11 Fascinating WCW/NJPW Collision In Korea Facts

2. Ric Flair Barely Made It Out Of The Country

Ric Flair 1992 Royal Rumble
WWE.com

With the shows over, the North American wrestlers were more than ready to go home. They were desperate to get their passports back and head over to Japan, to familiar land and the day to day freedoms that they had been restricted from enjoying in North Korea. But before they could go, North Korean officials wanted Ric Flair to give a speech on live DPRK TV.

As Flair tells it, the North Koreans wanted The Nature Boy to give a speech stating that he now understood why the United States was so afraid of North Korea and how much better DPRK culture was. Flair may have been the professional heel, but he wasn't about to sell out his country, leaving him in something of a pickle.

Instead of giving the carefully worded speech that was prepared for him, Flair extended his gratitude to the people of North Korea and to the Great Leader Kim Il-Sung in particular. Flair's decision to change the speech was risky, to say the least. Much like Norton, he got away with his error, and the plane left for Japan.

Needless to say the stars went out that night, and they stayed out.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.