By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Ric Flair says he will never have another "retirement match" in pro wrestling, as he believes his match against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24 was his official retirement match, even if he will likely wrestle again for TNA. Flair also says he wants TNA to eventually establish a Hall of Fame to recognize wrestlers who have contributed to the wrestling business.

"I want Dixie Carter to establish a Hall of Fame for TNA. I will never have a retirement match again, let me just go on record about that. My retirement match will be Shawn Michaels," Flair said on the Monday Night Mayhem radio show on Monday. "But, if TNA will build a company the whole world can be proud of, then it's important to cover every facet of our business. The guys wants to feel important and know that some day for all their hard work, they're going to be rewarded. I wear my WWE Hall of Fame ring wherever I go and the gold Rolex Shawn gave. No one can ever take that moment away from me in Orlando - the whole three days. It's something I apparently earned and it came from respect for all the hard work I put into the business."

Flair feels that it's WWE's loss that he won't be part of their Hall of Fame this year. He said his main reason for not working with WWE again was that he couldn't come to an agreement with WWE on how to work with his outside ventures for the North Carolina Lottery, Coca-Cola, and a new sponsorship with Kroger grocery stores. Flair says there was too much "corporate involvement," especially with the Lottery because it represents gambling and WWE didn't want to be associated with gambling as a publicly-traded company.

"I have a lot of ideas and I'm just so happy to be there (TNA). I don't look it at as being disrespectful to WWE for the main reason that I couldn't do a lot of outside things with WWE," Flair said. "The legal process of getting cleared to do outside projects with WWE is a nightmare."

From a TNA side, Flair says he wanted to work with Hulk Hogan after having a "newfound respect" for him. He said he's not putting Hogan over, but he respects what he's doing from a business perspective.

"It wasn't a hard decision to make (disassociating from WWE). The other reason is my newfound respect for Hulk Hogan. Don't misunderstand me, I will never take a backseat to him," Flair said. "But, I have a lot of respect for what he's doing and what he wants to accomplish. It's nothing more than putting together a really good product and creating a workplace for a lot of talent that has nowhere to go."

Link: Listen to the entire Monday Night Mayhem radio show with Flair's appearance starting at the 1:10:00 mark.

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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