• Bruce Prichard Comments Ric Flair Returning To WWF In 2001
During a recent edition of Something to Wrestle With podcast, Bruce Prichard (a.k.a Brother Love) talked about why “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair was brought back to the WWF back in 2001.
Below is what he said:
“I don’t know if it was necessarily to have a pay off. It was to bring Ric Flair back as a character and have him part of the show. At that time, bringing Ric back, no, it wasn’t because of the Draft to bring him back for Raw. He was being brought back as an on-screen character, and next thing you know it he is back in the ring with Vince McMahon. I guess when Ric Flair came, it was the birth of the GM role. For years, the funny thing about it, especially in the WWF is that people just accepted that President Jack Tunney was making matches and making rulings.
We didn’t have to have Jack Tunney every week and have him say it and all these things. Every Wrestling company in the world operated that way. We had done that for years, and now you have Vince McMahon as the Owner in a storyline with Steve Austin that now you have a heel Owner that Vince became convinced that you have to have someone in charge. There has to be someone that people can held accountable for what is going on on-air and that is how the General Manager came to be.
Ric Flair was there, and he was brought back as a character to be that figure-head on television. He was already there. He was already in place. To me, what hurts that is that we did do that match at WrestleMania where he loses 100%, but the next night he has it back. Shane McMahon, if he loses to The Undertaker is gone forever but he’s back, running SmackDown.”
• Top Impact Wrestling Star Reveals Why He Was Blackballed By WWE
During a recent interview with The Mirror, top Impact Wrestling star Eli Drake commented on WWE blacklisting him and if he is open to leaving Impact if better opportunity comes his way.
Below are the highlights:
On WWE blacklisting him:
“When I was on the indies back in 2008, I had an opportunity with WWE when I went in and did a dark match and they liked me and wanted me to come back the next week. And here’s the part where I shot myself in the foot, I showed up an hour late on that second day, due to some circumstances, and after that, they didn’t talk to me for about three years.
I was put on a blacklist. I didn’t even end up getting to WWE into developmental until my tenth year in [the business] and a lot of that again, some of that was me, some of that was politics, but a lot of it was BS. So, it’s a little frustrating every time I think about it, it kind of bites me in the ass every day, but at the same time, it’s also kind of what drives me.”
On if he is open to leaving Impact if better opportunity comes his way:
“It really depends. I am looking at all my options. I am very grateful for the opportunities Impact have given me and putting me on the stage they have put me on. I also have grown my bank account enormously! I’m doing well on that front. So I’m very grateful for it. But at the same time, I am a businessman, I am going to look into any opportunities that are afforded to me and anybody who wants to talk and wants to throw numbers my way and anything like that, of course I am open to that.
Will I stay with Impact? That’s a definite possibility. It could be a likelihood, I really don’t know. It really depends on what else is out there. But I am interested in any opportunity that comes my way, that’s for sure.”
