WWE News: An update on Ric Flair's role with the company

WWE has decided not to offer Ric Flair a new contract, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Vince McMahon came up with the idea of having Flair appear at dressed up at last week's Raw even though he wasn't on the show in an attempt to swerve backstage leaks.

Plans could change, but at this time the company has opted not to sign Flair because they don't want anyone under contract who they can't completely control. In Flair's case, he still accepts indy bookings through the Gillespie Agency, which issued a press release earlier this week to announce that he was still available for bookings.

Powell's POV: It's hilarious that Vince went through all the trouble of having Flair backstage at the Charlotte show just to throw people off, yet no one reported that he was that he was going to be the general manager. Of course, there was plenty of speculation that Flair was going to play said role, but Vince went to great measures to swerve people only to have no one bite.

It will be interesting to see how this affects Flair's status with Ring of Honor. He backed out of appearing at their television tapings and then declined to appear as a ringside referee for their recent show in New York. He may have ruffled some feathers when it appeared that re-signing with WWE was imminent. If WWE isn't going to bring Flair back, then he may be interested in doing more with ROH, but the question is how much damage did he do to the relationship with his recent actions.

This original source for the above news was Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter.