WWE has been acquired by the Endeavor Group, and the billion-dollar wrestling company will now be merged with the UFC to form a new publicly traded entity that will trade under the symbol TKO with a market valuation of $21 billion.
On his “To Be The Man” podcast, Ric Flair weighed in on WWE’s sale to Endeavor. The two-time WWE Hall of Famer wished for Vince McMahon to remain involved in the operations in the same way Dana White spearheads UFC.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On if he spoke with McMahon over WrestleMania weekend: “Yeah, I sure did. I had a two-minute conversation with him and then I saw him again in gorilla during [Charlotte’s] match.”
On what he expects to see change in WWE with the sale: “Well, I just personally hope that the McMahon family has some — he is still is allowed to run the WWE. Because God forbid we have another situation work where Turner buys the NWA. Does that make sense? “That turned in the worst case scenario ever.”
On whether corporate-owned wrestling can work: “Well, it works if you have the right — it all depends on whose egos, who’s doing what. But if they don’t keep Vince involved let him help them make creative decisions, I don’t think they’ll be as successful as they would be with him.”
On reports that people backstage are upset with McMahon: “People who say they’re upset with Vince? I didn’t see anybody upset with him. There’s always going to be people that are complaining about their position in the company, because they’re not where they want to be or think they should be. But that’s not the fault of Hunter or Vince. You know, some people have a pretty high opinion of themselves that you know they should keep to themselves, rather than complaining publicly.”