Ric Flair done with AEW as energy drink sponsorship winds down

Image: AEW

After a brief run with AEW, Ric Flair appears to be done with the company as is the Wooooo! Energy deal that brought him in to begin with.

Fightful first reported the latest developments on Friday that the company has no future creative plans for Flair with Dave Meltzer confirming independently afterward.

In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Meltzer reported the following:

“Those who have pointed out no “Wooooo! Energy” graphics on the screen of late, that is a smart observation and unless something changes, it doesn’t look like you’ll be seeing that going forward. There was no explanation given, but unless something changes, it does look like that deal is over with.”

Flair first appeared on an October 2023 edition of Dynamite to reunite with Sting as Tony Khan’s “special gift” to the icon as part of the lead-in to his retirement run. At the same time, a multi-year sponsorship deal between Wooooo! Energy deal and AEW was announced and on a November episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Flair said he had signed a two-year deal.

It’s unclear if both sides decided to mutually end the deal early or if there were other circumstances that led to its demise.

Khan said in a later interview that the deal was paying for Flair’s appearances and that “he’s essentially paying (AEW).”

Flair was part of Sting’s final run to retirement which occurred in Greensboro, NC, at March’s Revolution. He was double superkicked by the Young Bucks during Sting & Darby Allin’s AEW Tag Team title defense over the Bucks that night which saw Sting and Allin retain.

The short run was not without controversy as Flair cut a suggestive promo on an episode of AEW Rampage last fall that was heavily edited when it made air. The blowback caused Flair to say he would “walk away” from AEW if he was embarrassing the company.

Flair has been in the news for other incidents and comments as of late which includes a well-publicized conflict in a restaurant and some comments against Eric Bischoff, Jim Herd and Vince Russo which he walked back.

The Rock’s Seven Bucks Productions is currently in the early stages of working on a biopic about Flair’s life.