Report: WWE Tried To "Copy Real Sports" With Ric Flair On Raw
Here's why 'The Nature Boy' cut that awkward mid-match promo.
Ric Flair was back on WWE Raw this week, opening the show to not only hype-up his five-person team's upcoming battle with a Hulk Hogan-selected side at Crown Jewel on 31 October, but also announce his last man.
Drew McIntyre was then introduced as Team Flair's final puzzle piece. He went on to defeat Team Hogan member Ricochet in an exciting David vs. Goliath clash, with the action cutting to Ric and Sarah Schreiber for a mid-bout interview.
A hooting-and-hollering Flair diatribe followed. Schreiber looked a tad unsure of what, exactly, was going on, and it could be argued that cutting to the promo detracted from the hot action in the ring.
Per Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE ran this promo in an attempt at replicating "real sports" interviews. This would be fine if, like the NBA, NFL, or any other major sports league, WWE's product featured clear breaks in the action to provide the need for such filler in the first place, but wrestling isn't calibrated that way.
Perhaps the mid-match interview would've came off better with stronger execution from Flair and Schreiber. Regardless, this experiment didn't have the desired results.