Ric Flair recently spoke with Metro, and the 2-time WWE Hall of Famer revealed his thoughts on how WWE should have booked Roman Reigns after The Big Dog defeated The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33.
Roman Reigns was the most hated man in professional wrestling after he retired The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33. While the retirement, as we all know, didn't last long, Roman Reigns was involved in one of the most heated post-Mania RAW segments in history. Reigns came out and was booed and jeered for 17 straight minutes before he uttered the words 'This is my yard now' and left the ring.
Ric Flair highlights WWE's missed opportunity with Roman Reigns
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Ric Flair stated that WWE didn't do enough to capitalize on the nuclear heat that was directed towards Roman Reigns. A heel turn would have been ideal, but even a Roman Reigns with more attitude would have been better than the clean-cut babyface that he was pushed to be in the company.
Flair explained that he would have rode with the heat forever if he would have been in Reigns' place that night on RAW.
Ric Flair also said that he considered Roman Reigns' WrestleMania match against The Undertaker to be a 'hell of a match'. The WrestleMania 33 main event is often trashed for being a botchy affair and one of the worst matches in Reigns' career, but Flair felt that one botch should not undermine the overall quality of the bout.
"When [The Undertaker] hauled up his stuff, put it in the middle of the ring and walked out, the next day on RAW, Roman couldn't talk! I thought to myself, 'Man, I've been in a lot in my life, but if I'd had that hot tag brother, I could've rode that forever.' I don't know what happened! But that was the hottest tag in the history of the business! That's made the thing with Brock [Lesnar] beating him pale, in terms of emotion!"
"Actually, I thought he and Roman had a hell of a match! One little botch like that they keep playing over and over again. One little botch, if you're a guy that's a perfectionist like [The Undertaker] is, that's gonna bug you. One little botch, OK? It can be caused for a number of reasons, it can be a timing issue. That was still a hell of match!"
The Undertaker was also not a fan of his WrestleMania 33 match, which was originally supposed to be his swan song. Undertaker returned to wrestle a few more times since that match, and he finally announced his retirement recently in the last chapter of the Last Ride Docuseries.
As for Ric Flair, the Nature Boy has been appearing on RAW a lot these days as the mouthpiece of Randy Orton, and we also know WWE's reason behind having him on TV despite the COVID-19 risk.