Grizzz Explains Wrestling V
The Fifth Explanation: Elevating Space Mountain
Welcome to Grizzz Explains Wrestling (GEW). Sometimes, my friends send me tweets related to pro wrestling that, to an outsider, looks pretty wild. Other times, I find tweets or social media posts on my own that seem pretty wild, too. I use my knowledge of professional wrestling to provide context and understanding.
With further ado, it’s time to strap in. I don’t like the phrase “without further ado” since every YouTuber I watch seems to use it, but I’m getting it out of the way. Never again.
September 18th, 2021 was apparently a very busy day as a Twitter user by the name of WrestlePurists tweeted this to the world:
My friends asked me, what exactly is the context behind this tweet? What’s “Story Time” and its relation to the WWE and Peacock? What exactly did Ric Flair do that involved flight attendants? WTF is going on here?
Let’s establish the who’s who:
WWE: World Wrestling Entertainment, formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and home to many wrestling superstars including John Cena, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, The Rock, the Undertaker, and Ric Flair.
Peacock: A service that streams content owned and/or distributed by NBC Universal, which is owned by Comcast.
Story Time: A WWE animated television show where WWE superstars and personalities retell funny stories of days gone by.
Ric Flair: Richard Morgan Fliehr, A retired professional wrestler and currently a manager. Held numerous championships throughout the NWA, WCW, and WWE. Considered by many as one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time.
Flight Attendants: Six women who attended a plane ride with Ric Flair in 1986.
Let’s get a few things out of the way, because this is a rightfully sensitive subject and I want to make some things really clear before moving forward.
- The following explanation is information obtained as best as I was able to acquire. Any opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone, and do not represent the sentiments of others at While Rome Burns.
- I’m going to be talking about some subjects that warrant a Trigger/Content Warning. Expect discussions of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and sexism to be outlined and in some cases brought into detail. If these topics are sensitive to you, please feel free to proceed or leave at your discretion. I support whichever decision you choose at this point, please take care of yourself as best as you are able.
- The professional wrestling industry has changed considerably since the events surrounding the tweet and the career of Ric Flair. I recommend considering this article, and professional wrestling in its past and present incarnations, with an open mind.
- Separating the art from the artist can be difficult at best, and impossible at worst. Ric Flair has a storied career in professional wrestling, and has performed some of the finest matches of all time (bringing me to tears on at least one occasion). I can and do respect the work he has done inside the ring and on the microphone, as his work influenced countless people to become professional wrestlers. The subject of this explanation is about his behavior outside the ring, and to a greater extent, the behavior of others in the pro wrestling industry as it pertains to gender equality.
Okay, now we really strap in.
Before brokering a deal with Peacock, the WWE Network was a streaming platform of exclusively WWE-owned content. Their library is deep — from weekly shows like Raw and Smackdown and NXT, to Pay-Per-Views like Wrestlemania and Summerslam, as well as documentaries, reality shows, cartoons, talk shows, analysis shows, and a deep library of shows/PPVs from promotions including WCW, ECW, AWA, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, and others. WWE Network was a one-stop shop of most things pro wrestling, with a reasonable price of $9.99 per month, a huge savings given that monthly WWE pay-per-views typically cost $40.
One of the WWE original programming shows on Peacock is “Story Time”. If you’re looking for a good nostalgia trip hearing wrestling legends recount ridiculous and/or funny situations in their past, Story Time was a platform for these tales, paired with animation depicting a recreation.
The very first episode of Story Time, aired in 2016, brings us to the subject of the tweet: “Flair in the Air”. Ric Flair recalled a story where he was on a private airplane with six flight attendants to “keep him company”. As mentioned in the tweet, WWE and Peacock have since removed this story from the streaming platform, so the only way to watch it is by finding it somewhere else. Fortunately I was able to track down an online source, and after watching it, decided it was best to just provide the full story as Ric Flair told it:
The Nature Boy’s Greatest Airline Airport Story? Bingo *snaps fingers* it popped up just like that. 1986. Atlanta, Georgia. The “Naitch”, on his way to defend the World Heavyweight Championship in Honolulu. And all I can think about is that nine-hour ride. “God, I hope something exciting is gonna happen.” I walk down the jetway, I open the door, the curtain’s wide open, six of the most beautiful flight attendants I’ve ever seen in my life.
