There are conflicting reports on whether or not it was Ric Flair’s decision to quit WWE or if Vince McMahon released him. Technically, you can say that both reports are correct because of how things went down last week.
On Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez explained what went down between Flair and McMahon that led to his exit from WWE.
Alvarez said, “I heard that Ric was unhappy with Charlotte’s booking…he was upset with her booking and so the story I heard was that he sent a text message to Vince and the text message essentially said, ‘you either fix it or I quit.’ Vince of course did not fix it and so Ric Flair quit. You can actually, whichever side you are on – Flair’s side or WWE’s side. You can basically say that Vince fired him because he refused to kowtow his demands. Or you can look at the Flair side and go well his demands were not kowtowed to so he quit. Basically, I think that explains the discrepancy in this story, did he quit or was he fired? Well, he gave him an ultimatum and Vince was like ‘forget about it buddy.’ Either side, technically I guess, would be correct.”
It’s unclear if there is a non-compete that would prevent him from signing with another wrestling company for 90 days. As previously noted, Flair has been friends with Tony Khan for years so there is a real possibility that he could sign with AEW.
Flair was seen with Jim Ross last week in Jacksonville, FL and Charlotte, NC.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Wrestling Observer Live with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription
