Second Nature

by Ric Flair

  As I looked ahead to the month of December, I had an exciting event to prepare for, though it came with mixed emotions: the thrill and concern of Reid’s in-ring wrestling debut.

  To mark the occasion, a local promoter in Charlotte had an idea that my sons, Reid and David, should work as a tag team with me as their manager. I thought it was a great idea but wanted to make sure they had opponents who were experienced, were known to fans, and were guys I could trust to be safe with my sons. I called two guys I knew were up for the task, and they couldn’t have been more excited to help: Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags, the Nasty Boys. And they weren’t coming alone. Knobbs and Sags were coming to Charlotte with their manager, “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart, and of course that meant Jimmy would be bringing his megaphone.

  The Nasty Boys are known as one of the toughest, craziest teams to come down the pike. Knobbs and Sags worked for Verne in the AWA, Jerry Lawler in Memphis, Eddie Graham in Florida, WCW, and WWE. I’ve had so many laughs with the Nasty Boys in all sorts of establishments all over the world. One time, I thought I was going to kill Knobbs. That was in WCW. We’re on a plane flying to Europe. I told my son David that I was going to take a nap and asked him to make sure Knobbs didn’t do anything or start joking around. My son David dated Stacy Keibler at the time, so I guess I should’ve known his focus was going to shift rapidly. Could you blame him? Then I asked Lex Luger to watch Knobbs. After a little while, Lex went off and did his own thing.

  I woke up in London, and everyone on the plane was laughing at me. I said to myself, “What the hell happened?” I felt my eyebrows. My right eyebrow was gone. Totally gone. The second I started screaming, Knobbs came out of the bathroom, and both of his eyebrows were gone. He said, “Goddamn that [Curt] Hennig. Wait until I see him.” I couldn’t believe it. This guy was so set on playing a joke on me and shaving off one of my eyebrows that he shaved off both of his so I’d think Curt had played a joke on both of us. In a twisted way, you have to admire someone’s commitment to pulling a prank when he’d go so far as to do it to himself, though I didn’t feel that way at the time.

  Before I could think about this special tag team match, something weighed heavily on me. It was another matter that I hoped to resolve privately. Reid failed a second WWE drug test shortly after the first one during the summer. This time, the numbers for an illegal substance were even higher. When I received another phone call from Stephanie McMahon, I couldn’t believe it. It was such troubling news. After I hung up, I tried to gather my thoughts. When I spoke to Reid, he had an answer for everything. I didn’t understand it because he trained so hard. I knew he wanted to be in FCW. No one questioned his ability, potential, and positive attitude. He was so respectful to coaches and FCW staff. We needed to straighten things out with him personally before we could even consider going back and asking WWE for another chance.

  I felt that if he was with me, I could see him and know what he was doing. I would know who he was with. Beginning on the independents where he could learn was not WWE, but it was the next best thing, besides going to Japan. For his event in Charlotte, it was extra special that his brother, David, was his tag team partner. After David’s tenure in OVW, Puerto Rico, and Japan, he had developed into a heck of a wrestler. I think it was a matter of timing as far as working in WWE. He left the business and is very happy in his life, which is the most important thing. He has a beautiful wife and family. I know a lot of fans looked forward to seeing him in the match. I hoped David was going to be able to have fun tonight.

  The event was at Vance High School. Rock ’n’ Roll Express versus the Midnight Express, and Ricky Steamboat’s son, Richie, were also on the card. We made a special announcement the day of the event. I got a phone call a few weeks before from a friend who said he heard about what we were doing for Reid. He said he didn’t want to be paid to appear or have his travel taken care of; he just wanted to be part of my son’s first match. So we added a special guest referee to the match: Hulk Hogan.

  This was a great way to end the year—in a ring, in Charlotte, with both my sons. Sitting at ringside was Reid’s mom, Beth, and his sisters, Megan and Ashley. There was a special feeling inside that building, which now overflowed with 1,800–2,000 fans in the audience. It was time for the main event.

