WWE Hall Of Famer The ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair has been regarded as one of the greatest pro wrestlers to have ever laced up a pair of boots in the world of professional wrestling. He is also a man full of controversies and has had trouble with a lot of pro wrestlers and pro wrestling personalities. One of them includes WWE legend, Teddy Long. Bret Hart also previously called out Ric Flair for ‘flat out lie.’
One of the previous episodes of Vice’s Dark Side Of The Ring back in 2021 series focused on the infamous Plane Ride From Hell incident and it immediately brought the heat on Ric Flair, Tommy Dreamer, and others. Things have calmed down since then but it seems Ric Flair is still never afraid of speaking his mind.
Ric Flair’s legacy as one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time is undeniable, but his career has not been without controversy. Recently, Flair has been engaged in a real-life feud with former manager Dutch Mantell, also known as Zeb Colter.
Mantell criticized Flair’s “Last Match” on his podcast, which prompted a negative reaction from Flair on Twitter. Flair has been defensive and dismissive of his critics, and has been on the offensive whenever his final in-ring performance is criticized.
Mantell, who acknowledges Flair’s accomplishments in the business, believes that the WWE Hall of Famer is disrespecting the fans who helped make him a star. The feud between the two has been a topic of discussion in the wrestling world.
“Somehow, he went off on me today for basically telling the truth. I told the truth about him, and he got mad. And he was talking about, and this is what pissed me off, well, it didn’t really p*ss me off. I respect Ric Flair, one of the greatest champions we’ve ever had. And I’ve had a couple of matches with him, not that many, but he went off on fans, and he released his payoff for the last match he had. He said it was $300,000, which to me seems excessive, but I don’t know what kind of deal he had, so I can’t say that’s wrong. But he told his fans basically to kiss his a**, and to me, that was disrespectful to the fans he has had for years and years and years.
I thought he was going to die. I’ve had people on my timeline who said, ‘Is he dying? Is he okay?’ Because, by his own admission, he went into the ring drinking. He had taken some medication; he had been up for, I don’t know, an ungodly amount of hours.
And he goes in the ring, plus the match was laid out to really expose every weakness Ric Flair had. And he did. He looked like he was in bad shape. And when they pulled him out, he looked like, ‘Hell; he is about to be put in a gurney and taken out.’ He has already had a heart attack. When he had that heart attack, people all over the world sent him prayers and well wishes; they wanted him to get better. But here, he comes out and tells everybody to kiss his butt. That, to me, was very, very disrespectful.
