Ric Flair reveals what Vince McMahon told him about his eventual retirement

The latest edition of WWE 24 looks back at the legendary career of WWE Hall of Famer, Ric Flair. The special focuses on the road to WrestleMania 24, which saw Flair losing to Shawn Michaels and retiring from pro-wrestling as per the stipulation. At one point during the special, Flair opened up on what led to his classic WrestleMania encounter with Michaels and revealed that it was Vince McMahon who called him and told him that it was time to retire.

Vince phoned Ric and told him that even though he wants to keep wrestling for as long as he can, he needs to bow out gracefully. Thus, WWE decided to put Flair into the Hall of Fame and have him wrestle his final match against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24.

Vince McMahon's call led to an iconic WrestleMania moment

In the storyline, Mr. McMahon put Flair in a dire situation, where the next match he lost would be his final one. Flair kept winning matches one after the other and finally asked Michaels to be his opponent at The Show of Shows.

At WrestleMania, Michaels uttered those iconic words, "I'm sorry, I love you", and hit a Superkick to Flair's head to pick up the win. The Nature Boy was given a grand retirement ceremony the next night on WWE RAW.

About the author

Abhilash Mendhe is a pro wrestling journalist at Sportskeeda with nearly five years of experience. He completed his MBA from the Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management in 2016 and worked with multiple banking institutions, including Tech Mahindra. While he started writing WWE articles for Sportskeeda in 2019 as a hobby, it eventually became a significant part of his professional journey.

Abhilash checks his articles thrice before sending them to the editing team, ensuring his work is highly accurate and reliable.

He has interviewed prominent pro wrestling personalities like Noam Dar, Angry Miz Girl, Brendan Cobbina, and Jesse Lambert. Abhilash is a big fan of AEW star Orange Cassidy, as he believes the former International Champion’s on-screen gimmick of an extremely lazy guy resonates with him.

Given the opportunity to script WWE’s next big storyline, Abhilash would treat fans to the second installment of The Bloodline Civil War. He would book Roman Reigns to re-form The Bloodline with The Usos and Sami Zayn upon his comeback. The angle would see The Tribal Chief-led group go head-to-head with The Rock, Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, and Jacob Fatu in a blockbuster family feud.

When not reporting on pro wrestling, Abhilash likes to work out, go on walks, read, and explore new eateries.

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Edited by Kaushik Das