Ric Flair Explains The Nickname LeBron Gave Him And How The ‘Nature Boy’ Influenced Him As A Kid

On the latest edition of the Broken Skull Session, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin sat down with the GOAT, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair.

Flair gets emotional throughout the interview, candidly discussing his battles with insecurity, his money issues, how he wasn’t ready to be world champion the first time around, and the two wrestlers that “made him.”

Flair also discussed his impact on pop culture, especially in rap and hip hop.

He recounted a story about LeBron James sharing Flair’s influence on the future NBA superstar in his younger years.

“LeBron is the one who gave me the tag that I was ‘the founder of swag.’

He called me the founder of swag and said when he grew up, as a kid, the Rolex watches, the women, the limousines, he said it kept him watching TV and out kept him out of trouble.

He said to me ‘your Rolex watch inspired me and kept me out of trouble.’”

Flair and Austin discussed so much in the nearly two-hour interview. Flair even breaks down at one point in the show, even causing the Rattlesnake to cry a little.

Here are just some of the highlights of the Broken Skull Session, available on the WWE Network right now.

– Flair discusses his recent health issues and how he’s almost back to 100%. At one point, he was having memory problems and couldn’t remember anything from the past.

– An early wrestling influence on Flair was the original Nature Boy, Buddy Rogers. Flair explained how Rogers once said to a young Flair in the locker room, “there’s only one dime in this business, and it’s me.”

– Austin asked Flair about the “Flair flop” and the slam off the top rope- “I did them because people liked them.”

– The Nature Boy discussed how the word “great” gets thrown around too much in wrestling these days. He said there are many good workers but few “great” workers.

– When asked about the best overall wrestlers ever, Flair once again named his top three as “Hogan, Austin, and Undertaker.”

– The Nature Boy discussed why he hated going home in his younger days in the business, mostly because he’d only be home for one day, and it’s impossible to get your family life in order in 24 hours.

– Flair said one of his favorite people to drink and hang out with in his younger days was Ted DiBiase.

– Flair called Bobby Eaton one of the best workers that most younger fans don’t really know and he considers Ricky Steamboat to be “the best babyface ever.”

– Bret Hart and The Undertaker were the two wrestlers who hated taking Flairs chops the most.

– Flair talked about his early days wrestling Andre the Giant and being Andre’s chauffeur and assistant on more than a few occasions. “The poor guy never had any privacy.”

– Flair considers The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels from WrestleMania XXVI to be one of the greatest matches he’s ever seen.

– The Nature Boy said the five most “over” performers he’s ever wrestled as “Hogan, Austin, Kerry Von Erich, Dusty Rhodes, and Ricky Morton.”

If you’ve got two hours today – and you probably do – I recommend heading over to the WWE Network and watching the entire show.

[via WWE Network]