Four brunettes, two blondes. The anchor, the one in the middle, the blonde, bodacious ta-tas, she might as well have had a neon sign on her forehead saying “Naaaaaaaaaaature Boy”. She said “Sit right here, Nature Boy, and I’m gonna rock your world for nine hours.”
Of course, two hours up in the air, we’re flying, drinking, laughing, telling stories. Other wrestlers, whose names will remain anonymous forever, the focus was on Naitch anyway, who cares about the other wrestlers? Pretty soon it happens, like every flight. The girls pull the robe out of the closet.
They say, “Is this what you wear to the ring?” I say, “Of course it is, girls, what do you think?” “Gosh, can we see it one time?” I go, “You can see it all day long! But the Naitch can’t put it on!” They say, “Why won’t you put it on?’
I say, “I do not put my robe on when I have my clothes on.”
Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, she comments, “Why don’t you take ’em off?” Haha, THAT’s what starts it all! That’s what’s gotten me in so much trouble over the years! But they always encourage the Nature Boy! Here they are, six girls going “Naitch, will you take off your clothes and put on your robe?” Are you kidding me!? Who can say no to that!?
So I step into the bathroom, disclose myself like I’m Superman getting ready to jump my outfit, right? They hand in my robe, I put the robe on, I walked out, one of them’s leaning against the cockpit door, God forbid the captain come out! The Naitch comes out, wearing his robe, looking as only I can look.
Now at this point, I’m bartering. “I show you, you show me.” The rest of the story…you figure out. WOOOOOOOO!!!! *laughs*”
The story and how it was depicted had plenty to unpack. On one hand, you have a story told by one person without corroboration from anyone else. Did it really happen that way, or is Flair not letting the truth get in the way of a good story? It has a male-gaze perspective I’d expect I’d find in a copy of GQ, or made into a straight-to-DVD movie by National Lampoon’s. And that perspective is exaggerated in the animated segments — everyone has ridiculous body proportions, the thirsty and doe-eyed looks/reactions of the attendants, the euphemisms with champagne, it all lends to the idea that this story is hard to believe while at the same time, speaking volumes to the leeway given to Flair, placing this experience at the forefront of new original programming, and allowing it to remain unchallenged in the wake of the #MeToo movement that would come a year after broadcast.
But you’re likely saying to yourself, “Okay, but why was this specifically removed now? What makes this story that important?” It wasn’t removed due to its content, but its similarities in a similar story beyond the scope of the tweet. Apparently, this was not Ric’s only time wearing his robe naked in front of others.
Enter “The Dark Side of the Ring” (DSotR), a documentary series by Vice Studios that showcases controversial subjects and events that take place in the professional wrestling industry. So far, three seasons of the show have aired. I’ve seen a few and I strongly recommend giving the show a watch, especially the episodes on Chris Benoit, the Brawl for All, and the episode that relates to the tweet at the start of this article, the “Plane Ride from Hell”.
I’ll go briefly into the subject matter of this episode as it pertains to the tweet, but for your consideration and my fierce recommendation, VICE put up the entire episode for free on their YouTube channel. Set aside some time to watch it.
Ric Flair’s involvement in the Plane Ride from Hell certainly shares a connecting thread with the Story Time depiction — Ric walking around on a flight wearing only his robe on the plane in the presence of female flight attendants. According to allegations from one of the flight attendants, Ric took things a step too far in not only deliberately flashing his genitals at her, he later forced her to touch his genitals in the back of the galley of the airplane, refusing to let her leave while he sexually assaulted her.
Immediately following the airing of the episode, companies went into damage control. WWE and Peacock removed the first episode of “Story Time” from the Peacock streaming platform. Ric Flair’s advertising campaign with Car Shield was put “on pause”. Other wrestlers who made controversial statements in the episode were suspended from work (Flair was not employed by any particular company at the time of airing).
