Ric Flair Gives Health Update and Calls Out Shawn Michaels in Pair of Video Rants

Ric Flair ranted on a variety of topics in his first appearance since being released from the hospital.

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A week after being released from the hospital, Ric Flair returned to the public eye on Thursday night and Friday morning with a pair of videos in which he gave an update on his health and ranted on a variety of topics. 

Flair, 70, underwent an undisclosed surgery and was hospitalized for six days earlier this month. The procedure had to be delayed due to issues with the wrestling legend’s heart. 

In a video posted late Thursday night, Flair thanked those who supported him during the ordeal and called it “a miracle” that he’s back on his feet. He said the hospital stay cost $1.8 million but that most of it would be covered by insurance.

“A lot of money out of our pockets, but it’s okay because I lived,” Flair said. “And I’m living here to tell you that the kiss-stealing, wheeling, dealing, limousine-riding, jet-flying, son of a gun is not going to change or slow down. I’m going to move forward.”

Flair said that his doctors have urged him to slow down and adjust his lifestyle to match his age but he insists he’ll “never get old.”

More interestingly, Flair also says “I know who has not been there for me” and says he’ll discuss that further in a follow-up video. 

In a second video posted Friday morning, Flair called out Shawn Michaels for comments Michaels made in ESPN’s “30 for 30” documentary about Flair. 

“Ric doesn’t love Richard Fliehr,” Michaels said in the doc, as transcribed by Pro Wrestling Sheet. “I don’t know that he’s ever taken the time to get to know him [Richard Fliehr] or to find out who in the world he is.”

“Shawn Michaels, I’m sorry but you’re not in a position to judge me, buddy,” Flair responds in the video. “Telling me I’ll never know who Richard Fliehr is. Really? Do you think I’ll ever know? I don’t know. Richard Fliehr was an irresponsible kid, who was blessed with the greatest parents in the world, did everything wrong.

“And by the way, who are you to judge me? I mean, really? Come on, man. Let’s get serious. You’ve opened the door, I’m giving it back to you. Who are you to judge me? I mean, are you kidding me? You idolized me, and then all of a sudden contempt. For what? For what you grew up loving and for what inspired you to be who you are? I don’t think so, man.”

Michaels was Flair’s opponent in the Nature Boy’s famous retirement match at WrestleMania XXIV in 2008. The story of the match was built around the pair’s mutual admiriation and Michaels mouthed, “I’m sorry, I love you” to Flair before delivering his Sweet Chin Music finisher and ending Flair’s career. Michaels later told CBS Sports the match was “my sort of love letter to Ric Flair and my way of trying to show him the friendship that we had and the impact that he had on the 15-year-old me and trying to convey that to him through a wrestling match.”

The ESPN documentary, which covers Flair’s struggle to divide his personal life and wrestling persona, as well as his issues with alcohol, was released in November 2017. It’s unclear why Flair decided to go after Michaels now.