Why wasn't "The Dragon" involved in the final in-ring appearance made by "The Nature Boy?"
Ricky Steamboat recently spoke with Sportskeeda for an interview, during which he explained why he changed his mind about being involved in Ric Flair's last match.
Featured below are some of the highlights.
On how he was talking about being involved with Ric Flair’s last match: "Initially, you know, Conrad, who’s the promoter, we talked, we went to Nashville, and we had a sit down, and it was Conrad, his wife, and me and my wife, Sandy. I was still training pretty good and feeling pretty good. So I said okay, and we hadn’t signed or sealed the deal on the money part of it. But what put the nail in the coffin was a week after that when I found out Flair was wearing a pacemaker."
On how he didn’t want to do the match anymore after finding out Flair was wearing a pacemaker: "All these years, I never knew, and I immediately said I don’t think I wanna do this. I don’t want to my legacy to be, you know, I was in a ring with when he happened to pass away or something went wrong."
On how he took the blame for not being involved in the match so he didn’t have to throw Flair or Conrad under the bus: "So I have done some interviews after they found out that I said no, but you know, first time I’m coming public with this. I didn’t wanna throw Conrad or Flair under the bus. So I threw myself under the bus even when I was talking to you that I’m not the guy the fans remember me by. It’s like one of those old-timer boxers. They get in the ring, and after about the third round, the legs are gone. Everything’s sitting there and saying, ‘Man, you have remained retired.’ So I used myself as the reason."
Check out the complete interview below.
