Justncredible818 sent along the following:
Coming off of the heels of "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan’s return appearance as part of Monday Night Mayhem’s eight-year anniversary special, who else but the one & only "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, one of the greatest rivals of "The Hulkster" to follow suit on "Your Home Of Wrestling Radio." Flair was welcomed by The Big Mosh, Blade, "The Chairman Of The Board" Todd Vincent, & Chaz, and thanked his long-time friend & colleague, The Post & Courier’s Mike Mooneyham (who also joined the program) for making this special night happen for The Mayhem Nation. Mosh started things off by making mention of how Flair looks to be having the most fun that he has had in a while, and asked about his experience in TNA Wrestling throughout the past month thus far. "When you said I was having more fun, that is a true statement. When I’m having fun, I’m better at this business than anybody actively in this business today, and I’m having a lot of fun. With me, I’ve had a phenomenal career, I never took the business seriously until about 1989 or 1990, and even then I was having fun but it got to be business, and I didn’t understand that. I’m having a ball with TNA, and I was a little hesitant, not because of anyone from TNA, I think Dixie Carter is phenomenal…it was leaving home again. After all those years with WCW to go the WWE, it was just hard because I spent 25 years of my life waving the banner of the NWA/WCW, and it was a difficult decision to make. But I’m having a ball, I love the people I work with, I love the role I have, and I really like this thing with AJ, and I and I think it’s gonna’ be a really big factor professional wrestling business."
Throughout the past eight years, the current, reigning, & defending TNA World Heavyweight Champion, "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles, has been a focl point of many past conversations, and Chaz mentioned the fact that even back in 2002 that Styles had what it took to be a big star in the industry, and how "The Nature Boy" is truly bringing it out of him especially right now. Flair agreed with that statement: "AJ has so much talent, and he’s got a phenomenal attitude, and he’s a respectful guy that loves our business. As you can tell he wants to give everything he has and does every time he’s in the ring: one, to prove that he deserves to be in the position that he’s in & two, to make sure the fans get every dime out of him they paid for, and that’s just the way life is." Chaz followed up his statement by asking Ric if he sees AJ "taking the torch" and taking TNA & professional wrestling into the next decade. "It’s funny, because I think he’s gonna’ be a phenomenal champion, but no one person in this day & age can take a company to the next level. It’s takes a bunch of people & not just the people in the ring. It takes people on the Creative Team, it takes the ownership group. It’s just so many equations that fit into that word next level. Certainly AJ will fulfill everything they ask of him and be a huge part of their success, but I don’t wanna’ say that AJ can turn the company around by himself. With me with him, it’s almost a done deal."
"The Chairman Of The Board" Todd Vincent asked Flair who in TNA has impressed him the most thus far & who he believes has the best potential. "I’m gonna tell you right now they probably have the best, and I saying this with all respect to AJ, they probably have the best wrestler I’ve been around in a long time…and I love my friends in the WWE, and they would say the same thing: Kurt Angle. He is a machine guys, and he’s a different kind of cat. He lives & breathes a different kind of oxygen than me, and he reminds me so much of me when I was about 30 years old. He’s relentless in his pursuit every night proving he is who he is. And he has nothing to prove to anybody, he already won a gold medal." He went to compare Angle to former NWA World Heavyweight Champion/WWE Hall Of Famer, the late Jack Brisco, as two performers who made the transition from amateur wrestling to professional wrestling and became quite special along the way.
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