Ric Flair On WWE Cutting Off His Deal With Roots Of Fight, Was Angry He Didn’t Get Called

Ric Flair went off on WWE for losing his Roots of Fight deal earlier this month, and he recently explained why it angered him. As you may recall, the Nature Boy posted to Twitter back on April 7th saying that he found out he couldn’t be part of the apparel line’s lineup. Flair went on about his career accolades and accused WWE of trying to destroy his legacy.

Flair then posted a mea culpa video the next day where he said he understood business and said that he was “not even mad at the people that took it away from me. I was at first, but I understand business. And business comes first. You always wanna think they’ll make an exception, but sometimes exceptions just can’t be made.”

During his appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Flair was asked about the matter. He noted that he was angry because WWE never called him. He said he believed he should be given an exclusion because of the good he’s done for wrestling, and said that while he agrees with all those who have deals, he thinks that WWE should have at respected him enough to call him and tell him. You can see the highlights below:

On Why He Was Angry Over It:

“They never called me… I woke up this morning to find out, because 10 people called me that Roots of Fight had to drop me. And then I got a a very long extended text from Jesse saying, ‘I apologize. They bought the company and I have nothing to do with it. Thank you.’ And I — that pissed me off. Not even a call. And sometimes I think, and I believe this in my heart, there are exclusions. There’s some people that have done so much to help so many people and influence so many personalities, that I could get cut a break.

“It’s not a financial deal with it. You don’t make a lot of money with Roots Of Fight. It’s prestige. It’s Muhammad Ali, right? I mean, it’s Ric Flair. I go down the list. And I was the number two seller behind Muhammad Ali. So why not just say, ‘Hey Ric, we can’t use you’? Simple phone call.”

On Why He Was Dropped:

“They just put them on. They just add on who they want to. Not that those guys don’t deserve it. Make no mistake — Taker, Steve, all those guys. But now the WWE wants to control everybody, cause that’s what they want to do. Those three guys, I agree with. I agree with Punk. I agree with Bret. I mean, I try not to have any animosity with anybody. But you know, how — just to be quite honest with you, how do you not have respect enough for me to call me say, ‘I’m sorry, Ric. We can’t deal anymore. That’s what I call lack of respect.'”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Ariel Helwani Show with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.