  The Nasty Boys entered the ring. Knobbs grabbed the microphone and used his natural gift of gab to dump on Charlotte as a city and referred to the people in the audience as “idiots.” Talk about hearing a chorus of boos. It was tremendous.

  The Hulkster came out to a hero’s welcome and wore the referee’s striped shirt well. Standing behind the curtain with my sons as they waited to be introduced was wonderful. Of all the emotions I felt over the previous twelve months:—anticipating my backstage cues during my farewell tour, the WWE Hall of Fame, going through Gorilla the next day at WrestleMania, and now, standing behind the curtain at this event with David and Reid as a tag team … well, it had to be one of the most amazing nights of my life.

  The match was so much fun. Knobbs and Sags were great villains. They broke the rules with the greatest of ease, taunted the crowd, and mixed it up with the “immortal” special guest referee. And you know it’s going to be a fun night when Jimmy Hart’s at ringside. I got involved too, as any father in his sons’ corner would.

  I thought David and Reid worked well together and did a nice job working with Knobbs and Sags. They were skilled in the ring and tough enough to hang with two of the best brawlers our business has ever known. In the end, the hometown boys won. They each had a Nasty Boy locked in the Figure Four. After a big boot on the Mouth of the South from the Hulkster, I came in and locked Jimmy Hart in and made it a trifecta of figure fours. The memorable night ended with me, David, Reid, and Hulk standing in the ring with our arms raised. I stepped out of the ring and saw an image I never thought I would: my sons as a tag team standing with Hulk Hogan as the referee. What a night. I hoped that the positive energy and the thrill of performing would remind Reid of all the promise he had as a wrestler and how many people loved and supported him. I felt that better things were ahead as he began to embark on his journey and follow his dream.

  Two days later, fans heard my name on Monday Night Raw. My match with Shawn from WrestleMania won the Slammy Award for “Match of the Year.” If things worked out the way I expected, fans would soon see me walk that aisle on Raw.

  The next week, I flew to Hollywood for the premiere of a new movie starring Mickey Rourke called The Wrestler. At the premiere, several media outlets interviewed me about my thoughts on the film. I was reminded of something only a true industry historian would know: I was in the original film called The Wrestler.

  In the 1970s, Verne Gagne made a movie that centered around himself as aging wrestling champion Mike Bullard. The character felt heavy pressure from his wife and promoters to retire. The movie starred Ed Asner as promoter Frank Bass and Elaine Giftos as the person who helped run his booking office.

  Through Verne’s connections in the business, real promoters from different territories were featured in the film along with footage from different matches and scenes shot at various events. Notable figures who appeared included Billy Robinson, Dick the Bruiser, the Crusher, Lord James Blears, Eddie Graham, Nick Bockwinkel, Ray Stevens, Dusty and Dick, Wahoo, “Superstar” Graham, and Ken Patera.

  What’s funny is that Ed Asner’s character talked about this “Super Bowl of Wrestling” idea that revolved around putting the champions from each league in matches. In one of the scenes, Ed talked about that with a group of promoters around a table, one of whom was Vince McMahon Sr.

  It was a rare glimpse into the workings of our profession. In those days, wrestling was still shrouded in secrecy in order to uphold the personalities and story lines that were portrayed on television. As directed by promoters, “good guys” and “bad guys” were forbidden to be seen together in public. They were not able to travel in the same cars or buses, they had separate locker rooms in the venues,
and the ultimate rule was enforced: if a wrestler was in a public place like a restaurant or bar and a “rival” was already there or walked in, one of them would have to leave. Reason being, if you said on TV that the next time you saw said rival you were going to do X, Y, and Z and everyone in the place knows that, and you’re standing there doing nothing, now everything you say on television is meaningless. We went to any lengths to protect the business back then. Promoter Bill Watts had a rule that if any of his wrestlers got into an altercation in public and came out of it looking weak, they were fired immediately.

  I enjoyed a cameo in the film as one of Verne’s rookies. I was in the dinner scene with Verne’s character and Billy Robinson’s character, talking about retirement. I was also in a training session scene. I have dark hair and sideburns, and in the credits, I’m listed as “Rick Flair.”

