Ric Flair wrestled his last match on July 31 when he teamed with Andrade El Idolo to take on Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal.
Speaking on one of his podcasts, My World, Conrad Thompson, who promoted the event, said he and Jarrett pushed back on Flair doing the spot.
“The only thing you and I pushed back on, and we pushed back the first time we heard it and the second time, and the third time. ‘Do not fake the heart deal. Do not. Please.’ The afternoon of, he goes, ‘Guys, guys, it’s my last match. I’m not saying I’m going to do it, but if they are with it and I feel I have the crowd, I’m going to do it. Jay is going to have a little sympathy and I’ll poke him in the eyes.’ When it didn’t happen in the ring, at first I thought, ‘We made it, he’s not going to do it.’ He did it on the floor. I didn’t look at you, but I know somewhere, you were looking at me like, ‘Why is he doing this?’ I saw great feedback from that, people dug it. Who are we, especially me, it’s his last match. He gets to pick,” said Conrad.
Flair has had heart surgery and has a pacemaker, which he planned to plug back in if it came unplugged during the match.
In the match, Flair, 73, faked a heart attack on the outside, leading to a thumb poke to the eye of Lethal.
Speaking to the New York Post, Flair explained his decision to fake the heart attack.
“I did that on my own,” Flair said. “I told the referee [to tell] Jeff Jarrett to slow down. Boom, bring it back down and lay the rest of the match out. And we did that. That was an audible to get everybody back on the same track — slow down, I’m fine. It was not the plan. It was not in good taste. I realize that. It was the only thing that was going to keep everybody from going right to the finish.” Flair continued: “I made the mistake of saying to someone in the match that I felt lightheaded, so everybody jumped way too early [toward the finish of the match], and I just said [in my head] that this was the only way to slow it down,”
Ric Flair will be part of the “Money For Mongo” event in Chicago on September 3, which is a fundraiser to help raise money for Steve “Mongo” McMichael, who’s currently battling ALS.