Boondocks Kernoodle Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 After three days of intense negotiations and months of on-and-off talks, Ric Flair has signed a three-year deal earlier today with the new Hulkamania promotion that will debut with a November tour of Australia. Flair will be Hogan's main opponent on the announced dates, which are 11/21 in Melbourne, 11/24 in Perth, 11/26 in Brisbane and 11/28 in Sydney. The deal also includes plans for episodes of a joint Hogan/Flair reality show to be shot on the tour. The promotion has contacted a number of recent departures from WWE to round out the crew, including Jeff Hardy, although not all have been signed yet, combined with some of Hogan's friends from the 80s like The Nasty Boys. The plan is to run regular foreign tours. Hogan and Eric Bischoff had been talking about the idea for years, but with both Hogan and Ric Flair going through expensive divorces, it made it a lot easier for both to commit to the project. Wow. A lot to be shocked about here. One, that Hogan's promotion is finally happening. Two, that Flair is returning to the ring in such a manner. Three, that he's working for his good buddy Eric Bischoff. That divorce must have drained his bank account hard. I wonder now if this deal could potentially open the door for Flair to work for TNA. Flair says he wouldn't go due to loyalty to Vince, but he's locked down for three years and even if it's not an exclusive contract WWE won't want to work with him. If he'll work with Bischoff, you'd have to think he'd work with Russo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduardo Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 It didn't make much sense, but wasn't Dave Meltzer claiming a few months back that Flair was actually doing great financially? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indikator Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 A few months can be enough for Flair to squander a fortune Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 These negotiations have been going on a lot longer than three days. Mooneyham told me months ago that Flair was going to be working a foreign tour against one of the biggest names in wrestling history because the money was supposedly too much to turn down. It'll be interesting to see what kind of houses they draw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LShunter Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Awesome, I'm sold on this now. I'm going to the Sydney show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Love it if only for the masses of pissed off WWE fans that will scream bloody murder on Flair coming back after his "emotional" and "real" retirement. Flair is a true pro like Funk and Onita. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Kind of funny to think that Jeff Hardy's storyline "forced" retirement might last longer than 60 year old Flair's grand send off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boondocks Kernoodle Posted September 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Meltzer says Flair got Vince's blessing to do the tour. Funny note from the WON though: Flair still owes money to ROH and to Highspots.com, where he put his NWA world championship belt (the belt used in the late 70s through the mid-80s) as collateral for loans. This guy never learns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Man that is one of the most pathetic things I've ever heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Yep. Ric Flair owes money to... Highspot.com Jeez, making fun of Shane Douglas wasn't a very good idea after all, Flair. At least he's not whoring out himself at 60+ in most probably über embarrassing matches with Hogan to give money back to freaking Highspots.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Setting aside the earlier "Ric is financially set" nonsense that none but the marks ever bought, why in the hell did Flair take out loans from ROH and Highspots? Weren't those folks paying Ric for services rendered? My guess is that these aren't "loans" but closer to "advances" on a certain number of X (sales in the case of the Shoot Video). And if he owes money to those companies, then those sales fell below the level of the advance. Just taking a stab there. Trying to figure it out as those to companies just loaning $$$ to Ric doesn't make a lot of sense. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Yep. Ric Flair owes money to... Highspot.com Jeez, making fun of Shane Douglas wasn't a very good idea after all, Flair. At least he's not whoring out himself at 60+ in most probably über embarrassing matches with Hogan to give money back to freaking Highspots.com. Yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Flair is a true pro like Funk and Onita. Flair and Onita blowing each other up and flopping around for 12 minutes might be the only freakshow that has enough going for it to get me back to watch wrestling one last time. I'd love to see the economics of this new company here though. If there's cash being thrown around the ticket prices might be high enough to kill their own novelty value. And if the money isn't there the whole thing doesn't make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Liska Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Setting aside the earlier "Ric is financially