Kemo
10-21-2017, 02:47 AM
WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair recently did an interview with NBC Sports Radio to talk about a variety of professional wrestling topics. “The Nature Boy” talked about his promo skills and the late-great Dusty Rhodes being the first to give him some competition, how he influenced the personas of The Rock and many other WWE Superstars, and who deserves credit for the idea of The Four Horsemen. Here are the highlights:
His promo skills and Dusty Rhodes giving him some competition:
“That all came off the top of my head. We’d be out in Atlanta [Georgia] all night long, back at the hotel around 5 a.m., change clothes, and go to the studio and start taping at 9 o’clock. That’s just a lot of coffee and a lot of liking what I was doing for a living, being surrounded by guys like Dusty and Arn [Anderson] and guys that had so much influence on me. And we went out there and we competed with each other. Does that make sense? If Dusty was out there first, I knew I had to follow that. If I was on first and Dusty had to follow me. It was very competitive.”
How he influenced The Rock’s persona and many other WWE Superstars:
“I think he’ll admit that a lot of me was him,” Flair said. “I don’t know how many Rolex watches I’ve sold for Rolex from guys buying their first Rolex. I can remember Randy Orton got his first big check with Evolution. The first thing he bought was a new tricked out diamond encrusted Rolex, so I know that I’ve done some damage. I think a lot of guys have become more wardrobe-conscious. Does that make sense? Looking the part all of the time as opposed to when you’re in the gym. Every time you walk into a door, you want everybody in the joint to look at you. That’s just what it is.”
Arn Anderson deserving all the credit for the Four Horsemen idea:
“Actually, the idea for The Four Horsemen came from Arn, just something he said one day about The Four Horsemen. I can’t remember the terminology, but he put up [the] four [hand gesture] and Arn did it and we started doing it each week and within a month it caught on and it was bigger than ever. It was huge, so I give all that to Arn. He took the ball and he ran with it.”
His promo skills and Dusty Rhodes giving him some competition:
“That all came off the top of my head. We’d be out in Atlanta [Georgia] all night long, back at the hotel around 5 a.m., change clothes, and go to the studio and start taping at 9 o’clock. That’s just a lot of coffee and a lot of liking what I was doing for a living, being surrounded by guys like Dusty and Arn [Anderson] and guys that had so much influence on me. And we went out there and we competed with each other. Does that make sense? If Dusty was out there first, I knew I had to follow that. If I was on first and Dusty had to follow me. It was very competitive.”
How he influenced The Rock’s persona and many other WWE Superstars:
“I think he’ll admit that a lot of me was him,” Flair said. “I don’t know how many Rolex watches I’ve sold for Rolex from guys buying their first Rolex. I can remember Randy Orton got his first big check with Evolution. The first thing he bought was a new tricked out diamond encrusted Rolex, so I know that I’ve done some damage. I think a lot of guys have become more wardrobe-conscious. Does that make sense? Looking the part all of the time as opposed to when you’re in the gym. Every time you walk into a door, you want everybody in the joint to look at you. That’s just what it is.”
Arn Anderson deserving all the credit for the Four Horsemen idea:
“Actually, the idea for The Four Horsemen came from Arn, just something he said one day about The Four Horsemen. I can’t remember the terminology, but he put up [the] four [hand gesture] and Arn did it and we started doing it each week and within a month it caught on and it was bigger than ever. It was huge, so I give all that to Arn. He took the ball and he ran with it.”