• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

Flair regrets never wrestling "Down Under"

Posted: Jul 5th 2006 By: mikeiles

Legendary wrestler Ric "The Nature Boy" Flair has one regret - he never climbed into a ring in Australia in wrestling's heyday.

It's nearly four decades ago, but the American, 16 times world champion, wishes he'd ventured down under when local star Mario Milano was big in the 1960s and 1970s.

Back then, Australia was a hotbed of big name US stars - the kind who wanted to make lots of money in a short time.

"When I broke in, (Australia) was the place to be," said Flair who debuted in 1972. "If you could come here and wrestle for (promoter) Jim Barnett, it was a great opportunity. I never did, but some of the guys who were over here, like Buddy Austin, Killer Karl Kox, Wahoo McDaniel, said it was a great place to live for a short period of time. And there was a lot of money to be made."

These days, 57-year-old Flair is still active in the ring and wrestles for the pre-eminent World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

WWE will be touring Australia next month, the organization's fifth trip here in four years - an acknowledgment of the ever-growing popularity of pro wrestling in Australia.

WWE's Raw and Smackdown shows are consistently among the top-rated programs on pay television, and they sell out arenas across the country.

Flair says because Australian followers see their heroes less than the US-based fans, the crowds here are madly keen.

And there's just as much interest in the women wrestlers these days.

Six-time WWE women's champion Trish Stratus, a Canadian native, is adamant their women - known in wrestling as divas - are more than just eye candy.

"If you can hold your own, then you're set," the 30-year-old said. "Thankfully the (wrestlers) backstage look at me as kind of one of the guys, and we're all one big family, and there's no real gender boundary at all. It is quite flattering to have gotten the women to the point where the fans have the same interest in our stuff as well as the men's, whereas before ... they didn't care to see them wrestle."

WWE will be at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on August 3, Sydney's Acer Arena on August 4 and the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on August 5.