On the latest episode of his “To Be The Man” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair finally broke his silence on the controversy and criticism surrounding his speech at this year’s WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, where he inducted The Great Muta.
Stating that he did not understand what was wrong with his speech, The Nature Boy said,
“I don’t know what they didn’t like about it. You have to remember that 99% of the people in attendance of that building don’t even know who Muta is. Does that make sense? They haven’t performed, I mean the wrestling people do, but I’m saying in the audience. So, I just, anytime you compare someone to Ricky Steamboat and Shawn Michaels, I don’t see how they can complain about that. Because he was that good. Or say he was the first guy to do the moonsault on TV, as you brought to my attention.”
“What they didn’t like I guess is I mentioned the fact that I’d been there 64 times, and all the guys that beat me. [laughs] And I couldn’t do anything about it. I don’t know what they’re unhappy about.”
Flair also noted that he had heard rumors of the company not being happy about him mentioning Sting during his speech but argued that it was natural to bring that up considering Sting’s history with The Great Muta. He said,
“I didn’t hear from anybody in the WWE, but that’s not unusual. Who else could have inducted him? I did hear that they didn’t like me bringing up Sting. But Sting’s in our Hall of Fame. I merely asked the question, ‘Are you sure that that Muta wants me over Sting?’ That’s all I said. And then if you can’t speak your truth without being criticized, it is what it is. I thought that was a very fair question of my part, because they actually wrestled more than I did with Muta.”
As far as digressing into showing Muta around Atlanta, Naitch said,
“And when I mentioned that they asked me to show them around Atlanta, who else would be a better host to show them around Atlanta than me? Why don’t you ask him if he had a good time?”
