Ric Flair Says Nick Khan Doesn’t Respect His Legacy, Wants AEW To Celebrate Him

In the latest episode of his Woooo Nation Uncensored podcast (via Fightful), Ric Flair spoke negatively about Nick Khan, noting that he has no respect for his legacy and he doesn’t want to go back to WWE. Instead, he thinks Tony Khan and AEW should be the ones to honor his career. He recently noted that he is not trying to get a job with them. Here are highlights:

On if he’s had talks with AEW and if he’ll go back to WWE: “No, there are no discussions [with AEW] at all. I mean, I told Vince McMahon, and my word is pretty much my bond, unless they do something really stupid to me that I would never ever go to work for the competition. Now, they’ve done some really stupid stuff. So that door is open. But I’m certainly not — I haven’t. I have not talked to Tony, I haven’t heard a word from them. I watch all the shows, appreciate the athletes, and the people that are involved in it. But I am not actively in discussion with anybody. But I will never — yes, I would go to work for Tony. God, I will never go back to WWE.”

On WWE disrespecting him: “If you take me off of the opening of the show and take the ‘WOOO!,’ which I own, thank God. They’ll never get it back, replace me with The Ultimate Warrior, a guy that sued the company, held them up for money. I guess the next thing they’re gonna do with me, is make a DVD saying and have so many people saying how bad I was like they did with The Warrior and then they brought him back and put him in the Hall of Fame. That ain’t gonna work for me. One and done. I text Vince, ‘No worries. But you know, you’re not going to do it, you’re not going to bring me back.’ Not they want me by any means. But I couldn’t ever work for Nick Khan in my entire life. Vince McMahon, I could work for, but Nick Khan, who’s the guy that orchestrated taking me off the show. I’ve got my facts together, orchestrated taking the ‘WOOO!’ off, never in a million years. Well, the big difference between Tony Khan and — Tony respects me. As does Vince. Nick Khan has none. I talk to Vince now. I got no problems with Vince. He just knows I won’t come back. Absolutely never [will he go back to work for WWE.] I’m 72, I could be dead tomorrow. The last thing I want is for them to make a package on me ever. I’ll leave all of that to Tony Khan.”

On WWE trying to acquire his intellectual property: “Let me just tell you something else that should not shock the world. When I saw that they took me off the opening and all that for whatever reason, you know, Who knows? I call it a lack of respect. Some people, some people said to me, ‘Ric, how do you feel about that? I said, ‘Well, after they asked me to sign my intellectual property to them while I was on life support, nothing that company does surprises me.’”

On Vince McMahon: “He is the boss, but you have to look at it — WWE is not just a wrestling company. They’re Disney. I mean, they do everything. They make movies. I mean, he’s got so much to oversee. Because he’s so hands-on, he still can’t be totally — he still can’t totally watch over everything.”