An update on the whereabouts of Ric Flair.
With All Elite Wrestling returning to Greensboro, North Carolina for AEW Dynamite: Blood and Guts, wrestling legends Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and Ric Flair were advertised to appear on the television special. An on-screen appearance from Steamboat materialized, with FTR later interrupting him. Flair, however, remained unseen by the television audience.
According to F4WOnline.com’s Dave Meltzer, Flair made his way onto the stage to address the live audience in Greensboro before Dynamite went on the air on TBS. Shortly after, he reportedly left the building due to being in “a ton of pain” from a recently torn rotator cuff.
Flair’s departure reportedly resulted in AEW changing plans for Dynamite that had originally included him. While unconfirmed, Flair is believed to have been penciled in for the segment involving Steamboat and FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood). There is no word on when or how Flair tore his rotator cuff.
During Steamboat’s on-screen appearance, he reflected on his early days in wrestling, while also pointing out a fan-made sign that included him and Flair on the Mount Rushmore of Greensboro. Wheeler and Harwood then confronted him with insults, prompting Steamboat to try leaving the ring. Before he could, Wheeler and Harwood began beating him down, though Bandido and Brody King ran down to make the save on behalf of “The Dragon.”
Steamboat and Flair wrestled each other several times in Greensboro throughout the 1970s and 80s. Check out everything that went down at AEW Blood & Guts in Greensboro here.
