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Ric Flair issues public statement regarding Dark Side of the Ring episode

Aaron Rift

As previously noted, a new Vice TV Dark Side of the Ring episode premiered which featured the WWE’s “Plane Ride from Hell” in 2002. One of the stories from the episode involved Ric Flair allegedly exposing himself to an attendant during the flight and making unwanted advances.

Flair issued a public statement on Monday regarding the episode…

“Every person that I’ve worked with, from my lawyer to my publicist to my wife has said not to post a response; but I’ve never run from past behaviors before and I’m not going to start now.

I want to clarify a few things:

About four years ago, I gave ESPN full access to my life for a ’30 for 30′ special. They covered taxes, financial issues, adultery, divorces, the passing of my child and drinking/partying AT LENGTH.

Rory Kampf, desperate to matter for another 15 minutes, did an interview about it this morning. When Rory’s lips are moving, he’s typically lying, but one part of what he said was the God’s honest truth:

‘I’d never heard that he had forced someone to touch his genitals,’ Karpf admitted. ‘Everything with Ric that was construed as negative I tried to address in the 30 for 30. His drinking, his philandering, his adultery, his money problems, there’s quite a bit, but never, at least in the people that I spoke to, no one ever brought up that he would force himself on somebody.’

I allowed my personal life and the lives of my wife and children to be turned upside down for one reason: Whether it’s good or bad, even the really bad, the truth has to matter. Even in wrestling.

My issues have been well documented over my 40+ year career. The impact of drinking too much (which nearly killed me 5 years ago) has been told time and time and time again. The reason Rory (or anyone else for that matter) never heard stories of me forcing myself on ANYONE is simple: it never happened.”

Flair deleted his initial statement (written above) and re-posted with references to his publicist, lawyer, and wife removed and replaced with “Every person I have worked with.”