As he is no longer contracted to WWE, Ric Flair is currently keeping busy making special appearances on shows before inevitably signing with AEW. Earlier this month, he would accompany his future son-in-law Andrade at TripleMania, and on Sunday night, he appeared for Billy Corgan’s NWA for their NWA 73 event. Flair would be introduced as the greatest NWA World Heavyweight Champion of all time and cut an emotional promo in front of the live crowd. The living legend would thank his wife Wendy, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, and Steve Austin before telling Vince McMahon he loves him.
The whole promo video can be viewed on FITE and is worth watching in its entirety as he would mention names including Harley Race, Terry Funk, Randy Orton, and Tony Khan. Flair would also return following the conclusion of the show’s main event when Trevor Murdoch ended Nick Aldis’ 1043 day NWA Championship reign. He would celebrate with the new champion and hold his hand aloft. This closed a successful weekend for the NWA, having sold out The Chase two nights in a row and receiving a lot of praise for their all-women pay-per-view Empowerrr the previous evening.
During his career, Flair would hold the NWA World Heavyweight Championship a record ten times, for a total of 3116 days combined, only behind Lou Thesz. So it was fitting for him to appear in for the latest incarnation of the historic promotion. It isn’t known if this was a one-off appearance for Flair in the NWA, but even if it was, it was undoubtedly worth whatever Corgan paid Flair to give the new NWA his seal of approval.