Flair released a statement to WrestlingInc, admitting that he’d done some things in his life he wasn’t proud of, but also wasn’t willing to go into detail and denied that he ever sexually assaulted anyone. The cadence and content felt like it was straight from a politician’s playbook: apologize, but…don’t.
Flair’s wrestling gimmick for the majority of his career has been that of a bombastic lothario — a “limosine riding, jet flying, wheeling and dealing, kiss stealing, sonofagun”. He refers to his genitals as “Space Mountain” and that all the women want to go for a ride. Though the WWE and the flight attendant settled out of court, the behavior of the men on the Plane Ride from Hell was indicative of a “boys being boys” culture that was prevalent in professional wrestling. The event actually became the turning point of the company in changing that particular aspect of their work culture (wrestlers were fired, codes of conduct were established by talent relations). Even so, the elevation of Flair’s escapades via Story Time proves they’re still willing to celebrate that mentality if it makes for good television. Capitalize the rot.
Now, it seems likely that Flair’s story from 1986 wasn’t 100% factually accurate, but assuming any of it is true, it still speaks to a sexist culture where catering to Flair’s carnal desires were considered a top priority for ensuring continued business relations between Flair’s employer and the charter flight company. Appeasing Flair (and other athletes) to a certain degree may have been a low-key condition of their employment. I cannot say with proof that this is the case, but given multitudes of examples of sexism throughout business and social history, it’s likely that the attendants did what was necessary to remain employed.
This rampant level of sexism was a thumb in the eye of pro wrestling for decades. The WWE was no stranger when they chose to focus on the sexuality of their female performers in the Attitude Era, booking them to compete in “bra & panties” matches, “mud wrestling”, “bikini contests”, or booking them as managers who would distract opponents or the fans via provocative clothing or implied flashing. For a short time in the early 2000's, WWE elevated focus on women’s wrestling, highlighted by booking Trish Stratus and Lita for the main event of Raw for the Women’s Championship. But by the mid-2000’s, they changed their mind and rebranded their female wrestlers as “Divas”, hiring non-wrestlers and models and focusing on looks over having good matches.
If you watched The Plane Ride From Hell episode of DSotR, you noticed that Terri Runnels mentioned “no selling” (not reacting in a way favorable to your opponent) when male wrestlers sexually harassed her. When you watch her recount each story, her body language shows that her no-sell was an act of self-preservation, not only to prevent negative altercations with any wrestlers who may have felt “rejected”, but also to not bring attention to the corporate higher-ups who might feel that Terri wasn’t worth keeping around. As it turns out, it went all the way to the top of the industry through Vince McMahon himself.
Throughout Vince’s in-ring career, female wrestlers including Candice Michelle were placed in a romantic relationship with him, embracing and kissing him on national television.
In an interview, Michelle revealed that it was uncomfortable, “I remember it just kind of trickled down from girl to girl. Everybody kind of went through that.”
Examples that I can recall off the top of my head include Trish Stratus, Torrie Wilson, and Stacy Kiebler (you may recall this particular interaction as a well-known meme). But there have been many examples beyond my watching history (albeit some more speculative than others). Much like the stories of Playboy models living at the Mansion with Hugh Hefner, Vince had his own “rite of passage” with the female wrestlers in WWE. As I’ve said before, professional wrestling is a microcosm of modern society. Everything that happens in pro wrestling, both on-stage and behind the scenes, were seen first in our collective history.
When people are put in positions of power, be it financial or political or hierarchical, there’s always a risk of that person becoming corrupted by that power. Ric Flair was given a platform by WWE to glorify and monetize a story that paints him as a masculine alpha male hero who was granted an opportunity to be wanted and desired by numerous members of the opposite sex in a situation where all eyes were on him. Removing that content from Peacock following the airing of the Plane Ride from Hell episode of Dark Side of the Ring was the right call to make, but allowing stories of sexist conquest to be glamorized and featured as the lead content was the wrong call to make in the first place.
