My disappointment in Ric Flair

Dear Ric;

I am writing you as a fan who has a tremendous amount of respect for your legacy in this business. You were the inspiration for many of my favourite wrestlers in the business today, from Shawn Michaels to Edge. While I did not get to watch you in your prime, the fact that I could tell your greatness well into your forties and even your fifties speaks volumes of what you must have been capable of as a young man. I know the respect the boys have for you, and the impact you've had on so many successful performers, from Triple H down to Randy Orton.

You got the ultimate sendoff at Wrestlemania this year, in a way someone like Hulk Hogan or Mick Foley at this point could only pray for - one that reflects the understanding of 35-plus years devoted to this business and nothing but this business, the understanding that this retirement was sincere, proven by what a difficult decision it was for you. You got that sendoff, Ric, because your fans thought it was real. You wrote in your autobiography that you had something Hulk Hogan never could - the respect of your peers. And that is because they trust you; while you might play on emotions, you do so because you are REAL. You LIVE the Nature Boy. And you LIVED this retirement.

I have never seen the business send someone off in such a respectful way - too often, when people are spoken of and remembered the way you were in pro wrestling, it is because they died way too young, and before they could disappoint anyone by wrestling past their prime, not knowing when to quit, becoming a prima donna because they let all the accolades go to their head. You got to the very end of your career with all that intact. We invested in the magic of your retirement because we believed it was the end of a tremendous career. Even when saying things like "I'm not sure if this was right, I'm not sure if I'm done", we believed those were hard things to say because you DID know.

And now in a recent interview you were beginning to speculate that you felt the retirement match mainly applied to your North American career, and that you would like to have a few more matches in Japan or Latin America. Jim Ross portrayed that in a recent commentary as the idea of having a little bit of a farewell tour, to say goodbye to your legion of fans overseas. I understand that - except I feel that it should have been done BEFORE your sendoff. And yes, WWE didn't handle all aspects of the buildup to your retirement properly, maybe you didn't have that chance - but then go and do a promo or a run-in ... I would suggest if you want to keep the respect you have earned from the fans and the boys, you respect the magic and emotion we ALL worked to create to say goodbye to four decades of the Nature Boy. As much as we'll miss you, we'd miss your legacy more if it were tainted by Mick Foley-esque frequent comebacks.

Enjoy your retirement, Naitch - you've definitely earned it.

Sarah