Ric Flair requested his release from WWE and it was granted to him, effective today, according to Wrestling Inc. and Fightful.
Fightful Select reported that Flair had become frustrated with certain booking decisions that WWE had put him in, and he contacted Vince McMahon directly to express his concerns and ask for his release.
Flair recently said in an interview with Ariel Helwani that he wasn’t comfortable with last year’s Lacey Evans storyline.
“In this instance, I didn’t [feel comfortable],” Flair said. “The one thing I’ve learned is you’re not going to win a war when someone’s got their mind made up. The one thing that I can say about me is I always said yes. I didn’t want to be that guy that was always going ‘Oh, that isn’t perfect for me.’ When that was all over, I was mad but now I just look back and say it wasn’t it.”
Flair was last seen on the February 22 Raw in a backstage segment, where Charlotte Flair yelled at him for the Lacey Evans situation and told him to “go home.”
Ric Flair signed a new contract with WWE in May 2020 and tweeted, “Then, Now, Forever With WWE!”
It was reported at the time by Dave Meltzer that WWE likely offered him a good deal to keep him away from AEW.