No one asked for this

The last thing we need is more Ric Flair

Ric Flair is a pro wrestling legend. He has won numerous titles, has been part of some of the most iconic matches and feuds in the sport’s history and has become so ubiquitous enough to have crossed over to pop cultural mass appeal, with a name recognition rivaling that of Randy Savage or Hulk Hogan in the world at large.

He is also a problematic relic of some of the worst things about pro wrestling, an egomaniacal, self-aggrandizing misogynist, the kind of person that the industry would be well wise to acknowledge and move beyond. Anymore, what Flair truly represents is not an aspirational “limousine-riding” lifestyle but instead a cautionary tale, a what-not-to-do, how-not-to-be for pro wrestling. Stories about his “antics,” as more details have been made clear over the past decade-plus, are anything but; they are harrowing examples of unchecked entitlement, of enabling, of how myth-making can cover up or explain away terrible, abusive behavior.

What he represents should no longer be celebrated. Yet, year after year, just as we as fans (at least those of us with a more critical eye and mind) seem to have become increasingly more tired and less tolerant of Flair, his actions and what he represents, he keeps coming back into the sport’s spotlight. This time he has resurfaced in AEW — Tony Khan’s AEW, the promotion designed to be a high-profile alternative to the WWE’s many decades-long chokehold on mainstream-level pro wrestling.

Flair was brought in in October to serve as a “special” gift to another legend, Sting, who the week prior announced that his retirement match would take place at AEW’s 2024 Revolution pay-per-view. Flair is perhaps Sting’s most significant rival and it’s hard to argue that their feuds in Sting’s early WCW career helped propel his success. It was only natural to assume that AEW would involve Flair to some degree given his connection to Sting; however, AEW decided that involvement would not be minimal.

Instead, on the October 25 episode of AEW Dynamite, Flair said he would stick around up to Sting’s 2024 retirement, to be “by his side.” This wasn’t hyperbole — per Wrestling Observer Radio, Flair has signed a two-year deal with AEW and his “Wooooo! Energy” energy drink will be AEW’s “official energy drink.” That latter part is interesting in that, according to Fightful Select (subscription required), the deal with the energy drink company will be paying for “a significant portion” of Flair’s AEW salary and that AEW sees this also as a boon for merchandizing potential. The two-year deal is also interesting in that it means Flair will have some level of AEW presence stretching beyond Sting’s retirement match.

Who, exactly, asked for this?

Tony Khan, clearly. Sting, maybe, inasmuch as the context for Flair making at least an appearance related to his retirement does admittedly make sense. However, this Flair-AEW partnership has been in discussion far earlier than Sting’s announcement, signaling that it was something Khan had wanted for a while. And why it didn’t happen earlier is also the main reason why Flair showing up now proves that the pro wrestling industry hasn’t learned anything, hasn’t improved, hasn’t evolved, even when fans have made it explicitly clear that we are ready to move forward.

Per Wrestling Observer Radio (here, via sescoops), AEW had initially planned to partner up with Flair in 2021, but the “Plane Ride from Hell” episode of Dark Side of the Ring — which exposed Flair’s significant involvement in that infamous story — resulted in AEW holding off until now, ostensibly believing that the backlash against Flair would blow over.

Granted, Dark Side…, shouldn’t have been a straw that broke any fan’s back regarding Flair, whose deplorable behavior has been well-known for quite a long time, but it certainly brought more ugly details about Flair to light. It also shouldn’t have been the reason why AEW delayed Flair’s debut. The longstanding knowledge about Flair being, frankly, a horrible person should have driven AEW away from ever involving him in its business to begin with. And the fact that Flair is wholly not remorseful for his behavior and rather finds it to be a funny joke more than anything should have served as further proof why AEW should stay far away from him.

Pro wrestling has been and is fine without Flair. Even Sting’s career and retirement could have been celebrated by acknowledging Flair without ever employing him. AEW only cared about a backlash to Flair, until it didn’t. AEW thought that a couple of years’ time would be all it took for fans to turn back towards Flair. However, the reactions both to Flair showing up at Dynamite as well as to the news that he’s going to be around for two whole years prove that we haven’t forgotten. Sadly, though, it has yet again proven that pro wrestling, as an industry, does not care what we think.

Flair isn’t the only wrestler to try to re-ingratiate into a rightfully critical fanbase. Ronda Rousey, who not long ago claimed she was retiring from pro wrestling after departing WWE, has resurfaced, showing up in late October at a Lucha VaVoom event. She is heading back into the ring, teaming up with Marina Shafir in a tag match against Billie Starkz and Athena for a Wrestling Revolver show in Los Angeles later in November. Rousey is a well-documented transphobe and Sandy Hook massacre denier, an embodiment of all of the very worst corners of the internet made flesh.

And yet, her return appearances have been garnering praise — shocking, not only because we all know who she is as a person, but also because fans have long been critical of her pro wrestling skills. Aside from name recognition drawing curious eyes, Rousey has contributed practically nothing to pro wrestling and her departure was celebrated; now many of the same people are happy to see her back. Much like Flair and AEW, no one asked for this. And much like Flair and AEW, we are again as fans being asked to forget about what makes Rousey a problematic representative of the sport (to say it diplomatically).

It is easy to dismiss the returns of Flair and Rousey, to say that “it’s pro wrestling — what did you expect?” However, we need to expect more — not less, not more of the same, but tangibly, demonstrably more — out of companies as large and influential as AEW or as small but still notable on the indie scene as Revolver or VaVoom. These companies think that we’re stupid, or simple, or easily distracted, and as long as our dollars and eyeballs prove otherwise, maybe we are.

The continuing lack of accountability in pro wrestling is everyone’s problem. As fans, as critics, as journalists, as consumers, let’s stop accepting more of the same. Let’s make it clear that we definitely did not ask for this.