What’s the story?
A life-sized Bronze statue of Ric Flair was unveiled at the WWE WrestleMania 33 Axxess event by Triple H and Charlotte Flair. Others present at the unveiling ceremony included Sting, Arn Anderson, Shawn Michaels, The Rock-N-Roll Express, Ricky Steamboat and other members of Ric Flair’s family.
In case you didn’t know...
The WWE has made several life-sized bronze sculptures of their legends. The WWE legends to have received this honoyr previously have been Andre the Giant, Bruno Sammartino, Dusty Rhodes and The Ultimate Warrior.
The statues are kept at the WWE headquarters in Stamford, CT and are put on display during the fan Axxess events.
Also read: 5 reasons why Charlotte is already better than Ric Flair
Ric Flair’s statue depicts him in his prime, with his long locks. The statue was based on a full-body cast of the model Sean Perry, who had earlier let word slip about it.
The heart of the matter
Triple H started off the ceremony by giving an introduction to Ric Flair, to which the crowd responded in resounding “Woo!” chants. Hunter went on to emphasise the importance of Ric Flair in the world of wrestling and in popular culture.
He then started inviting WWE legends to “celebrate the moment” with everyone at Axxess.
The first to come out were the Rock-N-Roll Express, they were followed by Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Flair’s former Four Horsemen stablemate Arn Anderson, Shawn Michaels and Sting (who Flair had inducted into the Hall of Fame) respectively.
They were then followed by members of the Flair family including Charlotte and David Flair.
Ric Flair came out last to a massive ovation by the Axxess crowd, Triple H then spent some time talking about Ric Flair’s career and achievements and quipped about how Ric Flair was going to cry when he saw the statue for the first time.
Charlotte and Triple H then unveiled the statue. This was followed by Ric Flair giving an emotional speech, embracing everyone in the ring and thanking them for the honour.
Here’s a clip, posted by WWE’s official Instagram account, of the unveiling:
Some other WWE Superstars had also come out to the ramp to be witness to this momentous occasion, among those who could be identified in the shadows were Anderson and Gallows, Breezango, Luke Harper etc.
Here’s a video of the full ceremony:
What’s next?
Ric Flair will be a part of several events during the WrestleMania 33 weekend including the WrestleCon, according to a Tweet by him.
It is unclear whether Flair will be making an appearance during WrestleMania 33 itself, but it’s certain that he will be at the Hall of Fame ceremony on March 31st .
Author’s take
Ric Flair certainly deserves this honour, and to have it given to him in such amazing fashion with so many WWE legends present indeed goes on to show how much is Flair respected, revered and loved by the WWE.
Flair has given everything to the Professional Wrestling business and is an inspiration to millions. The statue looks incredibly well made and certainly befits the larger than life persona and aura of the Nature Boy himself.
Flair had teased going for another World Title, a while ago on Twitter, and in all honesty, I wouldn’t mind seeing that happen!
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