From his lips to God’s ears, Ric Flair — who is still under contract with TNA — said he will be on stage for the Four Horsemen’s induction into the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame:
This is not entirely new territory for Flair in terms of popping up in the WWE for their Hall of Fame ceremony, as last year WWE.com actually ran a backstage video of the Nature Boy presenting a gift to Shawn Michaels when HBK was inducted:
Also, the Jan 16 Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that TNA had no idea about the Four Horsemen induction until it aired on last Monday’s Raw, but Flair was notified by Triple H beforehand. Also, the Newsletter looks at TNA’s stake in this whole situation:
There is the romantic fan viewpoint that wants to believe this Hall of Fame is like a real Hall of Fame (and there are wrestlers who believe it to be and others who don’t, usually depending upon the age of the wrestler, the older they are, the less likely they see it as anything but business) and TNA would be Scrooges to not let him go.
There are those who believe WWE is using a TNA contracted talent to help sell its event, draw ratings on its TV and help sell DVDs, since at the end of the day the Hall of Fame is purely a marketing device and most in WWE willfully will admit that.
They could also look at it like it only makes their guy look like a big star and it’s welcome publicity. And there’s a lot of truth to that, but it also makes TNA come across as minor league, but the argument is, everyone sees things that way anyhow.
Another situation is WWE does want Flair back in the fold, particularly when the network launches, since he’s featured in so much of the old footage. And really, Flair isn’t a key guy in TNA storylines right now, doing nothing but managing Gunner, although at one point they were building to a Flair vs. Garett Bischoff program.
Based on what I’m told, it was a really ballsy move by WWE in the sense that TNA comes across second-rate no matter how they play this, particularly since if it comes down to a fight and Flair goes against orders, he comes across as a hero. If Flair doesn’t go because they won’t let him and they treat it like he’d be violating his contract, TNA also looks bad.
WWE has not outright said Flair will be there, so at this point they haven’t done anything wrong. They have the right to induct anyone they want into their Hall of Fame and the right to use any of the footage they own in marketing.
But they do want Flair there. And Flair wants to be there. Flair was going to go this year to sit in the crowd, even though TNA probably wasn’t thrilled about it, if they were inducting people he knew like Edge and Arn Anderson, and he went last year when Shawn Michaels was inducted which WWE pushed hard on its web site. But it’s a different thing from a contract issue to go and sit in a crowd at an event and another to be one of the featured performers.
So right now the situation is to see how TNA reacts to this, if they just let it go, or make it an issue with Flair, or an issue with WWE.
CB’s Slant: If I am in charge over at TNA, I would not let Flair take the stage without getting some sort of financial compensation from WWE, but I doubt that will ever happen. At the same time, WWE could find themselves in legal hot water if they blatantly ignore Flair’s TNA contract (depending on how iron clad it is) and make money off his attendance/appearance.
Ultimately, however, my prediction is that Flair and TNA will end up parting ways with a financial settlement that releases Ric from his contract while eliminating the stickiness of this situation altogether.
