Paul Heyman’s professional relationship with Ric Flair has included nearly every kind of tension and tradition associated with the wrestling business: gratitude, creative conflict, a firing, an attempted confrontation, a public reconciliation, and a long night of drinking in a hotel bar.
Speaking on In Depth with Graham Bensinger, Heyman reflected on a decades-long history with Flair that began when Heyman was still a teenager promoting his own event. While he credits Flair with playing a major part in one of his earliest major ventures, he also recalled a period in WCW when the two men were openly at odds. Heyman said the situation became so heated that he tried to provoke Flair into throwing a punch, believing it would have changed the circumstances around his departure from the company.
Ultimately, Heyman said the hostility did not last forever. When he returned to WCW in May 1990, Flair welcomed him back in front of the locker room. The show of professionalism led to a drinking session that Heyman views as the unlikely turning point in their relationship.
Ric Flair headlined Paul Heyman’s earliest promotion
Long before Heyman became widely known as an influential creative mind, on-screen performer, promoter, and executive, he was a 19-year-old trying to establish himself through wrestling promotion. He identified Wrestle Party ’85 at Studio 54 as the first event he ever promoted, and Ric Flair was its featured attraction.
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That fact has remained important to Heyman’s view of Flair, even as their relationship later became difficult. Heyman made clear that he has always retained appreciation for Flair’s involvement in that early event. Flair was already an enormous name in the industry and one of the defining stars associated with the NWA and Jim Crockett Promotions era. Having him attached to a first major promotion was a significant opportunity for the young Heyman.
“The main event of the first thing I ever promoted was, when I was 19 years old, Wrestle Party ’85 at Studio 54, and the main attraction was Ric Flair,” Heyman said. “I’ll always be appreciative of that.”
Heyman’s recollection illustrates the unusual length of his connection with Flair. Their history did not begin with Heyman’s run as the creative force behind ECW, his role as Brock Lesnar’s advocate, or his eventual position as one of WWE’s most prominent television figures. It stretched back to a time when Heyman was only beginning to find his place in a business dominated by established regional powers and major drawing cards such as Flair.
Creative disagreement turned into a deeply personal conflict
The goodwill from Wrestle Party ’85 did not prevent a serious rift when Flair became involved on the creative side of WCW. Heyman said they were not aligned creatively and that Flair did not like him during that stretch. When asked whether the pair had reached a point where they wanted to “kill each other,” Heyman answered in the affirmative.
He described the dispute as escalating quickly, with the conflict eventually ending in his firing. Heyman’s account did not lay out every issue that caused the breakdown, but it established how intensely he believed the situation had deteriorated. Rather than merely accepting the outcome, Heyman said he attempted to push Flair toward a physical confrontation.
“It got very hot, very fast,” Heyman said. “It escalated real fast, and it ended up with me being fired. I tried to lure him into fighting me. Everything I could to get him to swing and he didn’t take the bait.”
Heyman explained the logic behind his effort to draw a reaction from Flair. In Heyman’s view, if Flair had hit him, the circumstances could have created a legal issue and made it impossible for the company to treat Heyman as the only party facing consequences.
“I wanted him to swing,” Heyman said. “Because how can an executive at Turner punch somebody in the face and get away with it? Number one, would have made it an easy lawsuit. Number two, he’d have to be fired alongside with me.”
Flair, however, did not take the bait. Heyman’s story presents that restraint as a consequential detail. Whatever personal animosity existed between them, Flair did not turn their disagreement into a physical altercation. That decision left Heyman’s exit from WCW as the immediate conclusion to that chapter, but it did not end their professional association permanently.
Heyman returned to WCW in May 1990
Heyman said he was brought back to WCW in May 1990. His explanation of the return was blunt and rooted in an old-school wrestling-business principle: personal issues could be set aside when a promoter or company believed someone could contribute financially or creatively.
“Business is business” was how Heyman framed it. He said WCW believed he could help make money for the company, and that opened the door for his return despite the previous conflict. He also described Flair’s reaction as especially notable, because Flair embraced him before the entire locker room and welcomed him back enthusiastically.
“None bigger than Ric Flair embracing me in front of the entire locker room, saying, ‘Welcome back. It’s so good to have you back. I look forward to us doing stuff on television together,’” Heyman recalled.
Heyman did not portray the moment as an uncomplicated display of affection. Instead, he suggested that the welcome was a mixture of performance, professional protocol, and the mutual recognition that they now had to work together. He called it “probably equal complete bullshit” and an acceptance of how the industry operated at the time.
That assessment is central to Heyman’s story. Wrestling has long demanded that rivals, former opponents, and people with legitimate personal friction coexist in locker rooms, travel together, and produce television. For Heyman and Flair, the public welcome was less about pretending the earlier problems never happened and more about establishing the terms for moving forward.
They would work together. They would be professional. And, at least on the surface, they would get along.
A Ric Flair bar invitation became a test of acceptance
After welcoming Heyman back, Flair asked where he was staying. Heyman said they were at the same hotel, leading Flair to issue an invitation that fit his enduring larger-than-life reputation: meet at the bar, and the drinks would be on Flair.
For Heyman, the invitation was not a casual matter. He said he was not a drinker, while Flair’s capacity for alcohol was already legendary. Heyman described Flair as someone capable of outdrinking “a platoon of Marines,” adding that Andre the Giant was the only person he could think of who might have been able to keep pace.
Despite knowing he was at a major disadvantage, Heyman felt he had to accept the challenge. In the context of their relationship, the evening appears to have carried meaning beyond drinks. It was an opportunity to demonstrate that he could take part in the customary social ritual and emerge on the other side with Flair’s respect.
“There’s no way to outdrink him,” Heyman said of Flair. “Only Andre the Giant. I don’t know of anybody else that could keep up with Ric Flair. There’s just no way, and I had to keep up with him.”
Heyman survived the evening, though he recalled feeling miserable the following day. He said he resorted to pickle juice and salted popcorn in an attempt to recover from the alcohol. Yet surviving the night was the part that mattered most to the story.
When asked whether his relationship with Flair was eventually repaired, Heyman gave a direct answer: yes. The reason, he said, was that he made it through that bar session.
“He said, ‘All right. Kid’s not as bad as I thought he was,’” Heyman said. “From then on, we worked together fine.”
An old-school wrestling resolution
Heyman’s account offers a window into a particular wrestling culture in which arguments could be fierce, jobs could be lost, and reputations could be tested in ways that went well beyond the visible product. The eventual reconciliation was not presented as the result of a formal mediation or a long personal discussion. It came through a combination of professional necessity and a social ritual that both men understood.
There is also an irony in the path their relationship took. Flair helped anchor Heyman’s first promotion at Studio 54, later became a central figure in one of Heyman’s most contentious WCW experiences, and then played a key role in making Heyman’s return feel legitimate before the locker room. The same figure who represented opportunity early in Heyman’s career also became part of one of its bitterest professional conflicts before ultimately becoming a colleague with whom he could work successfully.
Heyman’s recollection does not minimize how hostile the situation became. He openly acknowledged trying to instigate a fight and said the dispute intensified rapidly. But it also underscores that the relationship was not permanently defined by that animosity. Flair’s decision not to retaliate physically, his public welcome upon Heyman’s return, and the infamous drinking night all became steps toward a functional partnership.
For two of wrestling’s most recognizable personalities, the resolution was characteristically dramatic: a heated backstage rivalry gave way to a locker-room embrace, an invitation to the bar, and a hard-earned verdict from Ric Flair that Heyman was “not as bad” as he had believed.
Darryl Polo
Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.