advertising/Media/Public Relations
Booking for Wrestling Legends Mick Foley, Roddy Piper and Ric Flair
3007 Millwood Avenue Columbia, SC 2920
803-779-2126 BookRic@thegillespieagency.com

Her agent has also set up a page on Facebook.com for him, so that will be his “official website.” His agent plans on posting his event schedule on the page. You can reach Flair’s Facebook page at this link. You can also find the page by typing in “Ric Flair, The Nature Boy”.

And below for the chance to follow along with your peers, is the full top 10 list of all sports/recreational DVDs according to billboard.com.
And to celebrate, we’ve scoured the net trying to find the best prices for each of the following DVD’s.

1. Nature Boy Ric Flair- The Definitive Collection
2. The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment DVD
3. Detroit Red Wings: Stanley Cup 2007-2008 Champions
4. ECW One Night Stand 2008 DVD
5. WWE: Wrestlemania XXIV – DVD Widescreen
6. Shout Factory Yankee Stadium: Baseball’s Cathedral DVD
7. WWE Twist of Fate – The Matt Jeff Hardy Story 2 Discs DVD
8. Ufc 82-Pride of a Champion
9. Nfl Road To Super Bowl Xlii
10. Stone Cold Steve Austin Legacy of Austin DVD/T-Shirt Package

As we can see, WWE and wrestling related materials have 6 of the top 10 spots. Keep up the good work guys!

WWE has put together a list of what could become one of the more hotly debated topics for the next few weeks. No, it has nothing to do with our Presidential Election, it has to do with who has had the best finishing moves of all the WWE’s (and formerly WWF’s) long and colorful history.
Time is not limited to just the recent past as legends like The Macho Man Randy Savage and Rob Van Dam, all the way up to the beautiful Diva Trish Stratus and Legend killer Randy Orton.

They’ve limited the list to the Top 25. Who made the cut? Hit the jump to find out.

In case you don’t feel like paging through 26 pages to see the full list, we’ve compiled the full list below. But for the full link clicking fun, head on over to WWE’s website.

WWE’s Top 25 Best Finishing Moves of All Time
25 – Randy Orton – Rko
24 – Iron Sheir – Camel Clutch
23 – Matt Hardy – Twist Of Fate
22 – Bob Backlund – Crossface Chicken Wing
21 – Macho Man Randy Savage – Macho Man Elbow Drop
20 – John Cena – Fu
19 – Perry Saturn & John Kronus – Total Elimination
18 – Trish Stratus – Stratusfaction
17 – Billy Kidman – Shooting Star Press
16 – Million Dollar Man – Ted Dibiase – Million Dollar Dream
15 – Rick Rude – Rude Awakening
14 – Rob Van Dam – Van Terminator
13 – Razor Ramon – Razor’s Edge
12 – Eddie Guerrero – Frog Splash
11 – Jeffy Hardy – Swanton Bomb
10 – Mankind A.K.A Mick Foley – Mandible Claw
09 – Tazz – Tazzmission
08 – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – Rock Bottom
07 – Hbk – Sweet Chin Music
06 – Mr Perfect – Perfect Plex
05 – Triple H – Pedigree
04 – The Nature Boy Ric Flair – Figure Four Leglock
03 – Bret “The Hitman” Hart – Sharpshooter
02 – The Undertaker – Tombstone
01 – Stone Cold Steve Austin – Stone Cold Stunner

So did your favorite wrestler make the cut? Who was left off?