by Phil Speer
SAN JOSE, Calif. � Dec. 2, 2003 -- With Kurt Angle injured, among others, RAW Superstar Ric Flair agreed to take part in the Passport to SmackDown! Tour. That means Flair attended RAW and SmackDown! this week before catching the charter to South Korea. And whereas every other Superstar will get a day to rest next week when they return to the U.S., Flair will go straight to RAW the moment he touches down. Flair talked about taking part in the tour, his new DVD and his match with Shawn Michaels at the Dec. 12 Madison Square Garden live event in this interview.
WWE.com: How do you feel about going on this tour?
Flair: I�m excited about it. I like representing the company, and this is one of the capacities I�d hope to represent them in. Even though I�m wrestling, I kind of think of myself as a spokesperson for the company when I do this kind of stuff, especially when I do media like I�ve done this week for the tour. I think it�s important sometimes to have someone that�s been around for a while to talk on behalf of the company. One of the first questions you get is, �How has the business changed?� No pun intended, but if you haven�t seen the evolution of the business the last 20 years, it�s hard to explain and answer those questions. But I have seen it change. I�m just real excited to be part of the company at this level. It�s all very positive.
WWE.com: Have you wrestled in all three of these countries?
Flair: Yes. I�ve never been in Perth, but I�ve wrestled in Australia. This will be my seventh or eighth trip to Singapore. I went in the 80s quite a bit.
WWE.com: How many countries have you competed in now? It�s got to be in the 30s or 40s.
Flair: Oh, I�m sure. I�d have to think back. But the only place I haven�t wrestled in that area of the world is Bangkok. Never in Thailand. But everywhere else � Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan. (I�ve been to Japan) so many times I can�t keep track.
WWE.com: When did you find out you were going on this tour, and what was your reaction?
Flair: They asked me two weeks ago. I had no problem with it. They�ve been so good to me about putting my schedule around my kids� athletic events and stuff at home. It�s not in any way, shape or form a heroic move. People say things like that, but I�m just glad to be going. It�s a great bunch of guys to hang out with. How can you go wrong? And it�s not like it�s hard. The length of the trip is the only difficult part.
Staying in a beautiful hotel, having a great time, which I always do, in a beautiful city is not hard on anybody. Singapore is awesome. When I was in Seoul last time it was cold. It�ll be warm this time. And Perth, Australia, I�ve never been there, but I�ve heard it�s absolutely wonderful.
WWE.com: Did you bring your passport?
Flair: No. Do I need it? (Laughs)
WWE.com: I heard that you forgot your passport leading up to the last tour.
Flair: Yeah, I forgot my passport as we were leaving to go to Australia. My wife had to put it on a plane. We have a friend who works for the airlines.
WWE.com: This time they called you �
Flair: Yeah, they reminded me.
WWE.com: How does it feel to be going over there with the SmackDown! crew?
Flair: It�s great. I don�t get to see these guys very often, so it�ll give me a chance to catch up with them (and) watch their show. When I�m home, believe it or not, I try to catch some of it. But with my kids� stuff going on � which is like a Tuesday (and) Thursday night thing, all the time � I don�t get to watch the show that much. It�s just fun to be around the guys. This is what I�ve been doing my whole life. It�s fun for me, and it�s rewarding to see what�s going on and to be part of it at this level, especially at my age.
WWE.com: Everybody else on the tour will get a little bit of time to recuperate upon returning to the U.S. But you�ll go straight to RAW. How do you feel about that?
Flair: I�ve done that stuff for years. No big deal, I promise.
WWE.com: Your DVD has been very well received by the fans and the Superstars. You must be getting some good feedback.
Flair: Yeah. I�ve only seen part of it because I just haven�t had time, but I�ve heard a lot of positive things. I guess it�s selling well, and the people like it. I think all the guys who have watched it liked it real well because they�ve certainly come to tell me.
WWE.com: I don�t believe you�ve ever wrestled Shawn Michaels one on one at Madison Square Garden �
Flair: Never. Never. I�m real excited about that. I�ve only wrestled Shawn on TV one time alone, and then once in Australia alone, and then of course the pay-per-view (June�s Bad Blood). So I�m really excited about that. (I�m) legitimately excited about wrestling Shawn at the Garden. It�s something that will go down � I mean, I know that Vince (McMahon) will be there. The whole RAW crew will be there.
It�s one of those places where everybody will be watching through the curtain. I�m real excited about having a chance to wrestle Shawn. I�ve been around Shawn a lot the last couple months, and I think that he, right now, is as good as he ever was. So I need to get myself mentally in that gear so I can give him the kind of match he deserves.
WWE.com: Generally speaking, do you enjoy wrestling at the Garden?
Flair: Yeah. Being honest with you, I think the Garden is great (and) New York is great. I know that it�s considered the home of WWE, and I think that�s an important venue for them. We like to draw well there. We always want to give the fans the best because the Garden is the Big Apple. It�s New York. But I�m more excited that I�m going to wrestle Shawn there than I am about wrestling in the Garden because Shawn is the guy.
WWE.com: I would imagine that even though this is a non-televised event, that you guys are still going to go full throttle out there.
Flair: Well, I go full throttle whether TV is on or not, to the best of my ability. I don�t need a TV camera to go full throttle. I�ve always prided myself in that. My whole career, I�ve gone full throttle. Whether the house has got 200 people, 2,000 or 20,000. You�ve got to get 2,000 to get back to 4,000, and 4,000 to get to 8,000 before you can get to 20,000. So you�ve got to work hard. That�s what it�s all about.
Credit: WWE.com