Ric Flair On The Undertaker: There’s All These Guys, Then There’s Michael Jordan

With The Undertaker hinting at retirement, plenty of wrestlers have started to reflect on his career.

Ric Flair has been present for Undertaker’s entire career with the two famously squaring off at WrestleMania 18. Speaking to Alistair McGeorge of Metro, Flair weighed in on Undertaker’s place in history and what it was like to work with him.

“People don’t want to see me suplex him. People don’t wanna see me suplex him off the top rope. People don’t wanna see him wrestle! That’s not what they’re paying to see. When he does these incredible things like jumping over the top rope or walking on the top rope and stomping on a guy’s arm and all this stuff – it’s so apparent that he’s a great athlete. But to me as a talent, I’m thinking to myself, ‘How do I enhance everything he does, from sitting up, where he’s supposed to be dead, to taking the best bumps I can for him,'” wondered Flair. “There’s a lot of great athletes, and then there’s that one guy that stands out. There’s all these guys, and then there’s Michael Jordan. If he had to go out and wrestle tomorrow as Mark Calaway, he could do that – but for what? Nobody wants to see me take Mark Calaway over in a headlock. [laughs] Does that make sense? It’s just bulls**t. You never saw Shawn trying to take him over with a headlock or have a match with him like he’s a regular guy! That is not what the people are wanting, in this guy’s humble opinion. I used to tell him, ‘If you just go to your knees, then we’re the same size and let me work you over.’ Taker would go over on his knees so I could chop him, boom, boom, boom. People could believe that. People could believe a shot to the groin, you know what I mean?”

WWE is set to pay tribute to The Undertaker on Friday Night SmackDown when they re-air The Boneyard Match against AJ Styles from WrestleMania 36