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Flair Fight

Posted: Feb 21st 2010 By: CMBurnham

If you're going to declare war, it?s good to have the Dirtiest Player In the Game on your side.

As TNA and WWE set themselves to square off on Monday nights from March 8 in the US, fans here can kick back and enjoy the action without reaching for the remote.

Perhaps the most surprising of TNA?s recent legendary acquisitions was the ?Nature Boy? Ric Flair.

Riven by his loyalty to WWE and the sensational send-off that he enjoyed courtesy of HBK at Mania two years ago, Flair kept his counsel as the world and his wife headed for Florida, and the rapidly evolving viable alternative.

Speaking exclusively to FT from the TV tapings this week, he tells me life in TNA is just what it should be for a 16-time world champion, and arguably the finest wrestler ever to lace up a pair of boots.

He said: ?Respect is everything for me and I?ve struggled with it over the years. There?s no lack of it in WWE, but it?s a machine up there and they produce TV and do what they think is best for the product.

?Everyone knows I was apprehensive about TNA due to my loyalty to WWE. But from the moment I got here I was welcomed with open arms and I?m enjoying it.

?Some people said I?d mess up my legacy, but my legacy is in safe hands. We?re kicking it Horsemen-style down here.?

Certainly the presence of a few WCW alumni has led pundits to make some easy comparisons with the failing years of the Turner enterprise.

But Flair flatly denies the same mistakes will be made again, even if some of the troops are familiar.

?There?s no comparison whatsoever,? he said. ?We have some of the same faces, but the thought process and the way the company is handled is totally different.

?We?re bringing a different outlook on the business ? it?s more a combination of old school and what?s popular now.

?It?s a totally different direction to WWE.

?I don?t think here there?s too much concern about rubbing people up the wrong way.

?Fans like to be upset. They like to be up and down, they need to feel the emotion ? stand behind a character and feel the love and feel the hate. That?s what it?s all about.?

British viewers have been flocking to the product, with an average of 102,000 viewers every week for Impact?s first run through January.

A. J. Styles has been the subject of Flair?s attention on TV, and he?s committed to turning the former All American hero to the dark side.

Flair will wrestle for the first time in TNA in a tag match with his young protege against Hogan and Abyss on March 8. UK viewers will see it on March 13.