Ric Flair Reveals His Favorite Wrestlers to Watch, Praises The Young Bucks as ‘Sensational’

– During a recent interview with SB Nation, WWE Hall of Famer spoke on various subjects, including his career, his favorite wrestlers to watch, the relevance of pro wrestling, and more. Below are some highlights:

Ric Flair on the resurgence of wrestling this year: “I think it’s always been relevant. I think in the last six months, to have The Rock involved really added a lot of momentum to it. But it’s always been something that the American people are going to love. People are going to love the good guy, and dislike the bad guy, and it’s very, very awesome entertainment. I love it to this day.”

On how much goes into the storytelling for a match: “Well it just depended on who I was wrestling, it was a different story with every different opponent, if that makes sense. I can’t really explain it, with Steamboat we didn’t even talk we just knew we were going, we worked that many hours together. And with Sting it was an opportunity to kind of have a teaching process, but he caught on so quickly and he became so easy to work with. We were out there just having fun.”

Flair on the crowd getting more into a match the deeper it goes: “It’s great. Once you know you have them, then you can play with them. It’s about getting their attention, and when you get their attention, an hour feels more like 20 minutes. If you don’t have their attention an hour can feel like two hours. The big part of it is learning how to get the crowd up and down. That’s sometimes easier said than done, but you want them to feel every emotion you’re experiencing.”

On his favorite wrestlers to watch: “Well number one would be my daughter [Charlotte Flair], of course. But Randy [Orton], AJ [Styles]. I mean I like a lot of guys, like MJF. It’s hard to pick out four or five guys, but I mean we got great, great talent in both companies. You know, it’s hard to say who’s the best but I have some favorites. The Young Bucks are just absolutely sensational. What a phenomenal match they gave Sting and Darby [Allin]. (Laughing) Darby is too much, man. Orange Cassidy is one of my favorites. I mean, all those guys are great, wonderful people.”