WWE News Dot Net Exclusive: Some of the ideas pitched for Ric Flair’s retirement that were never used Mar 16, 2008 - 11:10 AM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing The following item is a followup to two previous items regarding The idea Steve Austin pitched to Vince McMahon for Ric Flair's retirement and What went wrong with with the idea Austin pitched. After Raw head writer Brian Gewirtz failed to put the Ric Flair story line that was pitched by Steve Austin in motion, Vince McMahon assigned the story to the Smackdown writing team. Michael Hayes and others lobbying for Flair to be moved to Smackdown also had a lot to do with it. Hayes put former WWE creative team member Court Bauer in charge writing the story line. Bauer wrote a long outline for a long-term story that would have involved matches against Finlay and MVP, as well as opponents from Flair’s past such as Mick Foley, Vader, Terry Funk, Ricky Steamboat and even Sting if he were contractually available. The outline included a Four Horsemen reunion at Survivor Series with Flair and his old stable mates taking on a team of his former opponents. One of the pitched conclusions of the retirement angle called for Flair to enter the Money in the Bank match and win. He would have cashed in later that night and lost in a competitive match to either the WWE or World Hvt. Champion. Flair would have removed his boots and left them in the middle of the ring and the final shot of WrestleMania 24 would have featured a dark arena with a spotlight shining on Flair’s boots and robe. Unfortunately, Flair went on hiatus and it’s assumed he had no idea that this story line was being pitched. A source says that at least one writer brought up the idea of calling Flair for his input, but there is a policy in WWE creative that prohibits most of the writers from contacting wrestlers directly. Powell’s POV: As much as I like the idea, I have a hard time believing Vince would have given the green light to WrestleMania concluding with anything Flair related. Although Triple H and Stephanie McMahon-Levesque are big backers of Flair, Vince and Flair have had their share of ups and downs. Most notably, Vince verbally fired Flair when he stated something to the effect of how he “makes virgins bleed” during a promo, but cooler heads prevailed. Vince projects the image to most in the company that he likes Flair, but he’s clearly not as fond of him as the rest of his family. Vince has even been known to test Hunter during meetings by saying negative things about Flair just to see if Hunter will defend him. However, observers say Hunter has a great poker face and rarely shows if something gets to him. HELP SUPPORT DOT NET! BECOME A MEMBER AT OUR CHARTER RATE OF JUST $5 A MONTH - GET THE FIRST LOOK AT EXCLUSIVE INSIDER DOT NET NEWS, TONS OF EXCLUSIVE AUDIO SHOWS, MESSAGE BOARD ACCESS, START YOUR OWN BLOG, AD-FREE MAIN LISTING: SIGN ME UP (or MORE INFO) GOT AN IPHONE OR IPOD TOUCH? THEN BE SURE TO DOWNLOAD OUR NEW FREE iPhone APP: (click here!) (or SEARCH "pro wrestling" in iTunes App Store) FOR MORE BREAKING WWE & TNA NEWS AND COMMENTARY, VISIT OUR AFFILIATE PWTORCH.COM (click here!) FOR MORE MMA & UFC NEWS AND COMMENTARY, VISIT OUR AFFILIATE MMATORCH.COM (click here!) CLICK TO RETURN TO DOT NET MAIN LISTING OR SELECT A LINK BELOW FROM THIS CATEGORY WWE News Latest Twelve Articles Jim Ross shoots down talk that he's targeting WrestleMania 26 for his return, comments on his current contractual status with WWE Shore's WWE Superstars Hitlist: Shelton Benjamin vs. Zack Ryder, Eric Escobar (w/Vickie Guerrero) vs. Jimmy Wang Yang, and Mark Henry vs. Cody Rhodes 11/20 WWE Smackdown preview: The complete lineup for tonight's show headlined by Undertaker and Kane vs. Chris Jericho and Big Show, plus a hot Intercontinental Title match (no spoilers) 11/20 WWE Smackdown spoilers: Full results of the show that airs tonight with John Morrison defending the Intercontinental Title against Dolph Ziggler in a best of three falls match (spoilers) Where Are They Now: Former WWE wrestler Duke "The Dumpster" Droese WWE "ECW on Syfy" rating: How did the return of C.M. Punk to the Tuesday night show perform in the ratings?