  Back on the red carpet in Tinseltown, I continued to talk about the film and what a marvelous job Mickey did as Randy “the Ram” Robinson. I was truly moved by his performance. I was proud to be in our profession when he said to me this film was the hardest—and the best—movie he ever made.

  The Wrestler had the athleticism and the drama of a great sports film and the emotion that all great stories need. I would’ve liked to have seen just how big the Ram was in the character’s prime and have gotten a stronger idea of the heartbreak Randy’s relationships brought him. I’ve always loved movies and love our sport, so of course I left the theater wanting more!

  What people didn’t know was that Vince McMahon worked something out with Mickey Rourke to have a match against Chris Jericho at the twenty-fifth anniversary of WrestleMania. And there was one man who’d be in Rourke’s corner: the Nature Boy.

  Mickey couldn’t wait to do it. Normally, when you bring celebrities into our business, having them do basic things like walking up to the ring, stepping through the ropes, and moving around the ring can be challenging. Since they’re not trained, some people physically look uncomfortable in that kind of situation. Add to that the element of doing it in front of a live audience, you never know what you’re going to get. And that doesn’t even include the performance.

  That didn’t apply to Mickey. In addition to his training for the film, Mickey had been a professional boxer earlier in his career. He knew how to move around a ring. Since he was trained for The Wrestler by WWE Hall of Famer Afa, he maintained the required confidence level and gave a strong performance as long as things were kept within certain parameters.

  Mickey was so excited about what was planned that he mentioned a little too much about the match. At the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Mickey told Nancy O’Dell, “Chris Jericho, you’d better get in shape, because I’m coming after your ass.” That’s when the direction for Mickey and WrestleMania changed drastically.

  From what I was told, Mickey’s representatives were concerned that if people had advance notice that Mickey was going to perform in a match at WrestleMania, it could hurt his chances of winning an Oscar. (He’d just been nominated for the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.)

  On Raw, Chris Jericho delivered a powerful interview segment in which he introduced The Wrestler and mentioned how I had given the film a glowing review. Jericho showed footage of Mickey’s SAG interview along with Mickey’s special message to Chris. Jericho said he was offended by the comments and left the ring.

  Rumor had it that Mickey was not going to appear at WrestleMania at all. He went on Larry King Live. Chris also appeared on the show as a guest in the hopes of getting the match back on.1 Chris was happy to flaunt his skill as an obnoxious villain. The more Mickey tried to take the high road, the more Chris continued his endless stream of condescending remarks. Mickey loved the whole idea. I don’t think his people fully understood that Chris was working and that his goal was to set the stage for something that would be very entertaining, not to put Mickey in any danger. We’re professionals. I think the Larry King segment came off so well that Mickey’s handlers thought, if this was what it was like on a talk show, what would happen on the lead-in? What would the match be like?

  There were reports that the movie studio executives were very nervous. They didn’t want Mickey in the ring or doing anything physical with anyone in any way. Mickey was cast as the lead villain in the Iron Man 2. Everyone had to be comfortable. At the same time, you need enough of a commitment to build the story line on television so that something like this can be fully realized during a show with the power of WrestleMania.

  Chris’s tirades continued on Raw each week. He insulted the movie, Mickey Rourke, and me. The foundation of the story was being built on Jericho’s disgust for the film, my praise for it, and that the legends he once admired were feebly holding on to the past. He called out “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and referred to them as leeches on the industry. Then I made my return to Monday Night Raw.

  A year removed from my match against William Regal at Budokan in Tokyo, Japan, I was in the center of the ring during WWE’s flagship program. It was exhilarating to be back in front of that audience and engage in a battle of wits with Chris Jericho. We used the real-life emotion of my retirement last year and Chris being in the ring during my send-off as ammunition for him to launch a verbal assault against me. It was great.

  Chris said that he found The Wrestler offensive and that it was pathetic that legends of the ring were still trying to hold on to their glory days. Chris’s interviews were strong. He went so far as to say the fans enabled the legends’ behavior by cheering for them. The fans became more upset with each scathing statement that Chris made. In my opinion, Chris jacked his performance to an even higher level for this scenario.

  If there was one thing that had more emotion behind it than anything, it’s when I said, “I’ll never go back in that ring … I’ll never wrestle again … I have too much respect for Shawn Michaels … too much respect for WWE.” We continued bringing the fans into this story. I continued to speak words that were straight from the heart. “Yes, I retired from the ring. But I’ll never retire from this business. I’ll live my life the way I want to because I can.”

  Mickey’s involvement in the story line was not made public. On TV, I laid the foundation with Chris. Face-to-face encounters were set up on Raw. The following week’s segment between Chris and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper was one of their best. You could feel how much Roddy’s career meant to him and how being a part of the business was so close to his heart. Piper then extended his hand to Jericho, but instead Jericho attacked Roddy and yelled at him repeatedly. The fans detested Chris more with each passing week of WWE programming.

  Roddy loved the bond and the respect between performers as much as anyone else. He knew about being a boxer and an actor too. Roddy was a Golden Gloves champion and left WWE at the height of his fame after WrestleMania III to film John Carpenter’s They Live. My friend Hot Rod has more than one hundred credits as an actor.

  The next week was followed up with the incredible announcement that Ricky Steamboat was going into the Hall of Fame. It was the perfect opportunity to allow Chris to launch another smear campaign against a ring legend and continue to add to the conflict for television. Since I was not coming out of retirement to face Chris, another Hall of Famer was needed before the match could be set.

  When fans tuned in to the following episode of Monday Night Raw, Chris re-created the set of Roddy’s famous “Piper’s Pit” segment. There, Chris berated and attacked one of the most beloved Superstars in WWE history, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. This was a very intense segment. Chris re-created elements of the classic segment Roddy and Jimmy had in the ’80s. Jericho whipped Snuka with a belt and stuffed a banana in his mouth. The more beloved the personality, the more of an opportunity the villain has to become more detested by the audience. As someone who did that most of his career, I can say it’s much more fun being the archnemesis than the white knight.

  To give Chris a reason to want to have a match with
us as opposed to Mickey Rourke, I interfered in Chris’s match and cost him the chance of being one of the participants in the Money in the Bank match, which, behind the scenes, was a match that was Chris’s creation.

  When Chris challenged me, I told him that I was retired but knew some guys who would be happy to face him. Then Superfly, Hot Rod, and the Dragon surrounded the ring. Just as Chris ran off, I clocked him with a right hand.

  While we were working to build up our showdown with Chris Jericho away from the cameras, someone else made sure it was all systems go with Mickey Rourke.

  Vince McMahon called the head of Marvel Studios and described the idea of how things would work. It was a great fit for WWE and Mickey to work together at WWE’s largest event of the year and one of the largest live events in sports and entertainment. Any Hollywood executive would love to have the revenue generated from WrestleMania as the numbers for a summer blockbuster’s opening weekend. It was all set: Mickey would be at the Hall of Fame and sit ringside the next day at WrestleMania. I know he would’ve been a participant in the match if he could have. I also spoke to Mickey to reassure him that everything would go according to plan and that I’d see him in Houston.

  There was one more Monday Night Raw for me before WrestleMania. Jericho’s previous week’s challenge was accepted: he’d face Steamboat, Snuka, and Hot Rod in a handicap match at WrestleMania. Chris continued to turn the dial up and ranted that no one cared about us anymore and how he was going to euthanize his opponents. Chris brought it home when he attacked me, threw me over the announcers’ table, threw my shoes into the crowd, tore my shirt, and nailed me with the TV camera he took from the cameraman. Then he took the watch everyone thought was Shawn’s gift from last year and stomped it to pieces. Fans were really upset at what Chris did. We loved it. The more animosity Chris showed toward us, the more fans wanted to see him get what he had coming at WrestleMania.