Although WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan were heavily advertised as their respective teams’ leaders in the Crown Jewel pay-per-view’s 10-man tag team match, neither legend played a key role in the match itself, most likely due to their advanced age. However, Flair claimed in a recent interview that he did plan to interfere in the aforementioned contest, only for WWE chairman Vince McMahon to put the kibosh on things.
In an appearance on Wrestling Inc .’s WINCLY podcast, Flair openly discussed his health situation at the moment, revealing that after the medical scares he went through in recent years, he’s “back to normal” and in better shape than he was before “getting sick.” With that in mind, the “Nature Boy” talked about what he was planning to do at this year’s edition of Crown Jewel , which took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on October 31.
“I got cleared medically to do something in Saudi and then Vince nixed it,” Flair said, as quoted by Wrestling Inc .
“If I would have fed Roman [Reigns] in that huge comeback he made, or tapped Hogan, that would have been the coup de gras [sic]. You just wanna give them everything they paid for and sometimes if you’re not physically involved, you feel like you’re not giving everything you had if you’re not physical.”
While McMahon apparently did not approve of Flair’s idea for an in-ring spot, fans would likely recall that the 74-year-old WWE boss took one notable bump two years ago, when Kevin Owens left him bleeding with a headbutt on an episode of SmackDown Live .
Flair did not elaborate on the reasons behind McMahon’s decision to prevent him from getting physical at Crown Jewel . But when he was asked about whether his medical clearance extends to wrestling an actual match, the 70-year-old Hall of Famer said that he could do so in theory, but wouldn’t go through with it because of the time it would take him to prepare for the bout. He clarified, however, that at this point, he believes he still has it in him to be “involved in a spot or a bump,” much like what he was intending to do about a month and a half ago.
Flair’s recent comments about being cleared to perform at Crown Jewel are in line with what he claimed in October when he appeared on Corey Graves’ After the Bell podcast shortly before the event. As previously reported by The Inquisitr , the wrestling legend even played up his traditional heel role while announcing that he has medical clearance, promising that he would be “equipped and ready… for any kind of action” at the pay-per-view.
