With all due respect to Dusty Rhodes, Bobby Heenan, The Rock and a handful of other legends blessed with all-time promo abilities, most people would say Ric Flair is the greatest wrestler on the microphone ever. I’d tend to agree. He’s a riveting storyteller and a born showman. What he’s not, however, is the greatest keeper of secrets, which he once again proved this week when he seemingly blurted out what could be a pretty major spoiler for WWE Raw’s upcoming 30th anniversary show.
If you want to go in completely fresh on Monday, now is your chance to bail on this article. Stay off Twitter and get through the weekend without conversing with any other wrestling fans. For everyone else, let’s get to it…
Flair was on his podcast To Be The Man alongside Conrad Thompson when he was asked about his upcoming appearance at Raw 30 on Monday. Thompson read off a list of names that are expected to be there, which included Flair, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, Ron Simmons, X-Pac, The Bella Twins, Road Dogg, Teddy Long and Jerry “The King” Lawler and asked The Nature Boy if he expected any additional surprises. Here’s what he said…
I talked to ‘Taker. I know Steve (Austin) can’t come. Hulkamania is coming. He confirmed to me last night he’s coming. It’ll be fun. It’s always fun seeing the guys. I love Ron Simmons, Road Dogg.
The big name there, of course, is Hulk Hogan. The red and yellow megastar has, of course, an extremely complicated history with WWE. He was unquestionably the biggest star in the entire industry in the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s, but after fans started to tire a bit of his character, WWE tried putting the big belt on several other people before he ultimately left for WCW in 1994. He went on to be a major part of the incredibly popular nWo stable and eventually returned to WWE in 2002. He’s done some short runs and sporadic appearances in the time since.
Obviously, WWE has not confirmed Hogan’s appearance, and until they do, this rumor should definitely be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, Flair and Hogan are known to be friendly and certainly have a long history of working together, both inside and outside the WWE. Flair has offered plenty of updates on the Hulkster’s recent health. Not all have been the most accurate, but there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t know if he was coming.
On another note, happy 30th anniversary to Monday Night Raw. With the exception of a few years where it went over to Spike, it’s been running on USA Network the entire time and remains one of the more popular shows on cable. And what a run it has been. The show looks almost nothing like it did when it first premiered, either from a tone or a production standpoint, but the show’s continuous evolution and willingness to change has more often than not, been a tremendous strength.
I can’t wait to see what’s in store for fans on Monday, and whether The Hulkster ultimately shows up or not, I hope the entire three hours is filled with fun little winks at the past and a steady stream of beloved superstars who contributed over the years.
You can catch Raw on Monday on USA at 9 ET. You can also catch WWE's next premium live event The Royal Rumble on January 28th, which is streaming for free if you have a Peacock subscription. You can also check out our breakdown of who we think is going to win The Rumble.
