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Pat McAfee isn’t the only one unhappy with ESPN’s top 100 athletes of the 21st century list. 75-year-old Ric Flair also blasted ESPN for leaving him off it.
So… who’s going to tell him?
While Pat McAfee lambasted ESPN for creating what is certainly a terrible and pointless list – “It is the epitome of everything that everybody hates about ESPN,” he said – Ric Flair’s complaint truly makes zero sense.
“How in the hell on God’s green earth is Ric Flair not considered to be one of the top 100 athletes in the world???” Flair wrote on X (Twitter).
“I should actually be in the top 10. 16 world titles, actually 22. 1,200 hour matches, 15 years without a day off; a cultural icon & worldwide sensation.
“Good lord, so many people have lost sight of what greatness truly is!
“I never pulled out with a calf muscle strain. Oh how the times have changed! What a bunch of b——!
“I get Tom Brady and all that, but come on let’s get serious!”
Not sure if the calf muscle strain comment was a shot at Giannis Antetokounmpo or Kristaps Porzingis or someone else, but Flair was on a roll so… whatever.
What makes Ric Flair’s rant about ESPN’s top 100 athletes of the 21st century list completely senseless is two-fold.
One: Ric Flair won a grand total of zero of those world titles in the 21st century. In fact, he retired from wrestling in 2008. And again in 2012. And again in 2022.
Two: Professional wrestling isn’t a real sport. There’s no fiction category on ESPN’s list, Mr. Flair. If there were, he might have made the list, but considering it covers just the past 24 years when Flair was age 51 to 75, he certainly wouldn’t be at the top.
Commenters on social media were quick to point out those reasons and more for why “The Nature Boy” didn’t make the list.
“Bro, the matches are predetermined,” one person commented.
“I love when wrestlers brag about how many times they’ve won a belt, as if they actually competed for a title like Muhammad Ali, rather than just getting the upper hand from the script department!” read another comment. “If that’s the case, Sylvester Stallone is a former 2 time world boxing champion!”
“Your sense of self importance is amazing,” another X user responded.