Dirty Dutch Mantel’s Heat With Ric Flair, Explained

Highlights

• Ric Flair’s last match was a disaster, with the wrestling legend passing out in the ring.
• Flair retired in 2008, then came back multiple times, tarnishing his legacy with lackluster performances.
• Dutch Mantel criticized Flair for his poor last match, leading to a social media feud between the two.

Ric Flair is arguably the greatest wrestler of all-time. The 16-time world champion changed the face of the NWA, WCW, WWE, and TNA (okay, maybe not the last one), leaving him as one of the most famous wrestling stars to ever walk the earth. As good as he is, though, the Nature Boy also has his flaws, including not knowing when to hang up his boots. After having the perfect retirement match against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24, Flair came back to wrestle with TNA. Then, in the summer of 2022, now in his 70s, Flair came back once more for “Ric Flair’s Last Match.” To say it was awful was an understatement, but Flair didn’t take it well when Dutch Mantel gave his opinion.

Ric Flair’s Last Match Was A Disaster

Ric Flair Passed Out During His Final Wrestling Match

• Ric Flair retired in 2008 after losing to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24
• Ric Flair retired again in 2012
• Ric Flair had a last match in Nashville in 2022

Ric Flair retired after WrestleMania 24 in 2008, only to go to TNA, wrestle in matches we’d rather forget for a few years, and retire again in 2012. After that, he spent more time in WWE, working at times as on-screen character and getting involved in the business of his daughter, Charlotte Flair, but his wrestling career stayed finished. In August 2021, Ric Flair asked for his WWE release, before showing up at Triplemania 29 at the side of his son-in-law, Andrade El Idolo.

The next spring came an announcement no one wanted to hear: Ric Flair was coming back for a third retirement, labeled as “Ric Flair’s Last Match.” It was later revealed that Flair would team with Andrade to take on Jay Lethal (who does a perfect impression of the Nature Boy) and Jeff Jarrett. On July 31, in Nashville, the match happened, with Flair and Andrade winning, but everyone losing really. The match was an embarrassment, with Flair wrestling in a shirt, moving slowly, blood running down his face, and even, as he later admitted, passing out in the ring twice from what he said was dehydration.

Dutch Mantel Criticized How Ric Flair Responded To His Critics

The Nature Boy Insulted Dirty Dutch Mantel On Social Media

• Ric Flair wasn’t happy about winning a demeaning Wrestling Observer Newsletter award
• Dutch Mantel said that Ric Flair looked like he was going to die in the ring
• Ric Flair called Dutch Mantel miserable and said he had no legacy

On March 10, 2023, Dutch Mantel took to his podcast, Story Time with Dutch Mantel, to discuss a story about Ric Flair going off on critics who slammed his last match, which had won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s award for “Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic of 2022″. Hearing that Flair responded by telling his critics to go eff themselves and bragging about the shape he got in for $300,000, Mantel was dumbfounded, saying “that would just take a fifth of liquor to get in the shape he was in.” Mantel said he looked like hell and that he thought Flair was going to die in the ring. He also questioned how much money Flair made and said the Nature Boy ripped fans off with his legacy tarnishing performance. Ouch.

Ric Flair didn’t take Mantel’s comments well, lashing out the same day on Twitter, saying:

“Thank God They Used The Word Veteran & Didn’t Call You A Legend. Just A Miserable Old Wrestler Trying To Make A Buck. And BTW, You Never Had A Legacy To Begin With. WOOOOO!”

Dutch Mantel Wasn’t Happy With Ric Flair’s Reponse

Dutch Mantel Had More To Say About Ric Flair In Another Interview

Dutch Mantel wasn’t a fan of Flair’s retaliation, so he spoke about it on his Facebook page, mentioning how he was actually a year younger than Flair, and adding about the match:

“Everybody damn near universally agreed that it was an abortion… But, of course, you said you’d been drinking, partying, had no sleep and you looked like hell. And that’s being generous. Nobody wants to see their hero on a stage where they’re concerned about their health or a possible death.” (h/t
Wrestling Inc.
)

Mantel also threw in the sentence, “Tell your social media manager to STFU.” On March 19, Dutch also sat down for an interview with Sportskeeda’s Wrestle Binge, where he added more fuel to the fire, saying:

“I got pissed off because he brought my name up out of the blue. Just, hey, you had a shi**y match! My god! I’ve had shi**y matches, but I wouldn’t attack somebody if they said, ‘Hey, it was a shi**y match.’ I’d say, ‘Sure, yeah, it was!’ I’d just got to agree with them because it is what it was. It was worst than the sh**s. It was living sh**s…

“Then he comes back and says, ‘Oh, I’m dehydrated.’ I’ve never heard that excuse in my life. To be dehydrated? Maybe if he didn’t drink half a case of beer every day, maybe he might not be dehydrated! But anyway, he wanted to keep it going; I said okay! We’ll keep it going.” (h/t
Sportskeeda
)

It’s safe to say that Ric Flair and Dutch Mantel won’t be drinking buddies anytime soon.