set" nonsense that none but the marks ever bought, why in the hell did Flair take out loans from ROH and Highspots? Weren't those folks paying Ric for services rendered? My guess is that these aren't "loans" but closer to "advances" on a certain number of X (sales in the case of the Shoot Video). And if he owes money to those companies, then those sales fell below the level of the advance. Just taking a stab there. Trying to figure it out as those to companies just loaning $$$ to Ric doesn't make a lot of sense. John He got paid in advance by ROH for some dates that he later pulled out of, so that's why he owes them money back. No idea about Highspots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Wasn't Flair doing a tour of autograph appearances for Highspots too? Maybe he hasn't fulfilled what he was contracted to do with them and that's why he owes them money as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indikator Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Edit: The observer bit has already been posted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Wasn't Flair doing a tour of autograph appearances for Highspots too? Maybe he hasn't fulfilled what he was contracted to do with them and that's why he owes them money as well. Whoever is booking his autograph signings is an idiot. He had a signing in my area a couple of months back that got no advertising, no word of mouth, et. It still drew about 400 people to a Wal-Mart in the middle of nowhere, but this could have been a major money making deal if any effort had been put into it at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted September 17, 2009 Report Share Posted September 17, 2009 The idea that ROH would loan money to anyone given their spiral over the last year, much less Ric Flair, is fascinating to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1004Holds Posted September 17, 2009 Report Share Posted September 17, 2009 How can a man fuck up so badly? If you had told me that Flair was always in debt as a kid I would have laughed hard and wondered why you would make up lies like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NitroFan Posted September 17, 2009 Report Share Posted September 17, 2009 Flair is a true pro like Funk and Onita. Flair and Onita blowing each other up and flopping around for 12 minutes might be the only freakshow that has enough going for it to get me back to watch wrestling one last time. I'd love to see the economics of this new company here though. If there's cash being thrown around the ticket prices might be high enough to kill their own novelty value. And if the money isn't there the whole thing doesn't make sense. They're selling Q&A session tickets for $750 (AUD, which includes a diamond seat). Cheapest tickets are $62. By comparison, the cheapest WWE tickets are around $30-$40 and their front row (which I assume is what Hulk's diamond seats are) are around $350. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted September 17, 2009 Report Share Posted September 17, 2009 Man, I wouldn't pay that much to watch the WWE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted September 19, 2009 Report Share Posted September 19, 2009 Flair is a true pro like Funk and Onita. Flair and Onita blowing each other up and flopping around for 12 minutes might be the only freakshow that has enough going for it to get me back to watch wrestling one last time. I'd love to see the economics of this new company here though. If there's cash being thrown around the ticket prices might be high enough to kill their own novelty value. And if the money isn't there the whole thing doesn't make sense. They're selling Q&A session tickets for $750 (AUD, which includes a diamond seat). Cheapest tickets are $62. By comparison, the cheapest WWE tickets are around $30-$40 and their front row (which I assume is what Hulk's diamond seats are) are around $350. The Q&A tickets would be about $650 USD. Which is still fucking outrageous and I think they're going to have a very hard time selling tickets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Talon Posted September 19, 2009 Report Share Posted September 19, 2009 Man, I wouldn't pay that much to watch the WWE. You don't. The $350 pricepoint is for PPV's. tickets for Live Events are generally $20, $30, $40 and $60 and for TV it's $20, $30, $40, $50, $70 Having said. This Hulkamania thing could be a success IF they tap into markets that WWE don't generally go to AND run in smaller arenas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NitroFan Posted September 19, 2009 Report Share Posted September 19, 2009 Having said. This Hulkamania thing could be a success IF they tap into markets that WWE don't generally go to AND run in smaller arenas. As far as Australia is concerned they're running in the same markets (really, in Australia there's not too many places you can go to outisde of the capital cities) and running in pretty much the same arenas (as are TNA next year, which will be interesting). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indikator Posted September 19, 2009 Report Share Posted September 19, 2009 I don't think you could get any seat for $70 at European tours. The ringside tickets are +100€ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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